Bush wanted $4.2 billion in community development block grants for Louisiana.

Bush wanted $4.2 billion in community development block grants for Louisiana. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite mounting pressure, House and Senate negotiators Wednesday failed to clear the final hurdles to agreement on a $94.5 billion measure to finance the war in Iraq and provide more hurricane relief to Gulf Coast states. One of the last remaining obstacles was a bid by the Senate to use the bill as a vehicle to add $7 billion to President Bush's budget for health and education programs when passing subsequent spending bills for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The House and the administration were holding firm against breaking Bush's budget, but two Senate GOP moderates sided with Democratic negotiators to insist on the money. A Pentagon money crunch is worsening almost daily, but there won't be a crisis if Congress fails to clear the legislation by the end of the week. The bill, almost four months in the making, was cut substantially Tuesday night when top negotiators reduced its cost by more than $14 billion from a version that passed the Senate last month. The GOP-driven negotiation hewed to a White House demand that the emergency bill be kept to Bush's original $92.2 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricanes with an additional $2.3 billion to combat bird flu. The House and Senate are still in disagreement over how to allocate $5.2 billion in flexible federal grants to Gulf Coast states. Bush requested $4.2 billion in such community development block grants for Louisiana housing aid, but Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, lobbied House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., by phone Wednesday to try to make sure his heavily damaged state wins a big chunk of the rest.