US President George W. Bush signed Wednesday a US$30 billion spending bill for the Homeland Security Department.

At a ceremony at the department's headquarters, the president said the bill would help the United States to protect its soil from terrorist threats.

Two years after the terror attacks on the Untied States, the nation still grieves over the thousands of victims, he said. "We will do everything in our power to prevent another attack on the American people, and wherever America's enemies plot and plan, we'll find them and we will bring them to justice," he said.

The bill, about US$1 billion above the figure requested by the president, includes US$4.2 billion for first-responder programs, US$9 billion for border protection and US$5.2 billion for the Transportation Security Agency and the Federal Air Marshal Program.

Also on Wednesday, Bush signed a US$368 billion defense spending bill for the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
 
The act was approved by the Senate last Thursday following its passage at the House of Representatives a day earlier.

The bill, representing a rise of 1 percent, does not include money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the costs of which were covered by a US$62.4 billion emergency spending bill approved earlier this year.

Bush has submitted a request for US$87 billion for the next fiscal year, with US$66 billion to cover military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest for reconstruction efforts in the two countries.

The bill includes an average military pay raise of 4.1 percent in 2004, money for 22 F-22 stealth fighters, about US$9 billion for missile defense programs, and US$11.5 billion for shipbuilding.
 
(Source: Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2003)