WASHINGTON—President Bush called Wednesday for nearly $50 billion in additional military spending for the war on terrorism, the largest increase for the Pentagon in two decades.
Privately, he assured Republican and Democratic leaders that he has "no ambition whatsoever" to exploit the war on terrorism for political gain in this election year.
With his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, seated behind him in the Cabinet Room, Bush gave House and Senate leaders an update on the fight against terrorists and added: "I have no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue. There is no daylight between the executive and the legislative branches."
No one in the room for the closed-door morning meeting responded, according to White House sources.
In an afternoon address to the Reserve Officers Association, Bush gave the first details of the $2 trillion budget that Bush submits to Congress on Feb. 4.
