NEW ORLEANS – Six months after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush got a close-up look Wednesday at the mountains of debris, the abandoned homes and the boarded-up businesses that are shocking reminders of the “pain and agony” New Orleans endures still.

In the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, few residents were around to tell Bush how they felt. But two young women held up a sign for his motorcade that said, “Where’s my government?” Farther up the road, a man waved a flattened cardboard box on which he had written, “Pres. cut the red tape and help us.”

The president scaled down the enthusiastic assessment he made on his last trip to New Orleans in January, when he suggested this city would be a great place for Americans to bring their families and have their conventions. This time, Bush discussed the hard work ahead.

He said Congress must come forward with money for rebuilding New Orleans and its broken levee system.

“I’m getting a view of the progress that is being made,” Bush said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, no question about it.”

Demolition of the worst-damaged homes in the Lower Ninth Ward began only this week. Those not flattened by the storm had no signs of life and were spray painted with large Xs and, in some cases, the number of bodies found inside.

“You’ve got a pile of stuff here,” Bush said after watching a small bulldozer push a pile of debris on a street littered with a mattress, toys, a cooking pot, several pairs of blue jeans, a box of Pasta Roni and a pair of women’s underwear.

“We want people coming home,” Bush said, adding that he was happy the Mardi Gras celebration was held.

A key House panel was set on Tuesday to approve $4.2 billion in flexible community development funds for hurricane-related housing projects, but lawmakers dedicated that money to all states affected by Katrina. Bush said Congress must allocate all that money just to help compensate Louisianans whose homes were damaged or destroyed.

Bush also criticized Congress’ earlier diversion of $1.5 billion in levee-rebuilding money to non-New Orleans-related projects, saying lawmakers “shortchanged the process” of rebuilding the city. He said Congress must reverse the decision – even as lawmakers were poised to do so.

The House bill, part of a $19.1 billion measure for new Katrina relief spending, provides $1.5 billion in various Army Corps of Engineers water projects, chiefly for rebuilding New Orleans’ levee systems.

Bush’s four-hour stop contrasted with previous visits to the city where he stuck to less affected areas. It began with a helicopter ride over a landscape of bright blue tarps covering damaged roofs then turned over the marsh land where trees, railroad cars and debris were strewn in the swamp.