WASHINGTON – President Bush, standing before Congress one last time, urged the nation Monday night to persevere against gnawing fears of recession and stay patient with the long, grinding war in Iraq. He pressed Congress to quickly pass a plan to rescue the economy.

“We can all see that growth is slowing,” Bush said in a blunt acknowledgment of rising food and gas prices, increasing unemployment and turmoil in the housing and financial markets.

He cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that would jeopardize progress achieved over the last year.

“We have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done,” Bush declared. It was his final State of the Union address and he faced a hostile, Democratic-led Congress eager for the end of his term.

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 avoid or soften any recession through tax rebates for families and incentives for businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.

“The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our nation long after this session has ended,” the president said.

Senate Democrats want to expand the economic stimulus plan with rebates for senior citizens living off Social Security and extensions of unemployment benefits for the jobless. Bush said those changes “would delay it or derail it and neither option is acceptable.”

He also pushed Congress to extend his tax cuts, which are to expire in 2010, and said allowing them to lapse would mean higher tax bills for 116 million American taxpayers.

Bush made only one mention of Osama bin Laden, who remains at large more than six years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. There was no reference to North Korea. In his 2002 address, Bush caused a stir by warning that Iraq, Iran and North Korea constitute an “axis of evil.” The United States and its allies are pushing North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs.