WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT-elect Barack Obama will meet on Monday with key congressional leaders to finalise a multi-billion-dollar economic stimulus plan Democrats hope to pass shortly after Mr Obama takes office on Jan 20, officials told AFP on Friday.

The meeting will be Mr Obama's first with Capitol Hill lawmakers since his historic Nov 4 election victory, and his first high-profile act in Washington after moving to the capital from his Chicago home on Sunday.

As his daughters Sasha and Malia head to their first day at a new school, Mr Obama heads to work, meeting the heads of both legislative houses, including Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives speaker Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

For several weeks Mr Obama's economic team have been in talks over a future package. The negotiations were almost wrapped up before Christmas, vice-president elect Joe Biden said in an interview.

According to US media reports, the bill to be presented to lawmakers could top US$850 billion ($1.2 trillion), while some commentators say the eventual package could top a trillion dollars.

To revive the world's largest economy, struggling amid global financial turmoil, the incoming White House economic team hopes to create three million jobs - 80 per cent of which will be in the private sector.

The stimulus plan will attempt to favour long-term infrastructure and job creation projects over tactics aimed at boosting consumer spending, according to Obama advisor Lawrence Summers, tapped to head the new White House National Economic Council.

With the United States facing gloomy forecasts of up to 10-per cent unemployment and a deepening recession in 2009 - likely 'the bleakest economic outlook since World War II' - Mr Lawrence Summers said creating three million new jobs was a 'key pillar' of Mr Obama's plan.

'In this crisis, doing too little poses a greater threat than doing too much,' Mr Summers wrote in an editorial in The Washington Post.

'Any sound economic strategy in the current context must be directed at both creating the jobs that Americans need and doing the work that our economy requires.'

Mr Obama is also expected to discuss with lawmakers the legislative agenda of the new Congress, which will meet for the first time next week.

Apart from the stimulus package, priorities for the Democratic-led Congress include the 2009 budget, proposed middle class tax cuts promised by Mr Obama on the campaign trail, and health care reform.

Republican congressional leaders may also join the discussions on Monday.

ABC news reported that House Republican leader John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell are expected to participate in the talks, though Republican congressional aides did not confirm a schedule.

President George W. Bush has invited Mr Obama to a White House lunch on Wednesday, along with former presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

The president-elect, his wife Michelle and daughters returned to Chicago early on Friday from 12-day Hawaii vacation over the Christmas break.

They will be staying at the luxury Hay-Adams Hotel, a stone's throw from the White House.

Mr Obama had requested to stay at Blair House, the government's official guest residence just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, but the Bush administration said it was booked solid through Jan 15. -- AFP