A near-$800 billion (£554.7b) stimulus bill is on its way to President Barack Obama's desk for signing having cleared its last political hurdle.

The Senate voted 60 to 38 to pass the $787 billion (£547b) package, meeting the crucial 60 mark with the support of just three Republicans.

The final vote was held up to allow time for Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown to fly back from Ohio, where his mother died earlier in the week.

His was the decisive 60th vote for the bill in the 100-seat Senate.

Earlier, the House of Representatives voted 246 to 183 in favour of the package. But for a second time in the House, not one opposition member backed the plan.

Minority leader in the House John Boehner described the 1,071 page Bill as "an act of generational theft".

The plan comprises of $281 billion (£195b) in tax cuts and more than half a trillion dollars in spending projects.

Its passing is seen as crucial for the early Obama administration. The President has on a number of occasions stressed the urgent need for it to be passed. But his calls for bi-partisan support has fallen on deaf ears in Congress.

It leaves the administration open to criticism if the stimulus fails to revive the flatlined US economy.

Mr Boehner said that a Bill that is supposed to be "jobs, jobs, jobs" has been turned into one that is "spend, spend, spend".

"This is disappointing. The American people expect more than this," he said.

Mr Boehner added: "The legislation falls woefully short. With a price tag of more than one trillion US dollars when you factor in interest, it costs every family almost 10,000 US dollars in added debt.

"This is an act of generational theft that our children and grandchildren will be paying for far into the future."

But Democrats heaped praise on the Bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "By investing in new jobs, in science and innovation, in energy, in education, we are investing in the American people, which is the best guarantee of the success of our nation."

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