President Barack Obama's plan to give an extra $108bn to the International Monetary Fund was in danger of falling apart yesterday as Republican lawmakers opposed the extra funding and Democrat leaders scrambled to win enough votes without them.
Mr Obama has called for member countries to beef up the IMF to help it combat the global downturn. At April's G20 meeting he promised to increase the US contribution and secured similar promises from others. But he has run into problems in a Congress weary of bail-outs and concerned about the swelling budget deficit.
Democrats tucked the request for the $108bn (€76bn, £67bn) into a $90bn war funding bill, which passed the Senate but now has to be reconciled with a House version that does not include it. As the money is in the form of a credit line, the budgetary impact has been calculated at just $5bn.