WASHINGTON - President Bush asked Congress for an additional $3.1 billion Tuesday to help Florida and other states recover from the battering they endured from recent hurricanes.

His request spurred the Republican-run Senate to do exactly what Bush and some GOP lawmakers have said they would oppose: Provide money for another disaster as well. By voice vote, the chamber approved $2.9 billion for a drought that has hurt farmers, largely in the Midwest.

Bush's latest request for storm aid was focused on helping Florida repair the damage from hurricanes Charley and Frances. It also included some money for flooding and other destruction in southeastern states like North Carolina and South Carolina, though no breakdown by state was immediately available.

Senate leaders seemed likely to push the hurricane package to passage this week. Nearly through a work week shortened by the Jewish New Year's holiday, the House seemed unlikely to get to it until next week.

The election-year hurricane request was politically sensitive because of its impact on Florida, which again looms as a potentially pivotal state in the November elections.

Facing record federal deficits, Bush wrote lawmakers urging them to limit the package "to those items directly related to the recovery efforts from the impact of these recent major disasters."

But the Senate ignored that request and approved the drought aid, which was sponsored by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

"If we are Americans, let's work together as Americans," Baucus said. "Let's help people who need help."

Another supporter of the drought aid, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said 63 of the 100 senators were ready to vote for the measure, which gave GOP leaders little choice but to accept it.

"I'm glad that a bipartisan group of senators was able to make this happen," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. "This is an important step to getting this aid to farmers and helping restore economic health to rural communities."

Representatives of the North Dakota Farm Bureau, North Dakota Farmers Union and North Dakota Grain Growers traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for disaster aid.

"We're getting a pretty fair reception as we go from Senate office to Senate office," state Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, said Tuesday. "There aren't many states that haven't seen some sort of drought, rain or frost disaster."

North Dakota Farm Bureau President Eric Aasmundstad said the effort by senators to get disaster aid for farmers is bipartisan, as is the North Dakota group that is presenting its case.

"We've got a very good … cross-section of both geographical distribution and philosophical distribution," he said.

The drought aid was added to a bill financing the Department of Homeland Security next year, bringing its total to about $36 billion.

GOP leaders were deciding whether the hurricane aid would be added to that bill or be submitted as freestanding legislation.

Bush's latest hurricane aid package did not include any money for potential damage by Hurricane Ivan, which was roaring toward the Gulf Coast. In his letter to leaders, he said he would seek additional aid for Ivan before final passage.

Bush's request was the second time in less than two weeks that he has sought an infusion of federal money to help victims of disasters.