Although the Senate has approved the Clinton administration's request for another $18 billion for the fund, the House has approved only $3.4 billion. The amount will have to be reconciled in conference.

• Although IMF officials claim to have only $5 billion to $9 billion in remaining usable resources, the General Accounting Office says it has access to about $86 billion: $39 billion in usable contributions, $32 billion in gold and a credit line of $15 billion.

• Moreover, it has the authority to borrow considerable sums directly from private financial markets -- perhaps as much as $60 billion.

• The near certainty of IMF bailouts encourages countries to indulge in risky lending practices.

• Subsidized interest rates -- currently under 4.5 percent -- encourage economic inefficiency.

• IMF secrecy hampers Congress' ability to evaluate how taxpayers' money is being used -- its operational budgets, for example, are classified information.

• As well as being costly to U.S. taxpayers, subsidized bailouts create perverse incentives leading to more vulnerable financial systems.

Source: Jim Saxton, "An Unreformed IMF Doesn't Deserve a Dime," Wall Street Journal, September 22, 1998.