BY TIM JOHNSON

  WASHINGTON - In a new salvo in the struggle over U.S. policy toward Cuba, the White House has warned Congress that it may veto a massive $390 billion
  spending bill if it includes language that weakens the embargo of the island.

  President Bush considers it ''vitally important'' to maintain the 4-decade-old embargo of Cuba, Office of Management and Budget chief Mitchell E. Daniels
  told four key legislators in a letter delivered Tuesday.

  The letter is the latest sign that the White House is preparing for major clashes with legislators seeking to open up trade with the island. The Bush
  administration, keeping a watchful eye on Cuban-American voters in Florida instrumental to its 2004 reelection, has vowed to maintain the embargo
  against a surge of legislative proposals to allow greater trade.

  This time, the stakes are particularly high. The so-called omnibus spending bill that is before a House-Senate conference committee contains much of the
  money needed to keep the government afloat through Oct. 1, 2003, which is the beginning of the next fiscal year.

  The warning on Cuba came in a six-page letter from Daniels delivered to Rep. C.W. Bill Young, a Florida Republican who is chairman of the House
  Appropriations Committee, and three other legislators. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Herald, evaluates provisions in the huge spending
  bill.

  At the end, Daniels notes that the White House finds ''objectionable'' certain language in a working version of the bill, particularly provisions that ``would
  weaken current sanctions against the Cuban government.''

  ''Lifting the sanctions now would provide a helping hand to a desperate and repressive regime, whereas the president's policy calls for reaching out to help
  the Cuban people,'' the Daniels letter said. ``As noted in the July 11, 2002, letter from Secretaries [Colin] Powell and [Paul] O'Neill, the president's senior
  advisors would recommend that he veto a bill that contained such changes.''

  Daniels also demanded that a final spending bill contain language prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortion.

  Daniels did not specify how the House language in the proposed spending bill would weaken the embargo.

  However, growing numbers of legislators are challenging the embargo, saying it has failed to dislodge Cuba's longtime dictator, Fidel Castro, after four
  decades.

  Lst week, two senators -- Democrat Max Baucus of Montana and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- circulated a proposal to lift the trade embargo
  entirely.

  ''Trading with and traveling to Cuba does not represent an endorsement of the Castro regime,'' the senators said in a letter seeking support from
  colleagues. ``To the contrary, it helps ensure that children in Cuba will be afforded more opportunity than their parents to have lives that are more full,
  free and just by opening Cuban society to democratic ideals.''