Bush: 'My budget provides the resources'
"We're unified in Washington on winning this war," Mr Bush told cheering soldiers at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
"One way to express our unity is for Congress to set the military budget, the defence of the United States, as the number one priority, and fully fund my request," Mr Bush said.
The budget will now spend months being debated in Congress before it passes into law.
But Mr Bush is expected to win bipartisan support in Congress for a sizable spending increase for the military as Democrats and Republicans rally behind the US-led war.
"I think every member of Congress knows our first responsibility is to defend the nation and I expect the president will largely get what he wants for defence," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat.
Big bang budget
Defence spending is projected to rise by $48bn, or 12%, the biggest increase in 20 years, while domestic 'homeland' security spending will jump 111% to $37.7bn.
Click here for a graphic of US military spending
Meanwhile, funding for hundreds of programmes - including education, health, environmental and highway - would be cut.
"My budget provides the resources to combat terrorism at home, to protect our people and preserve our constitutional freedoms," Mr Bush said.
He also proposes to introduce for the first time a formal performance rating system for government programmes which would identify those that were failing.
Sharp cuts
Some critics have accused Mr Bush of using the cuts to protect his most prized economic achievement - last year's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut.
Mr Bush had already proposed the tax cuts as part of his economic stimulus program that has been stalled in the Senate because of Democratic objections.
Corporations and high income earners would be the major beneficiaries.
Deficit returns
Overall budget spending will increase 3.7% on the year.
Last year, Mr Bush projected a 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion but that has been reduced to just $1 trillion, provided the budget becomes law.
The US economic recession, Mr Bush's tax cuts and the war have all worked to slash the surplus.
Click here to return
Key spending
Defence $350.7bn +13%
Foreign Affairs $23.9bn +7%
Environment $30bn -3%
Education $80.9bn +1.6%
Health $234.3bn +16.6%
Pensions $476.9bn +3.4%
The budget proposes spending $344bn to extend those cuts, which are due to expire in
2010, for another two years and further cuts worth $591bn.
2003 Budget proposals
Spending: up 3.7%
Growth: up 3.8%
Inflation: 2.2%
Deficit: $80bn
The budget projects a deficit for the current year of $106bn, after four straight years of
surpluses, and a smaller one for 2004 before returning into the black by 2005.
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