(Updates with timing of Brown's expected return)

By Richard Cowan and Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts on Friday aimed at rescuing the struggling economy and the Senate was expected to pass the measure by late evening.

Democrats wielded their majority to push one of the largest spending bills in U.S. history through the House by a vote of 246-183 and edge President Barack Obama closer to an early political victory.

The Senate was expected to start voting at 5:30 p.m. (2230 GMT). Democrats control 58 of the 100 Senate seats and are expected to get at least the two more votes needed to pass the stimulus package and send it to Obama for his signature.

But the vote was not expected to conclude until around 10:30 p.m. (0330 GMT Saturday) when Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is due to arrive back in Washington to cast the 60th vote after attending services for his late mother.

No House Republicans backed the stimulus measure, arguing it had too much spending and not enough tax breaks. That dashed Obama's quest for bipartisan support he had sought and had hoped would break the gridlock that has gripped Congress for years.

The final plan is split into 36 percent for tax cuts and 64 percent in spending and other provisions. That was close to the 40/60 split Obama had sought in his effort to jolt the economy, which he has warned could become a "catastrophe" without rapid government intervention.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer chastised Republicans, saying they were sticking to the same economic precepts that had proved a failure during the eight-year tenure of Republican President George W. Bush.