WASHINGTON - Bucking the decision of the House on emergency funding for Sacramento flood control, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved Tuesday adding $22.3 million to accelerate levee improvement work this summer.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the committee's energy and water panel, said the additional money "is necessary to avoid what could be a disaster."

Last month the House Appropriations Committee, led by Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, declined to include emergency levee money in its version of the emergency spending measure, which cleared the House on March 16.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said after the committee meeting that she was grateful Senate appropriators agreed to her request for the additional spending but she was uncertain whether it would be included in a final compromise bill that will have to be worked out later between the two chambers.

"I am hopeful Jerry (Lewis) will change his mind," Feinstein said.

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, hailed the Senate committee's action and said she believes it will be sustained in the House. "This is very critical," she said. "People in the House have seen our levees, and the seriousness of the risk."

Feinstein said the Sacramento cause may be aided by the nearly constant downpour of rain and snow in the last month, even though the new money won't make any difference this year.

"We are going to have massive spring runoffs," Feinstein said. "We have just got to start cracking on these levees."

Feinstein's amendment adding the money was approved unanimously and without discussion as part of a larger package of amendments. The committee bill must be approved by the full Senate before it heads into conference with the House to craft a compromise.

The Sacramento funding will go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed work that already is underway but not completely funded for the remainder of fiscal 2006, which ends Sept. 30.

Last month the House Appropriations Committee decided not to accelerate the work but rather to consider the additional funding as it writes spending bills for fiscal 2007.

At the time, Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, who had offered an amendment seeking $41 million for the Sacramento region, said that it was not clear whether the House eventually would relent on additional Sacramento levee funding.

But he said the committee was concerned that if it agreed to add emergency money for Sacramento, it would open the door to other members asking to add emergency money for their states.

When added to the $41 million Congress approved last fall for 2006 Sacramento-area levee work, the Senate measure would mean a total of $63 million worth of work through the summer.

The Bush administration asked Congress in February for $65 million for Sacramento-area flood control work in 2007. That request hasn't been taken up yet either the House or Senate.