(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-29 11:46

Washington -- US President Bush, going before Congress one last time, urged the nation Monday night to stand confident against gnawing recession fears and be patient with the grinding war in Iraq.

The US Capitol Building is seen across a reflecting pool before President George W. Bush delivers the final State of the Union address of his presidency to a joint session of Congress in Washington January 28, 2008. [Agencies]

"We have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done," Bush said in his final State of the Union address. He faced a hostile, Democratic-led Congress eager for the end of his term next January.

With his approval rating near its all-time low, Bush lacked the political clout to push bold ideas and he didn't try. He called on lawmakers to urgently approve a US$150 billion plan -- worked out with House leaders -- to stave off recession through tax rebates for families and incentives for businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.

"As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty," Bush said. "And at kitchen tables across our country there is concern about our economic future. In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth."

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the war has been a main topic of Bush's annual addresses to Congress. He said Monday night the buildup of 30,000 US troops and an increase in Iraqi forces "have achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago."

"Some may deny the surge is working," Bush said, "but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al-Qaida is on the run in Iraq and this enemy will be defeated."

Delivering the Democratic response, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius urged Bush to work with Congress and help the US regain global standing lost because of the war.

"The last five years have cost us dearly -- in lives lost, in thousands of wounded warriors whose futures may never be the same, in challenges not met here at home because our resources were committed elsewhere," she said. "America's foreign policy has left us with fewer allies and more enemies."

The war in Iraq has claimed the lives of 3,940 members of the US military.

On the domestic side, Bush renewed a proposal to spend US$300 million for a "grants for kids" program to help poor children in struggling public schools pay for the cost of attending a private school or a better public school outside their district.

Excerpts of his prepared text were released in advance by the White House.

On two issues that were centerpieces of State of the Union addresses past -- Social Security and immigration -- Bush passed the buck back to Congress, which had ignored the president's earlier proposals. Contending that entitlement spending is "growing faster than we can afford," he said, "I ask members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren."

A major challenge for Bush in his address to Congress was simply being heard when many Americans already are looking beyond him to the next president.

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