<html><base href="http://biz.yahoo.com/"><title>Yahoo - U.S. Congress pressed to fund IMF amid market chaos</title><center><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr><td width="1%"><a href="http://quote.yahoo.com/?u"><img src="http://us.yimg.com/i/fi/main4.gif" border=0 width=281 height=31 alt="Yahoo! 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Congress has targeted Oct. 9 to adjourn ahead of the midterm elections in November.<p>Analysts said the IMF would benefit from division within the Republican party. Democrats already overwhelmingly support the package.<p>``It does not take much expertise to see this crisis could affect the United States,'' said Greg Mastel of the Economic Strategy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.<p>``It allows them (White House officials) to make a pretty strong case that we have a serious global economic problem and the IMF is the best way to limit the damage.''<p>But Russia's financial meltdown has put the IMF, already under fire for policies in Asia, on the defensive.<p>Russian stocks and the rouble currency have crumbled despite a $22.6 billion IMF-led bailout, sending shock waves through global financial markets. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 481.97 points last week alone, and many analysts feared the coming days could bring even more losses.<p>With many Americans owning stocks, lawmakers know they are vulnerable to attack for betraying their voters' interests.<p>New Jersey Republican Rep. Jim Saxton, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, has accused the IMF of squandering its money on Moscow. Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican, said money from the IMF and the U.S. government was being ``pillaged'' by corrupt Russian institutions.<p>IMF opponents were already planning hearings to attack the agency for its role in Russia. The House Banking Oversight subcommittee said it would call Karin Lissakers, U.S. executive director to the IMF, and David Lipton, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, to testify on Sept 10.<p>Complicating matters, IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus said on Friday that the lending agency was ready to fund more bailout loans if needed, despite earlier warnings it would not have the cash.<p>Assurances that the IMF had the money to arrange new bailouts may comfort panic-stricken markets, but could fuel opposition in Congress from Saxton and other lawmakers, who have accused the IMF and the U.S. administration of exaggerating the agency's financial problems to curry support.<p>The Senate, which approved IMF funding earlier this year, was expected to vote on it again later this week to underscore its strong support for the package and speed action in the House. The House Appropriations Committee plans to vote on IMF legislation next week.  <p><hr align=left width="33%" noshade><table border=0 cellpadding=0><tr valign=top><td colspan=3><b>Related News Categories:</b> <a href="/n/z/z0006.html">currency</a>, <a href="/reports/world.html">international</a>, <a href="/n/z/z0002.html">options</a>, <a href="/n/z/z0007.html">politics</a>, <a href="/reports/stocks.html">US Market News</a></td></tr></table><hr align=left width="33%" noshade><center><form method=get action="http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news"><input size=24 name=p> <input type=submit value="Search News"><input type=hidden name=n value=10> <a href="http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/news_search_help.html"><small>Help</small></a></form><hr><small>Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. 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