Report: Bush's last year to be busy

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush's last year in the White House has significant political challenges, The Washington Post said Wednesday.

The leader spent a week on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and returned to Washington Tuesday, telling reporters he planned on working "on policies to keep this country safe and to keep this country prosperous."

White House counselor Ed Gillespie told reporters Bush's priorities this year include making permanent tax cuts set to expire in 2011, stabilizing the housing market and revising the anti-terror Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Gillespie said Bush's other priorities include finalizing further free-trade agreements and extending the No Child Left Behind education law.

Next Tuesday, Bush is scheduled to visit Israel as an overseer and coach to peace negotiations in the effort to establish a Palestinian state.