Bush presses Congress for anti-terrorism money

US President George W Bush has pressed Congress to fully fund the war on terrorism at home and abroad, saying some accounts could be depleted in a matter of days and that ‘‘further delay is intolerable’’.

At a White House news conference, Mr Bush also brushed aside questions about his own past business practices and said the US Securities and Exchange Commission investigated years ago and took no action.

Fielding questions for more than 30 minutes, the President reiterated his determination to see Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ousted from power, but he refused to say how soon that could be expected.

And he confessed he that did not know whether al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is alive or dead.

‘‘If he is we’ll get him,’’ he said. ‘‘If he’s not alive we got him. But the issue is bigger than one person.’’

The President urged action on an energy bill, trade legislation to enhance his ability to conduct global trade negotiations, creation of a new Department of Homeland Security, new welfare legislation and more.

Mr Bush said it had been 100 days since he first asked lawmakers to approved additional funds for the armed forces and for security at the nation’s airports.

‘‘Four months later, the Department of Defence and the new Transportation Security Administration are still waiting for the money, and they’ll run out of operating funds maybe as soon as this week,’’ he said.

‘‘Congress simply must fund our troops while they’re fighting a war.’’

Asked about Saddam, he said: ‘‘It is the stated policy of this government to have a regime change and we use all the tools at our disposal to do so.’’

The issue of corporate wrongdoing and the President’s own past behaviour hung over the news conference as former executives of WorldCom, were invoking their constititional rights against self-incrimination rather than answer questions from a House committee.

But Mr Bush stressed several times that he intends to use a speech in New York today to call for stronger enforcement efforts against corporate wrongdoing.

He also put in a word of support for Harvey Pitt, chairman of the SEC, whom Democrats have suggested is the wrong man to lead the nation’s effort to root out corporate fraud.

He said the SEC had vetted insider-trading allegations involving the Harken Energy a decade ago and ‘‘said there was no case’’.

The SEC, after an investigation in 1990, said it was not going to pursue questions involving Mr Bush’s sale of more than 212,000 shares of Harken stock two months before the firm reported large losses. Mr Bush was a company director at the time.

Mr Bush reported the sale of his Harken stock to the SEC eight months late, triggering the investigation.

Bush said he still had not ‘‘figured....out completely’’ why the required form was filed 34 weeks late.

‘‘There was an honest difference of opinion as to how to account for a complicated transaction,’’ the President said.

He added that ‘‘in the corporate world sometimes things aren’t exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures’’.

Asked later by reporters whether that line of reasoning could serve as an excuse for executives of Enron, WorldCom or any other corporation accused of wrongdoing, Mr Bush said the SEC’s job was to prevent that from happening.