Within minutes of the close of Barack Obama’s first presidential press conference on Monday night, the Republican party issued a stinging response. Mr Obama appealed to Republicans to put aside partisan differences and warned of catastrophe if Congress failed to enact the $800bn-plus economic stimulus.

In his rapid rebuttal, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, said: “The legislation moving its way through Congress bears little resemblance to what President Obama described at tonight’s press conference…[It] is filled with unnecessary and wasteful programmes that will saddle future generations with massive debt.”