House helps Haiti as Obama pledges aid

The House Wednesday passed legislation aimed at prodding lenders to forgive Haiti's $1 billion-plus in loans.

The measure came as Haitian President Rene Preval left a series of meetings optimistic about getting direct US aid to his government.

But Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen warns every dollar must be accounted for. And the Washington Post editorial board was not impressed that Preval seemed "utterly unprepared" to discuss "what measures the Haitian government might devise to minimize misuse and theft of the billions of dollars in recovery assistance flowing into the country and the billions more expected."