Barack Obama’s $800bn-plus stimulus package cleared a key hurdle on Monday night as senators voted to close off further debate and move to a final vote on the bill later on Tuesday.

The 61-36 “cloture” vote, which shut down the Republican filibuster, followed Mr Obama’s first public foray outside of Washington at a town hall event in Indiana, where he called on lawmakers to put an end to posturing to get the stimulus on the statute books.