President Bush today urged large American corporations and foundations to step up contributions to religious charities, noting his administration has been doing exactly that.

Federal grants to religious charities totaled $2.1 billion in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, an increase of 7 percent over the previous year, Bush said at the second White House National Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

"Our job in government is to set goals and to focus on results," Bush told an often-cheering audience of 1,500 at the Washington Hilton Hotel. "If you're addicted to alcohol, if a faith program is able to get you off alcohol, we ought to say, 'Hallelujah' and 'Thanks' at the federal level."