Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush will offer a strategy tonight for dealing with housing, health care, education and helping businesses get back running along the U.S. Gulf Coast as he tries to reverse a slide in public confidence in his ability to manage the crisis.

While Bush will offer ``new initiatives'' to address the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, he isn't likely to announce establishment of a special office to oversee the reconstruction, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. A dozen Republican U.S. senators asked Bush yesterday to appoint a rebuilding ``czar'' to direct the recovery.

``This was a massive storm that will require a massive reconstruction effort,'' McClellan said today at the White House. The president won't be specific about the government's total cost in the speech because federal and local officials still are assessing the region's needs, he said. So far, emergency federal spending totals $62.3 billion and some lawmakers say it may hit $200 billion.

Bush is scheduled to speak at 8:02 p.m. local time from New Orleans, where flood waters triggered by Katrina overwhelmed levees and submerged 80 percent of the city. The storm also stranded thousands of people, mostly poor, and killed more than 600 in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Local residents and officials said immediate aid to the stricken region was delayed by poor communications, red tape and the failure of some government agencies to recognize the extent of the emergency.

Approval Ratings

The government's slow reaction to Katrina helped drop Bush's approval ratings to the lowest level of his presidency in at least six national polls taken after the hurricane struck on Aug. 29. A New York Times/CBS News polls conducted Sept. 9-13 showed 41 percent of the public approves of the way Bush is handling the presidency. Forty-four percent approve of the way he is handing the response to Katrina.

The speech in New Orleans marks the fourth time Bush has visited the Gulf Coast region since the hurricane hit. He said Sept. 13 that the storm exposed ``serious problems'' in the nation's ability to handle a catastrophe and that he took responsibility for the federal government's failures.

``It's critically important that President Bush demonstrate that the federal government has a strategy, has a plan and is going to help these people,'' White House Counselor Dan Bartlett said on CNN this morning. ``What President Bush is going to talk about tonight is that more is going to be needed of every citizen throughout our country and more is going to be required of our federal government.''

Inequality

McClellan, at the regular White House briefing, said Bush also plans to confront the ``long history of injustice that has led to poverty and inequality'' that the rebuilding effort offers an opportunity to repair.

``It's a long history and it's not something we're going to overcome instantly,'' McClellan said.

William Benoit, a communications professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia, said Bush will try to show ``compassion for the victims'' in tonight's address.

``Clearly his image was damaged by Katrina,'' Benoit said in an interview. ``Once the storm's over he's doing the best he can do. Whether that's enough, we'll see.''

Senate Republican leaders this week sent a letter to Bush calling for an ambitious redevelopment plan for the Gulf Coast akin to the U.S. rebuilding of Europe after World War II.

Coastal `Marshal Plan'

``We stand ready to work with you to lay out a comprehensive approach to the coordination of relief and development efforts through a `Marshall Plan' for the Gulf Coast as soon as possible,'' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and five other Republican leaders wrote. ``We think this is essential in order to help impacted families and to rebuild our coast, culture, and communities.''

They didn't make specific recommendations.

In his speech, the president will pledge to spend whatever is necessary to revive and rebuild New Orleans, according to an ally of the White House. Bush will acknowledge once again that the federal government made mistakes, and that it didn't act quickly enough to rush supplies and military officials to help victims and keep order.

In a nod to budget concerns expressed by lawmakers, the president will say that in the rush of federal money flowing to the U.S. Gulf Coast, auditors will be on hand every step on the way to reduce the chance that dollars are squandered.

``We definitely have our challenges when it comes to funding a war, responding as we have and prosecuting the war on terror, coming out of a recession and now having to deal with a national emergency such as this,'' Bartlett said in the CNN interview. ``Tough choices will have to be made.''

The White House, along with state and local governments, faces a daunting task: ensuring there's no outbreak of disease such as cholera, providing clean water, helping restore schools and businesses, finding housing to last six months or more, rebuilding the city of New Orleans and restoring the lives of about 4.9 million people who the Census Bureau says live in coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in New Orleans rrunningen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 15, 2005 12:13 EDT