DES MOINES - Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, said disaster relief should take priority over bailing out Wall Street during a telephone news conference with reporters on Tuesday.

Congressional leaders are negotiating with the White House on a bill meant to keep financial giants on Wall Street afloat.

But Braley, of Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, said lawmakers should focus on approving more disaster recovery funds before they set their sites on the financial crisis.

"If we're going to be talking about a bailout to rescue people who've been making risky decisions on Wall Street for years, that can't even come to the table, in my judgment, until we do something to help people in need in places like Iowa and Wisconsin and Texas and other places around the country who've been devastated by natural disasters and have had their lives turned upside down," he said.

Congress approved $2.65 billion in disaster relief in June, but talk of a second round of disaster relief has failed to produce results.