Democratic lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a much-awaited $825bn stimulus package to halt America’s vertiginous economic slide which Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said was only the “first step” in a process that could take weeks to pass into law.

The bill, which Barack Obama, the incoming president, wants enacted before mid-February when Congress goes into a short recess, comes in at $50bn (€38bn, £34bn) higher than the initial ceiling set by his transition team. But economists said they expected it to climb towards the important psychological threshold of $1,000bn by the time it becomes law.