WASHINGTON (AP) ? 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.

“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 $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 U.S. 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, Kan. Gov. Kathleen
Sebelius urged Bush to work with Congress and help the U.S. 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 U.S. military.

On the domestic side, Bush renewed a proposal to spend $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.

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.

Bush, calling for bipartisan cooperation in Congress, said,
“Let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and
cooperate for results at the same time.”

In Iraq, he said, U.S. adversaries have been hit hard,
though “they are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting
ahead.”

The address came one year after Bush, defying the wishes of
Congress and rising anti-war sentiment in the country, ordered a major troop
buildup in Iraq. The increase has helped quell violence, but there is no end in
sight to the U.S. troop commitment, which Bush says will extend beyond his
presidency. There are 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, a number that is expected to
drop to 135,000 by July. There are 28,000 in Afghanistan, the highest number of
the war which began in October 2001. The Iraq war began in March 2003.

Bush did not announce any troop withdrawals Monday night.
The White House said that would depend on the advice of Gen. David Petraeus,
the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Congress, despite repeated attempts, has been unable to force troop withdrawals
or deadlines for pullbacks, and Iraq has receded as an issue in Washington.

Reviving a theme from his trip to the Middle East this
month, Bush called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment that the White House
says could easily be transferred to a nuclear weapons program. A recent U.S.
intelligence report concluded Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003,
but Bush says it could be restarted easily.

On the economy, Bush boasted 12 months ago about
unemployment. Now the jobless rate has climbed to a two-year high, and the
nation is sagging toward recession amid turmoil in housing and financial
markets. The economy is No. 1 on the U.S. worry list.

Bush’s top priority is for Congress to swiftly approve an
anti-recession package to provide tax rebate checks to 117 million families and
give businesses $50 billion in incentives to invest in new plants and
equipment. Both Democratic and Republican leaders of the House have endorsed
the program, but the Senate is preparing a package of add-ons. Senate Democrats
want more money for senior citizens living off Social Security; they also want
an extension of unemployment benefits.