04 February 2002

Bush Seeks More Money for Military, Homeland Security

Washington -- President Bush has proposed a 3.7-percent increase in government spending in the fiscal year beginning October 1 (FY2003), with most of the increase directed toward the war against terrorism and homeland security.

The $2,130,000 million budget proposal the White House sent Congress February 4 reflects Bush's two priorities that have emerged since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"My budget provides the resources to combat terrorism at home, to protect our people, and preserve our constitutional freedoms," the president said in his budget message.

Bush has asked for a 12-percent boost in military spending, the biggest increase in two decades, to fund the war and upgrade military capabilities, and an almost 100-percent increase in outlays for programs aimed at better protecting U.S. residents at home.

These overriding concerns emerge in proposed spending for programs, including international programs, managed by various departments and agencies.

The budget proposal includes:

• $790 million more for the National Nuclear Security Administration to work to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, with the bulk of the new money covering costs of securing or eliminating nuclear, chemical and biological warfare materials in states of the former Soviet Union.

• a $1,220-million increase in funding for Federal Bureau of Investigation's and Immigration and Naturalization Service's enhanced counterterrorism efforts. The main initiatives aim at better tracking of non-U.S. citizens' cross-border movements and doubling the number of border patrol agents on the border with Canada.

• an $820-million jump in outlays for the Treasury Department that would primarily go to the fight against terrorist financing and the strengthening of customs border control activities.

• over $1,000 million more for the Coast Guard to better protect U.S. ports and maritime transportation system and $4,676 million for the Transportation Security Administration, which was established in 2001 to better protect U.S. transportations system and its users. These funds are likely to cover hiring more than 30,000 federal airport security workers and installing explosive detection equipment at all U.S. airports mandated by the law passed by Congress in 2001.

• $24,300 million, $1,000 million more than appropriated for FY2002, for foreign affairs operations, including activities related to the war on terrorism and protection of U.S. personnel and facilities abroad. The White House is also seeking $3,500 million to support anti-terrorism efforts by foreign countries and additional funds for reconstruction and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. It also asks for more money for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative to destroy the crops and labs that produce cocaine in South American countries.

While proposed domestic and international expenditures are concentrated around the war on terrorism, they are not limited to war-related efforts. In his new budget the president proposes also a $747,000 million boost in spending for international assistance programs, including food aid and development assistance. It also asks for a $1,000 million boost in funds for efforts to prevent and fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.

One of the main themes of the FY2003 proposed budget is focusing on results. Following on this principle, the White House is proposing a performance-based financing framework for its contribution to the World Bank's International Development Association, the Bank's affiliate that makes highly concessionary loans to the poorest countries. The Bush administration seeks to provide a base-level annual contribution of $850 million for each of the three years of the replenishment with additional contributions conditional on IDA's ability to meet specific measurable goals.

The 2003 budget would support an increase in Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) lending levels for U.S. companies selling their product to countries where private financing is not available or hard to get. This seems to represent a departure for the administration, which a year earlier had proposed slashing Ex-Im's budget, a proposal rejected by Congress

The president supports $73,500 million in new agricultural spending through 2011 but his proposed overall budget for the Agriculture Department would drop in FY2003 by $2,200 million compared to FY2002. The farm bill, now in Congress, asks for more subsidies than the Bush administration said it was willing to provide. The White House said it would support "a generous farm bill" but emphasized it must be "based on sound policy." The White House has repeatedly warned Congress that a farm bill with a high level of subsidies might violate trade agreements.

In this and other areas the president calls for "restraint in government spending." He proposes, for example, to leave the Commerce Department's funding basically unchanged.

One of the few agencies under the Commerce umbrella that may get a significant boost in FY2003 is the Patent and Trademark Office. The budget proposal calls for a 21-percent increase in office's spending to streamline the patent approval process in order to increase U.S. business competitiveness. The additional $239 million would allow the agency to hire 950 new patent examiners and shift the submission and review process to the Internet.

To cover the costs of these and other spending, the Bush's proposal projects a $106,000 million deficit in FY2003.

The submission of the president's budget starts a months-long process. Congress considers the president's budget proposals in drafting its own budget plan and in passing the 13 annual spending bills for operating the government after October 1. The president can sign or veto any of those bills.