Bush wants to spend more to fight terrorism

The Miami Herald | 01/23/2004 | Bush wants to spend more to fight terrorism:

President Bush announces he will seek a nearly 10 percent increase in federal spending next year to combat terrorism at home.

BY AMY GOLDSTEIN AND DAN EGGEN
Washington Post Service

ROSWELL, N.M. - President Bush announced Thursday that he will seek a nearly 10 percent increase in federal spending next year on efforts to prevent terrorism within the United States, an expansion that is more than twice as large as the overall rise in discretionary spending in the budget the president is preparing to send Congress in two weeks.

White House officials said that the biggest chunk of the extra funds for homeland security would include a 19 percent increase for Justice Department counterterrorism programs, to $2.6 billion, which would allow the FBI to devote more agents to investigating suspected terrorism and heighten the agency's ability to gather intelligence. Most of rest of the money would go to the Homeland Security Department, according to the officials, who refused to disclose how it would be spent."