Washington ? President Bush prodded Congress on Monday to fully fund the war on terrorism at home and aboard, saying some accounts could be depleted in a matter of days and that “further delay is intolerable.”

At a White House news conference, Bush also brushed aside questions about his own past business practices as “old-style politics” and stressed several times that he intends to use a speech today in New York to call for stronger enforcement efforts against corporate wrongdoing.

President Bush calls for legislators to fully fund the war on terrorism. At Monday's press conference, he also denounced corporate greed and plans to propose stronger penalties today.

In the speech, Bush is expected to call for imprisonment of corporate CEOs who approve falsified public financial records.

With the stock market falling as public confidence in it ebbs, the president and Congress are trying contain the financial fallout lest it knock the economy back into recession. But partisan politics is also at play. Democrats are trying to turn public outrage about corporate misdeeds into a political advantage for November’s congressional elections, while Republicans are trying to reconcile their dismay at corporate fraud with their reluctance to over-regulate business.

Fielding questions for more than 30 minutes, Bush reiterated his determination to see Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ousted from power, but he refused to say how soon that could be expected. And he confessed he doesn’t know whether al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is alive or dead.

Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “may be alive. If he is we’ll get him. If he’s not alive we got him,” Bush said. “But the issue is bigger than one person.”

The president stepped to the White House microphones shortly after flying back from a long holiday weekend in Maine and as lawmakers were returning to the Capitol for a summer session in the shadow of midterm elections.

Bush urged action on an energy bill, trade legislation to enhance his ability to conduct global trade negotiations, creation of a new Department of Homeland Security, new welfare legislation and more.

His words about funding for national security drew a sharp reply from Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee. Bush “failed to mention that his administration is greatly responsible for any delay,” Byrd said.

The House and Senate have both approved legislation to provide the additional funds that the administration is seeking. Bush has issued a veto threat against the Senate measure, which is larger than his own request, and no final compromise has been reached.

“What our country needs is responsible leadership, and presidential talk about a veto of homeland security funding is nothing short of irresponsible,” Byrd said.

Bush said it had been 100 days since he first asked lawmakers to approved additional funds for the armed forces and for security at the nation’s airports.

“Four months later, the Department of Defense and the new Transportation Security Administration are still waiting for the money, and they’ll run out of operating funds maybe as soon as this week,” he said.

“Congress simply must fund our troops while they’re fighting a war,” he said. “… Further delay is intolerable.”

On other issues, Bush:

Responded tartly to criticism from the NAACP about his civil rights record. “Let’s see, there I was sitting around the table with foreign leaders, looking at Colin Powell and Condi Rice,” he said, referring to his secretary of state and national security adviser, both of whom are black.

Said he hasn’t yet made a decision on how widely the government should administer smallpox vaccinations to guard against any outbreak of the disease caused by bioterrorists. “I worry about calling for a national vaccination” because of the health risk it could pose to a limited number of people, he said.

Asked about Saddam, he said, “It is the stated policy of this government to have a regime change and we use all the tools at our disposal to do so.” Asked whether American should look for that before the end of his term, Bush replied that was a hypothetical question he wouldn’t answer.