Opposition to IMF Funding, Photo Provisions Delays War Funding Bill

Despite the House and Senate having both passed the Obama Administration’s war funding supplemental, and reports last week of a tentative deal to reconcile the two versions with one another, opposition to the final bill continues to linger and in fact grow on two bones of contention.

Many Republicans continue to object to the provision for a $108 billion line of credit to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Besides concern that some of the money could be used to finance terrorist activities, Republicans insist it amounts to a global bailout.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has condemned the criticism as “scare tactics” and insists that the provision is vital to national security since the IMF “can be a force for alleviating the fury of despair among people, poor people throughout the world.”

Another front of opposition emerged today among Democrats who remain irked at a Senate provision that would require the secretary of defense to certify that any detainee photos released would not endanger the lives of any US citizens. The provision was designed to give the Obama Administration a legal basis for refusing to release the detainee photos it blocked last month.