BUSH OUTLINES JOB TRAINING PACKAGE

President Bush was expected to present a package of $3 billion in new or expanded job training programs yesterday at a campaign stop in Union, N.J.

The plan would increase funding and combine several existing or already proposed training programs under an umbrella, the New Century Workforce, administration officials said in Wall Street Journal interviews.

Until now, the White House has wanted to end or curtail some of those programs. The expanded plan is part of the administration response to criticism of its recent North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Labor unions and other critics say hundreds of thousands of American workers could lose their jobs because of an increase in imports from Mexico.

The job training program must be approved by the Democratic-controlled Congress.