With his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, seated behind him in the Cabinet Room, Mr. 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 congressional and White House sources who described the scene to The Associated Press.

Mr. Rove had caused a stir among Democrats last week when he told a Republican conference that party members would do well to talk up the popular war in this year's midterm elections. .In an afternoon address to the Reserve Officers Association, Mr. Bush gave the first details of the $2 trillion budget that he will submit to Congress on Feb. 4

That spending plan will ask Congress to give the Pentagon an increase of $48 billion, bringing its budget within range of $380 billion. If approved by the House and Senate, the funds would amount to the largest increase in military spending in 20 years, Mr. Bush said.

The extra money would give service personnel another pay raise, pay for more precision weapons and finance the construction of missile defenses. "Buying these tools may put a strain on the budget but we will not cut corners when it comes to the defense of our great land," Mr. Bush said to cheers from the Reserve officers.

To keep Americans safe at home, Mr. Bush said his budget also would call for the employment of 30,000 airport security workers and an additional 300 FBI agents, the purchase of equipment to improve mail safety, and an increase in research on bioterror threats.

For the budget year beginning on Oct. 1, Mr. Bush is expected to request roughly twice the $13 billion now budgeted for homeland security, a spending item that did not exist a year ago.

The budget is expected to be in deficit for the first time in four years - by just over $100 billion for this year and about $80 billion for 2003.