ON THE MORNING of January 28th April Mullins-Datko, the director of ADVOCAP, a social-services provider in Fond Du Lac, a city of 40,000 people in Wisconsin, put in her usual request to draw down $250,000 to pay staff salaries and other expenses connected with Head Start, a federal programme that provides child care, education and food to families on low incomes. Every other time ADVOCAP has done this the money has arrived within 48 hours.