Mumbai: President Bush has signed into law a bill that will add $168 billion to US taxpayers' disposable income in two years, including $152 billion earmarked for 2008, to help check a recession in the world's largest economy.

Signing the economic stimulus bill, Bush said the US economy has the "genius" and the "ability" to withstand financial shocks.

It had often overcome a wide range of adversities over the past several years, including corporate scandals, war and recession, Bush said.

He said the US economy has been growing all through even as he said there was a "rough patch" in the financial market as the failing home mortgage repayments led to credit pullbacks by lenders.

"Our overall economy has grown for six straight years but that growth has clearly slowed," he said, adding, "The genius of our system is that it can absorb such shocks and emerge even stronger."

Economic growth in the US slowed to an annual 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 and, in January 2008, US job market shrank for the first time in 53 months.

That fuelled fears of the US economy slipping into a recession. The Bush administration has all the time been denying such a possibility.

The stimulus plan is the result of a rare bipartisan co-operation between the Democratic-led US Congress and a Republican administration led by President George W Bush.

The package includes billions of dollars in tax rebates due to be paid beginning May, as well as incentives for businesses to buy new equipment.

Individuals will get the bulk of the one-time income tax relief - rebate cheques this year of up to $600 for singles, $1,200 for married couples, plus $300 per child. Consumers account for about two-thirds of the US economy.

"This package gets money into the hands of Americans struggling to make ends meet, helps families with children, cuts taxes for small businesses that will create new jobs and stimulates our slowing economy," said Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives.

While there were differences between Democrats and Republicans on jobless benefits and heating bills, the final version of the package  passed by the Senate last week, retained tax rebates for 250,000 disabled war veterans and 21 million senior citizens living on government pensions.

The Bush administration has also worked with lenders to offer aid to a limited group of people forced to give up their homes, including a plan unveiled Tuesday for a 30-day suspension of foreclosures.