WASHINGTON (AP) - Responding to a natural disaster that hit especially close to home - the loss of a congressman's house to fire - lawmakers scurried Wednesday to approve record levels of federal spending for firefighting.

California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was on a visit scheduled before the wildfires, stopped by Capitol Hill to appeal for help.

"The huge disastrous fires have changed my mission a little bit. I'm now looking for federal money for the people, the victims of the fire," he said.

The House was set to vote on an Interior Department spending bill that contains $2.9 billion for wildfire suppression, restoring forests and reducing hazardous fuels. Of that, $400 million will go to repay the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for money borrowed to battle wildfires this past summer.

The lawmaker most directly affected was Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., whose home east of San Diego was destroyed by fires.

The firefighting money, part of a $20.2 billion spending bill, include $800 million for wildfire suppression, up $289 million from the current budget year, and $937 million for wildfire preparedness, slightly above current levels.

Congress also recently approved $300 million in emergency spending for this year, bringing total federal funds for firefighting efforts to $3.2 billion.

But with southern California wildfires roaring over about 950 square miles and destroying more than 1,600 homes, lawmakers said even more was needed. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., proposed adding $500 million to the $87 billion Iraq reconstruction bill now being negotiated to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency deal with the wildfires in California.

The Senate on Wednesday took up legislation that would make it easier to thin federal forests and reduce the risks of wildfires. The compromise "healthy forest" legislation would allow increased timber cutting on 20 million acres of federal forests and limit the ability of opponents to challenge the timber cuts in the court.

The compromise, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, would provide more protection of old-growth forests than similar legislation already approved by the House. But some senators planned to offer amendments to further restrict the timber cutting.

California's wildfires added to the urgency lawmakers faced to reduce forest fire risks, supporters of the bill said. "Catastrophic wildfires, not logging ... is killing Oregon's forests," Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said.

The bill would budget $760 million annually for forest-thinning activities. Critics of the legislation argue that not enough of the thinning program would be aimed at forests near communities. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., planned to seek changes to direct more funds to forests near communities.