BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
with agency inputs
NEW DELHi/washington, Sept. 7: Washington is scrambling to get the India-US nuclear deal past Congress despite dissenting voices from some Democrats.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that time was running short but she will talk to House and Senate committee chairmen Howard Berman and Joseph Biden on Monday or Tuesday. The US Congress meets Monday. The first thing "is that we still have a little more to do on the determinations for the Hyde Act, and we will try to complete that," Ms Rice told reporters in Algiers.
Both US presidential candidates welcomed the NSG waiver, with Republican John McCain asking Congress to act "expeditiously" to approve the deal and Democrat Barack Obama seeking its quick submission before Congress.
Mr Howard Berman and fellow Democrat Edward Markey are, however, adding to Washington’s worries by saying Congress should not rush its approval through.
Mr Berman told the New York Times he would not consider any "expedited" timetable until the Bush administration provides him more information about the Vienna negotiations. He said he wants to ensure the US did not cut any side deals with the NSG by promising other countries they could sell nuclear technology to India which the US still cannot.
Mr Berman had raised a political storm in India by releasing the text of a US state department letter, which contradicts New Delhi’s interpretation of some key clauses. Mr Markey said he doubts if the House and Senate can take it up before adjourning for the November US polls.
Normally 30 working days is the mandatory period required for legislation to be passed in Congress but President Bush can invoke certain powers so that he is able to ratify the 123 Agreement when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels to Washington later this month. Dr Singh will be in the US capital on a day’s visit after attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
