However, the mostly Democratic delegation was deeply skeptical that it can do the same on other, more divisive issues during the final year of Bush’s term.

Monday was the president’s last State of the Union address, and the delegation that represents this region was nearly unanimous afterward in praising him for the outline of a

$150 billion stimulus package negotiated between congressional leaders and the White House last week.

The president urged its swift passage in his speech Monday night.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called the president’s efforts “an important step to averting a deeper downturn in our nation’s economy.” U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, also saw it as an opportunity for compromise.

The president’s pursuit of his policy in Iraq, though, drew criticism from Democrats who have been at odds with him over the war for years. And his call for a new aggressiveness on cutting federal budget earmarks was targeted by presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who complained that earmarks “skyrocketed” in the first seven years of Bush’s administration.

The only Republican in the delegation, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, told reporters after the Bush speech that it may have been “one of his best” addresses, noting the applause for his call to rein in earmarks. He also praised the president for “standing firm” against efforts to withdraw troops from Iraq.

However, Grassley was skeptical that some of the president’s priorities, such as entitlement reform, will get any meaningful action.

“I think a lame duck is a lame duck, but the speech was much stronger than what you’d expect from a lame duck president,” he said.

Braley said Democrats in Congress have “turned the page” on the president because he did not meet them halfway last year.

Bush also urged Congress to move ahead with pending free trade deals, including one with Colombia.

Failure, he said, would embolden the “purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere.”

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., who has emerged as a vigorous critic of U.S. trade deals, said he hoped “the president would use tonight to offer a new direction” on trade, which, he said, has cost the country millions of manufacturing jobs since 2001.

The Rock Island congressman did credit Bush for parts of the speech, such as his call for comprehensive immigration reform and his encouragement of clean coal technology.