Bush Wants More Money in Drug Fight : Administration: President to ask Congress for additional funding for education and treatment in the next phase of his anti-drug strategy.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Bush said today he will propose “record levels of new funding for both education and treatment” in the next phase of his anti-drug strategy.

That plan will be announced Thursday in a speech to newspaper publishers, said White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater.

In a speech to an audience of law-enforcement officers, Bush said Congress will have to do more than propose what he called “a Trojan horse” anti-crime bill pending in the Senate.

The President told reporters flying with him to Kansas City that he wants to “extend the hand” of cooperation to Congress.

But in his speech, Bush took a harder line, saying “it’s time for Congress to finish the job” and pass his anti-crime proposals “because it does no good to send the troops (law-enforcement officers) into battle wearing handcuffs.”

Among other features, Bush’s anti-crime package would require mandatory prison terms for firearms offenses, cut plea-bargaining with violent criminals and expand the federal death penalty to include some drug crimes that involved murder.

“Major portions of our crime bill still await congressional action. But today there’s another bill--a Trojan horse--standing at the gates of Congress,” he said in reference to legislation sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.)

“America needs a crime bill, but this is a sheep in wolf’s clothing,” Bush said.

The Senate tentatively plans to debate next month an anti-crime bill that would reinstate the death penalty for federal crimes ranging from treason to murder. It would speed appeals in capital punishment cases and allow use of improperly gathered evidence in certain circumstances.

In addition, it would beef up the federal effort to stop international money laundering and ban sale of a number of semiautomatic assault weapons as well as block a proposed reorganization at the Justice Department.

The Administration wants action on a number of these issues but opposes many of the specifics contained in the bill.

Elsewhere in his speech, Bush touted his anti-drug program, saying, “Our national drug strategy calls for record levels of new funding for both education and treatment.” He did not offer a dollar amount.

Before the speech, Bush visited a one-time crack house here and met at the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church with members of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, a grass-roots group formed in 1977 by residents alarmed by a series of unsolved drug-related murders.

The President was accompanied by national drug policy coordinator William J. Bennett and Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, as well as members of the Missouri congressional delegation. He left the church for a walk through a drug-prone neighborhood.