Citing a spike in jobless claims, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday called on President Bush to support a second stimulus package that includes a “major investment in infrastructure” and disaster assistance.

Infrastructure spending is key because “dirt is ready to fly, jobs to be created,” Pelosi said, adding, “I don’t see how the president isn’t convinced that our Midwest has been so hard hit by the storms and flooding and is not in need of disaster assistance.”

Pelosi also called on the Senate to pass legislation that would provide renewable energy tax credits. That measure “has a foot in both arenas,” she said, meaning that it promotes alternative energy while also creating jobs.

House and Senate Democratic leaders are working behind the scenes to craft a second stimulus package for action in September. But the timing will depend on Bush “facing the reality and not being in denial about what’s happening to people,” Pelosi said.

The Speaker said she hoped the final package would cost at least $50 billion. That amount would be one-third the cost of the first stimulus package that passed in the spring. The key, she said, is to fund a package “enough to do the job” but so “it is not burdensome to the budget.”