Bush Proposes to Double US Homeland Security Spending

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 25, 2002

Bush Proposes to Double US Homeland Security Spending

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday proposed doubling spending on homeland security to nearly 38 billion dollars in 2003 to prepare for and prevent domestic terror attacks.

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U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday proposed doubling spending on homeland security to nearly 38 billion dollars in 2003 to prepare for and prevent domestic terror attacks.

In a White House speech to mayors, Bush proposed an 18.2 billion dollars increase in spending on homeland security, to 37.7 billion dollars from 19.5 billion dollars.

A total of 3.5 billion dollars will go to state and local emergency responders -- police, firefighters and emergency medical teams. The rest of the money will go to securing U.S. borders, combating bioterrorism, and sharing intelligence among government agencies and federal and local authorities.

"We're still under attack," Bush said. "We have no choice. We find ourselves in a moment of history where we, as leaders, have to respond."

The increase in domestic security funding comes as Bush's proposed budget projects a deficit of 106 billion dollars, following four straight years of federal surpluses.

On Wednesday, Bush proposed a military spending increase of 48 billion dollars fiscal 2003, the largest increase in military spending for two decades.

Bush created the Office of Homeland Security after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States last year.

Some 2 billion dollars of the money would help state and local agencies buy equipment for responding to a terror attack, and about 1.1 billion dollars would go to training personnel to respond to chemical and biological attacks.

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