Bush Dispatches 5,000 More Troops to Hurricane Area : Federal aid: President makes nearly $300 million available to relief agencies in southern Florida. He bristles at question about political motives.

President Bush ordered an additional 5,000 troops into Florida on Saturday, and made nearly $300 million available to the two principal federal agencies involved in the relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.

Those troops will bring the total on active duty in southern Florida to 19,400 by the middle of the week, the White House said Saturday night. In addition 5,700 National Guard soldiers are involved in the efforts to provide food, shelter, medical help and cleanup aid to the stricken region.

“Significant progress is being made in delivering food, water, shelter and other basic necessities,” Bush told reporters at the end of a White House meeting with senior government and military officials overseeing the federal contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

He said that when Congress returns next month from its summer break, he will seek more money if it is needed. Of the nearly $300 million being made available from an emergency relief fund, $143 million will go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $150 million will go to the Small Business Administration, according to Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr., who Bush has named as his senior representative in the relief efforts.

Those attending the Cabinet Room meeting were Card; Deputy Defense Secretary Donald J. Atwood; Adm. David E. Jeremiah, representing the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft; Budget Director Richard G. Darman and James A. Baker III, the new White House chief of staff.

Speaking with reporters at the end of the meeting, Bush responded starchily when asked about how his role in the hurricane cleanup would be viewed by voters in Florida, a crucial state in the presidential election with 25 electoral votes.

“Look, may I tell you something?” the President said. “This may be hard for you to believe. I am thinking about what’s good for the people here. I don’t even think about the politics of it. We’re trying to help people.

“I see a bunch of people running around interviewing people who have been thrown out of their homes by a natural disaster, saying: ‘How do the politics work?’ ” he continued. “Good heavens, isn’t there any honor here? Can’t we help people without having somebody try to put a political interpretation on it? I mean, heaven sakes.

“We have people that are hurting out there, and then to try to cast it politically. I’m sorry, I just simply find that a little bit outrageous,” Bush said.

Bush hurried to the area three hours after the hurricane, but White House officials said it had not been decided whether the President would return to Florida early this week. He has canceled a Western campaign swing scheduled for Monday and Tuesday to monitor the disaster relief efforts.

Told that Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton had suggested that the federal response to the hurricane should be “looked into,” Bush said: “I don’t respond to Gov. Clinton on these matters. We have a national emergency here, and we’re here and we’re trying to get this job done.”

Clinton said Saturday that he did not want to “politicize” the issue or criticize Bush, but he returned repeatedly to a theme suggesting he was doing just that.

Bush said that the new troops being dispatched to Florida would be responsible for providing food, kitchens and tents.

Maj. Gen. John C. Heldstab, Army director of military support, said the military units already in Florida had the capacity to feed three meals a day to 60,000 people, and “our capacity and capability to support continues to expand as other forces flow into the area.”

By the middle of the week, he said, five Navy vessels will have arrived in Florida. They are two tenders carrying construction materials and food, another ship carrying a Seabee detachment, a fourth with food, and a salvage ship to clear debris in harbors and inland waterways.