The US Senate yesterday approved President George W. Bush's request for $10.5 billion in emergency disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The US House of Representatives is expected to pass an identical measure today before sending it to Mr Bush for his signature.
Mr Bush called the hurricane "one of the worst natural disasters in our country's history".
It has killed at least hundreds in Mississippi and Louisiana, flooded much of New Orleans and interrupted oil refining on the Gulf Coast
In a letter to Congress asking for the $10.5 billion, Mr Bush said, "I anticipate making a further request in the coming weeks" for additional money.
The Senate approved the $10.5 billion bill with only four of the chamber's 100 senators present. Congress was winding up a month-long summer break when House and Senate leaders decided to reconvene to deal with the emergency.
The $10.5 billion is expected to last for about three weeks and will mostly be funnelled to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which heads the disaster relief effort in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff estimated that the federal government already has spent "over a couple of billion" dollars since Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday.