Washington  - The US Senate opened debate Monday on an unprecedented 888-billion-dollar spending package designed to help pull the United States out of recession, but lawmakers remain divided over both its size and scope.

President Barack Obama, a newly inaugurated Democrat who has staked his economic recovery hopes on passage of the stimulus measure, urged legislators to resolve their disagreements swiftly.

He met late Monday with leaders of the centre-left Democratic majority in Congress. The White House issued a statement calling it a "productive meeting."

"They agreed on the urgency of passing effective legislation in the short term and committed to continue working together to achieve the bipartisan consensus that the president has sought throughout this process," an Obama spokesman said.

Obama hopes the package, a mixture of tax cuts and public spending programmes, will revive consumer spending and create or save at least 3 million jobs in the US in the next two years, after 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008. The US has been in recession since December 2007.

"There are still some differences between Democrats and Republicans. ... But what we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward quickly," Obama said after a White House meeting about the stimulus package with Vermont's Republican Governor Jim Douglas.

Centre-right opposition Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats still oppose the legislation, which they say spends too much money on non-essential programmes that will only balloon the already soaring US federal deficit while creating few new jobs.

"We've been throwing figures around like it was paper money," said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the upper chamber.

The US House of Representatives approved its own 819-billion- dollar stimulus package last week in a vote along party lines, but passage in the 100-member Senate will require at least some Republican support. Legislation typically needs at least 60 votes to overcome procedural measures that opponents can use to block bills.

The Senate version is more expensive than the House legislation, primarily because of an added provision that lowers taxes on middle class earners.

McConnell said that Republican senators would be pushing for significant changes in the coming days, including more tax cuts and more relief for struggling homeowners at the heart of the economic downturn.

"We're not trying to prevent a package from passing. We're trying to reform it," McConnell told reporters.

A vote could take place by Friday. Senate passage would require lawmakers from both chambers to meet to resolve differences between their two versions.

Democratic leaders have vowed to get a final stimulus bill approved and ready for Obama's signature by the end of next week, arguing that speed is of the essence.

"This bill is not perfect, but we must not let our fear of imperfection stop us from taking the bold steps necessary to address this crisis," said Daniel Inouye, Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (dpa)