(Recasts with Senate Finance Committee passage)

By Jeremy Pelofsky and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A key U.S. Senate panel expanded the economic stimulus package to about $887 billion on Tuesday as President Barack Obama met with Republican lawmakers in a bid to win their support despite deep skepticism.

The Senate Finance Committee approved its $522 billion portion by a vote of 14-9 with changes including a fix to insulate middle-class taxpayers from the Alternative Minimum Tax for a year. That item alone added almost $70 billion to the original $825 billion price tag of the legislative package.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, by a vote of 21-9, also approved its portion of the stimulus bill -- $365.6 billion in spending.

The passage by the two panels clears the way for the full Senate to begin debate on the bill, which the Democrats want to pass sometime next week.

The House of Representatives was expected to vote on its own version of the stimulus package on Wednesday, though it does not include the tax patch.

The two bodies would have to work out their differences before the bill can become law.

As the Senate panels worked, Obama went to Capitol Hill to try to win over skeptical Republicans, who have been pushing for more tax cuts and less spending.