Tom DeLay, who is stepping down from Congress in the face of a potential election upset this year, will be able to use $1.3m in remaining campaign contributions to pay his legal fees, according to experts.

The campaign war chest is likely to come in handy: Mr DeLay is facing charges in Texas that he fraudulently laundered corporate campaign contributions to state legislators. Separately, federal prosecutors have indicted and secured guilty pleas from two former aides to the former House majority leader and Jack Abramoff, the so-called super-lobbyist who had a close association with Mr DeLay and who is at the centre of a lobbying scandal.