By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she would reduce a funding request to Congress for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces due to concerns over how some funds would be spent. Congress has held up since last month Rice's original $86 million request for Abbas' security forces after agreement was reached over a new Palestinian government, which includes Islamist Hamas as well as Abbas's moderate Fatah faction. Several congressional members feared some money could reach Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist group. Under U.S. law, taxpayer funds cannot go to such a group. Rice said she would soon make a new request to Congress outlining in detail how the money would be spent and providing assurances it would not get into the "wrong hands." "It will request less money, precisely because some of the money that I would have requested I did not think I could fully account for," Rice told a House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee. She did not say how much money would be cut from the original request. "I hope that is a sign for you that we take very seriously our responsibilities," she said. "I have no interest in having to come here one day and say, 'you know this funding did not end up in the right place.' I will do my very best," she told the committee. But Rep. Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, said he was not sure the Bush administration could provide solid assurances the money would not reach Hamas. "I still don't know how you can make that assurance," Israel told Rice. The money, if approved by Congress, would help train Abbas' National Security Forces, the closest thing the Palestinians have to an army. There are an estimated 40,000 members, according to Palestinian estimates, although Western diplomats say the number of active forces is about half that. Rice is set to leave for the Middle East on Friday and will see both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as well as Abbas to try and get both sides to move closer to reviving stagnant peace initiatives. She conceded the new Palestinian unity government, which was sworn in last weekend, "has provided something of a challenge." But Rice said it was important for the United States to be stay engaged. She reiterated the U.S. policy that the administration would have contacts with members of the new government committed to recognizing Israel, agreeing to past Israeli-Palestinian accords and who renounced violence. "We will of course continue to work with Abu Mazen," she said, referring to Abbas' nickname.
