Senate panel approves Indo-US nuclear deal By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Sept 24 (PTI) Advancing the hope for the
early Indo-U.S. nuclear accord, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee voted to approve the Bill by 19 to 2 and send it to
full Congress.

The two law makers who voted against the deal were
Senators Barbara Boxer (by proxy) and Russel Feingold, both
Democrats.

Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama and
the Vice Presidental candidate Senator Joseph Biden, currently
the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted by
proxies to move the agreement to the Senate floor.

The business sitting of the powerful Senate panel saw the
Wisconsin Democrat Senator Feingold came out with his
amendment that essentially required certification that the
45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.) has amended its
guidelines to prohibit the transfer of enrichment and
reprocessing technology to any state that is not
a party to the Non-Priliferation Treaty (N.P.T.).

"The President may not exchange diplomatic notes pursuant
to Article 16(1) of the 5 Agreement unless the President
certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the
NSG has amended its guidelines to prohibit the transfer of
technology related to the enrichment of uranium and
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel to any state that is not a
party to the N.P.T.," the amendment by Feingold said.

The amendment was quickly rejected by 15 to 4 margin with
two Senators not voting - Senators Obama and Robert Menendez,
Democrat from New Jersey.

The four Senators who voted for the Feingold Amendment
were all Democrats-- Senators Feingold, Boxer, Robert Casey of
Pennsylvania and James Webb of Virginia, the last three by
proxies.

"I am happy that the Committee voted to send this
historic treaty by a vote of 19 to 2," Ranking Republican
major backer of the civil nuclear initiative Richard Lugar of
Indiana told PTI after the Senate Panel's proceedings.

"This was after good discussion and after an amendment by
Senator Feingold, which was rejected. I would simply say that
good work has come by with the State Department working with
Democratic and Republican staff to fashion language that could
pass today," Lugar added.

Both at the time of the debate on the Feingold's
amendment and after in remarks to PTI, Senator Lugar stressed
that the Wisconsin Democrat is indeed concerned with
non-proliferation problems.

"My point was that while we are trying to discuss the
general issue we should not deny the specific merit of the
India-US Agreement. And we would be pushing that into the
background trying to resolve another general non-proliferation
issue," Lugar said.

"So that is why it was suggested that a letter might go
to the Secretary of State and the President commending some of
the virtues of non-proliferation without disturbing the
specific vote we are having on India and the US," Lugar said.

In the course of debating the amendment, Lugar
maintained that the N.S.G. has "already spoken" on the matter.

Supporting his colleagues who spoke out against the
Feingold's Amendment, the Senator from Massachusetts John
Kerry maintained that the best thing would be to submit a
letter to the administration.

"What is important to recognise is that the International
Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) Director-General, Russia,
France and Britain, are supportive of the current structure,"
Kerry added.

Lugar maintained that negotiations between Republican and
Democratic staffers had proceeded "sensibly".

The Acting Chair of the Senate Panel Senator Christopher
Dodd reminded his colleagues that the panel had a "very good
hearing" on the agreement last week and that he supported the
Agreement "because of the importance of drawing India in".

The Chair of the Panel, Senator Joseph Biden, who has
given strong backing to the deal because of campaign
pre-occupations, issued a statement welcoming the approval of
his Committee of the Indo-U.S. accord.

"Showing commitment to peaceful nuclear cooperation with
India, I am pleased that the Foreign Relations Committee has
approved legislation today," Biden said in a statement.

"Sen Lugar and the other Members of this Committee have
worked hard to forge a bipartisan compromise on this important
and complex issue," he said.

"Enactment of this bill will help the Indo-U.S.
relationship grow, while advancing India’s ability to meet its
energy needs in a way that fits within the cooperation
framework, Congress has worked so hard to establish."

"Today’s committee passage is significant, but several
steps remain before this bill becomes law. I hope Congress can
complete the job in the few days remaining before
adjournment," Biden added.

The Mark Up in the Senate Panel essentially means that
the Bill seeking approval of both the countries is now in the
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office. The Nevada
Democrat is a strong supporter of the deal.

There are still many imponderables including that the
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman
Howard Berman is going to do. Along with this is the kind of
legislative strategy that is going to come about -- whether
the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal is going to be tagged to some kind
of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government functioning
after September 30,2008. PTI SK
BDS