$7.6 Billion Urged for Hurricane Aid : Disaster: President Bush asks Congress to back relief for South Florida, Louisiana. He cites deficit concerns but calls the ‘human need . . . even more staggering.’

President Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to approve $7.6 billion in disaster assistance in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, calling for bipartisan support of the measure, even though it will bloat the federal budget deficit.

Most of the money would be earmarked for the areas of South Florida and Louisiana that were devastated by the cataclysmic storm two weeks ago. The proposal also includes financial aid for victims of Typhoon Omar in Guam.

Bush, initially criticized for responding too slowly to the needs of the hurricane victims, last week announced the emergency aid program, saying that the federal government would underwrite 100% of the cleanup costs, rather than the usual 75%.

The storm--by most estimates the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history--killed 22 persons and destroyed or damaged more than 80,000 homes. Others have died in accidents in the aftermath of the storm.

While conceding on Tuesday that the aid package would place “a large financial burden” on the federal Treasury, Bush called the “personal and human need . . . even more staggering.”

“Our country must be able to answer the cries for help,” he said.

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, who was in Washington on Tuesday to lobby Congress for disaster aid, welcomed Bush’s proposal but said that soaring damage estimates in his state far exceed the sum requested. “Our numbers are changing. . . . We do not think that’s enough.” Chiles told reporters that Florida’s uncompensated damages will total $9 billion to $11 billion.

Bush designated the full $7.6 billion as an emergency request, a move that would exempt it from the already tight spending caps imposed by the controversial budget accord that Congress and the White House signed in 1990.

The aid proposal was unveiled by the President during a meeting with congressional leaders in the White House Cabinet Room--a gathering called in part to head off partisan bickering over the plan.

Democratic congressional leaders immediately pledged their support. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) placed the legislation at the top of the Senate’s agenda, saying that lawmakers certainly will approve it.

“People who have seen the savings of a lifetime devastated by a natural disaster need to know they can count on help to rebuild and start over,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor a few hours later.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon explained how it would use some of the $983.9 million of the emergency funds that would be allocated to the Defense Department both for repairing hurricane damage to military facilities and for helping with relief operations there.

U.S. officials said that some 22,271 federal troops already have been deployed in South Florida, while another 2,038 are expected to arrive there soon. In addition, the Air Force has completed about 519 flights carrying relief supplies and other equipment to the hurricane-damaged areas.

Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said that the military units’ first priorities are preventing disease, removing debris and restoring power. The services also have erected tent cities, are helping remove debris from public schools and have distributed to local residents about 20,500 radios capable of carrying notices that are broadcast in English, Spanish, Creole and a Guatemalan dialect spoken by migrant workers.

Williams said the full cost of the Defense Department’s relief operation--including $98.2 million for Bush’s controversial decision to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base--already has risen to $778.3 million.

He said that rebuilding the base would require another $3.7 million in 1992, $476.9 million in 1993 and $50 million in 1994. Some critics have argued that the Pentagon should simply abandon the damaged base and transfer its operations elsewhere.

The hurricane aid developments came as Congress returned from its summer recess to find itself caught between stepped-up attacks from a campaigning Bush and increased pressure from voters to put aside partisanship and respond to the nation’s domestic ills.

With the Senate already in session and the House preparing to return to work today, leaders from both parties met informally with Bush on Tuesday hoping to ease tensions between the White House and Congress. Spokesmen declined to provide details of the talks.

Although it was unclear how much could be accomplished before the scheduled Oct. 2 adjournment, Capitol Hill strategists said that Congress is almost certain to pass a handful of major bills, from a comprehensive energy measure and a Russian aid proposal to the hurricane disaster funds and aid to cities stemming from the Los Angeles riots.

However, the two sides also are expected to end up in an impasse over a spate of other major proposals, including a comprehensive tax measure, a family leave bill and legislation to control cable television rates.

Mitchell insisted during an interview on the NBC “Today” program Tuesday that the President and Congress will be able to put their differences aside in the next few weeks because “in the long run, the best politics is to do what’s right.”

He then lambasted Bush for devoting much of his campaign to attacks on Congress. “I think the American people expect more from a President than merely pointing the finger of blame,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think it will do much good.”

In a continuing spirit of partisanship, congressional strategists said that they plan to time final action on such politically popular bills as those affecting family leave and cable television rates for maximum political advantage, forcing Bush--who opposes both--to exercise his veto a few weeks before the election.

Mitchell also served notice Tuesday that the Senate is likely to try to override Bush’s recent veto of legislation that would have enabled states to ease voter-registration procedures by making them part of the process of obtaining a driver’s license.

Political analysts said that one of the reasons for the strategy is that the Democrats smell blood in Bush’s vulnerability in the presidential race and are more eager than usual to embarrass the President in hopes of helping his rival, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

But lawmakers also are angry over the President’s hard-hitting attacks on Congress.

Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this story.