Divided US Senate unveils stimulus deal

WASHINGTON, (AFP) – After days of bitter debate, President Barack Obama's Democratic Senate allies unveiled a pared-down plan to pump at least 780 billion dollars into the US economy and vowed to pass it by next week.

Details were elusive, but Democratic Senator John Kerry said the final total broke down into 42 percent in tax cuts and the rest in government spending.

Republicans said their calculations put the new bill at roughly 830 billion dollars, plus nearly 350 billion dollars in debt service -- meaning the overall price tag was about 1.2 trillion dollars.