$2-Billion Plan to Fight Drugs Backed by Bush : But President Refuses to Say Where Financing of Strategy Devised by Bennett Will Be Found

By DAVID LAUTER

Aug. 16, 1989 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — President Bush Tuesday endorsed the anti-drug strategy developed by his drug policy director, William J. Bennett, but refused to say where he will find the money to pay for it.

With Administration aides estimating that the program could cost $2 billion a year above existing anti-drug expenditures, Bush conceded at a press conference that “we will have to do some reallocation of resources.”

“We’re in a period of hard times,” he said. He ruled out raising taxes and said that he has not decided what programs to cut to make room for the new anti-drug funds.

Aides said that Bush has endorsed one of the most expensive and potentially far-reaching items in the plan--a proposal to more than triple military and economic aid to help Bolivia, Colombia and Peru fight their drug producers and to offer those countries U.S. military advisers to train their own forces.

Limits on DEA

The Drug Enforcement Administration “isn’t big enough or strong enough to solve the problems in these various South American countries,” Bush said at the press conference--a statement designed to indicate acceptance of Bennett’s plan, a White House official said.

While many law enforcement officials and members of Congress have been harshly critical of the shortcomings in Latin American nations’ anti-drug programs, Bush defended them.

“I think there has to be some measuring of intention,” Bush said. Many Latin American nations would like to help but simply cannot because they have been “ripped asunder by the drug cartels,” he added, citing Colombia in particular.

Variety of Issues

In a typically wide-ranging discussion of issues, Bush also:

--Repeated his hints that Panama’s armed forces should consider moving against their chief, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, who has been indicted by U.S. prosecutors on drug charges. “Our argument is not with the Panamanian Defense Forces, it is with Mr. Noriega himself,” Bush said. “If he were to go out. . , we would instantly have better relations with Panama.”

--Supported the criticism of Federal Reserve Board policies that his budget director, Richard G. Darman, voiced in a televised interview Sunday. Darman suggested that Fed policies are keeping interest rates too high and running the risk of a recession.

“I don’t know of any President, now or in the past, who doesn’t favor lower interest rates,” Bush quipped. “That’s the American way. . . . I thought what Dick Darman said was very balanced. I can feel very comfortable with his sallying forth and saying that.”

--Expressed sympathy for the families of two congressmen killed in airplane crashes in the last week. The deaths of Reps. Mickey Leland (D-Tex.) and Larkin Smith (R-Miss.) “remind us that there are outstanding men and women in public life who are working at every level of government to better the lot of mankind,” Bush said.

Focus on Drug Problem

For the last two weeks, the drug problem, which Bush called “an issue that tears at the heart and feeds the fears of every American,” has been the main domestic policy issue at the White House. Aides have been hurrying to complete most work on Bennett’s package before Bush departs for his Maine vacation today.

Before heading to Maine, Bush will detour to make a campaign stop in Miami on behalf of Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is a candidate in the Aug. 29 election to replace the late Rep. Claude Pepper.

The drug plan, Bush said in a statement at the beginning of his press conference, is “balanced, decisive, effective and achievable.” Carrying it out “will call for commitment and sacrifice and understanding, but it’s clear to me the American people demand no less.”

Bush plans to unveil the drug-fighting strategy formally in a televised speech Sept. 5, but most of Bennett’s recommendations already have been leaked to the press. Bush has approved most of those proposals, although aides are expected to continue hashing out details while he is on vacation.

License Revocations

One proposal that probably will not be adopted is to require states to revoke the driving licenses of drug offenders or lose federal highway construction money. In meetings so far, an Administration official said, senior Bush advisers have been negative toward the idea because it smacks of federal meddling in state business.

Last year, Congress passed what it hailed as a major anti-drug bill authorizing $2.7 billion in new programs. But less than half that money actually has been put into the budget.

Bush so far has ruled out raising taxes to pay for his new drug program, and his aides have insisted that they will find ways to pay for it without doing so.

See Bush Taking Credit

Many congressional Democrats, however, fear that Bush will seek to gain credit for the program while leaving them the onerous task of deciding what other popular programs to eliminate to make room for the new spending.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr., in a statement issued after Bush’s press conference, called for a “massive commitment of resources” to the war on drugs. “If that means raising taxes to pay for drug-fighting measures, so be it,” Biden said.