THE US: President Bush has announced his intention to double spending on homeland security next year to nearly $38 billion, with special emphasis on bolstering the "first responders" - police, firefighters and emergency medical teams.
The announcement yesterday follows his call on Wednesday for overall military spending to rise by 15 per cent or $48 billion. "Buying these tools may put a strain on the budget," Mr Bush said of precision weapons and other military purchases he will propose, "but we will not cut corners when it comes to the defence of our great land."
The President is setting out his stall ahead of next Tuesday's State of the Union speech in which he will outline the key priorities of the administration for the next year.
The speech is expected to focus on two main themes, defence and economic regeneration. However, by giving advance notice of big spending increases in defence, the White House hopes to take the sting out of new budget projections which show a sharp decline in the likely surplus over the next 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday projected a surplus for the next decade of $1.6 trillion, 71 per cent less than the $5.6 trillion it and the White House forecast a year ago.
It includes expected deficits of $21 billion this year and $14 billion in 2003, with annual surpluses resuming in 2004.
The White House's own figures House envision a $2.2 trillion surplus for the same 10-year period. The difference is chiefly due to White House expectations for higher revenue collections than the CBO assumed.
The re-emergence of deficits is blamed by Democrats on over-generous tax cuts to the rich and are likely to provide a key battlefield for this year's mid-term elections.
The military spending increase involves a $38 billion increase for defence to $369 billion in 2003, plus an additional $10 billion "war reserve" that would only be spent on active military operations overseas.
The increases are the largest in 20 years, since the Reagan era, and, although justified by Mr Bush as a necessary response to the war on terrorism, suggest that the administration may be able reactivate controversial plans on which it was elected to push through a radical overhaul of the structure of the military.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, welcoming the announcement, said the increases would still leave the Pentagon with less in inflation-adjusted terms than in 1985, the high point of the Reagan build-up.
Democrats, wary of being seen as unpatriotic, cautioned on how the President was going to pay for the increases without actually criticising them.
In a speech yesterday to mayors, Mr Bush proposed $37.7 billion for homeland security in his fiscal 2003 budget plan, with $3.5 billion going to state and local emergency responders.
Rachel Donnelly reports from London:
It would be "far preferable" for the three British suspects held at Guantanamo Bay to face justice in Britain, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said yesterday. Britain has previously stressed any decision to prosecute the al-Qaeda suspects held in Cuba is a matter for the US authorities and has not called for them to be returned to face trial.
However, in a carefully worded response to questions about the fate of the suspects, Mr Straw told BBC Radio 4 that as British citizens it was "far preferable" for the prisoners to return to Britain to stand trial.
