US President George W. Bush plans to propose significant increases in spending on domestic US security in his next budget, but has yet to settle on specific amounts, administration officials said on today.
Congress has approved $20 billion this year for homeland security, most of it after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The Washington Postquoted unidentified administration officials and congressional budget experts as saying Bush wanted to boost spending on domestic US security by at least $15 billion in his next budget, including more than a doubling of funds for local police and firefighters.
The president has asked Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge to assess the nation's needs for combating terrorism and responding to the attacks, a White House official said.
"We will have more to say on that as the budget proposal for next year is completed," the official said.
Mr Ridge and other administration officials said the next budget would include significant increases in spending for homeland security.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Mr Ridge said the White House wanted to increase spending on police, firefighters and other emergency response teams after the September 11 attacks.
The administration is preparing the budget now for the year beginning next October. Mr Bush is required to submit his plans to Congress by the first Monday in February.