US Senate panel advances US-India nuclear deal

Posted 09 24 2008 4:08PM

WASHINGTON - A U.S.-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement moved closer to approval by Congress on Tuesday but still faces hurdles.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-2 to approve a bill that would allow ratification. But it remained unclear whether the full Congress would follow suit before wrapping up for the year to campaign for November's elections.

The accord, one of President Bush's top foreign policy initiatives, faces strong criticism from opponents who say the extra fuel the measure provides could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic uranium for weapons, which could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia.

Sen. Joe Biden, Democratic candidate for vice president and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, was campaigning in the Washington area and welcomed his committee's action in his absence.

"Enactment of this bill will help the U.S.-India 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," he said. "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, and I'll continue fighting as hard as I can to achieve this important victory."

Though the bill cleared the senate committee it must still pass the full House and Senate amid a busy legislative schedule and dwindling time.

"We continue to work very hard with the Congress in getting this through the Senate and the House," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in New York, where he is with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "We are doing everything we can ... to get this passed in this session of Congress."

The Bush administration needs the Democratic-controlled Congress' help to overcome a law that says lawmakers may not ratify the accord for 30 working days after they receive it. The Bush administration rushed the deal to Congress on Sept. 10, but that left insufficient time for ratification before the election break without the change in the law.

Earlier this month, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group of countries that supply nuclear material and technology agreed to lift the ban on civilian nuclear trade with India, the last necessary step before Congress could consider the deal.

The administration has warned that a failure to ratify the deal would keep U.S. firms from doing business in India's multibillion dollar nuclear energy sector.

The accord would reverse three decades of U.S. policy by shipping atomic fuel to India in return for international inspections of India's civilian, but not its military, reactors. India has refused to sign nonproliferation agreements and has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974.