Armey said Clinton still lacks a majority in the House and if he wants the IMF bill to pass he may have to agree to accept restrictions that ban the use of federal funds for groups that lobby foreign governments to allow abortion or provide abortion services, even if money for that purpose comes from other sources. "We are going to continue to press to relieve taxpayers of the burden of that kind of use of their money every place where we have an opportunity to do so," he said.
Clinton has asked Congress to approve $18 billion of additional funding for the IMF which has been depleted by economic crisis in southeast Asia. The controversy over abortion funding has also scuttled other foreign policy bills, including a plan to send $1 billion to the United Nations as payment for the United States' assessed dues in arrears.