Washington: After Congress gave final approval to the emergency finance rescue package, US President George W Bush popped next door to the pillared Treasury building to shake hands with his treasury secretary Henry Paulson.

In the photo image used on front pages across the US on Saturday, the two men are grinning in obvious relief over the passage that ended a grim two-week-long economic cliffhanger.

The staid treasury building serves as a backdrop in the photos, as it does on all US paper currency.

But relief for the economy won't come as fast as passage of the 700-billion-dollar plan, and Bush repeated in his weekly radio message Saturday his warning of the long road ahead.

By taking all the steps provided for in the law, "we can begin to put our economy on the road to recovery," Bush said. "While these efforts will be effective, they will also take time to implement."

"My administration will move as quickly as possible, but the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately," he said.

In fact, the country is already talking of further economic woes as the stock market continued to decline despite passage of the bill on Friday.

"Approval of bailout comes amid signs that a deep recession is just beginning," shouted the banner headline on the Los Angeles Times Saturday morning.

The rescue package allows the government to acquire up to 700- billion-dollars worth of mortgage-related assets, whose plunging value has so decimated the balance sheets of financial institutions and caused credit flow to freeze.

In his radio message, Bush acknowledged how "difficult" the vote on the deeply unpopular plan was "in the midst of an election season." Presidential and congressional elections are November 4.

Bush sought to reassure that the law will allow the federal government to "help banks and other financial institutions resume lending" and that the largest government intervention in capital markets ever will be recouped as the assets increase in value and are sold.

Bush also said the package would increase the safety of personal finances and restore confidence in "the health of our banking system." (dpa)