Senate meets today, N-deal on agenda

With the US Senate meeting for a month-long session tomorrow, the Bush administration is keen that the Act on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is passed without changes.

"The administration is keen on the Senate voting on the S 3709 (United States India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Bill) as it stands today. The administration is aware of India's apprehensions, concerns and objections in the Senate Bill, especially as it pertains to sections 106 (prohibition on certain exports and re-exports) and 107 (end-use monitoring programme)," sources said.

They said the administration was against starting an argument with the Senators but wanted to apply pressure for dropping the provisions.

Indications were that the Bill would come up in the full chamber sometime in the third week of September. But no one either on Capitol Hill or elsewhere gave a firm timeline.

It has been pointed out that the White House and the administration are keen to have the Senate pass the Bill. Prior to the Senate going into a recess last month, the administration was said to have leaned on majority Leader Bill Frist to schedule the vote. It could not be done as there were other pressing issues and votes.

The administration is aware of the urgency as the Senate has just about a month before its target adjournment. The Senate has to pass the Bill and have the versions reconciled so that it and the House of Representatives can pass the final versions before adjournment of the second session of the 109th Congress on October 6.

All unfinished legislative business will have to be re-introduced in the new 110th Congress when it reconvenes in January, 2007, and if by any chance, the composition of the Congress changes in the November 7 elections, it would be a different ballgame, sources said.

There is also a larger procedural impediment that is yet to be sorted out. Taking out of Title Two of S 3709 that has no relevance to India but is a protocol having to do with the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Several conservative Republicans are against the additional protocol and want it to be voted upon separately. Lawmakers like Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Ensign of Nevada were not satisfied with the kind of obligations Washington was signing on as part of an additional protocol with the IAEA, especially as it pertained to inspections and payments.

"Tags" are a routine part of the American legislative process but in the present instance, Title 2 of S 3709 runs the risk of jeopardising the substantive part of the legislation dealing with the deal. Diplomatic sources point out that the additional protocol will have to be "de-tagged" from S 3709 for the simple reason that the Bill, in its original form, will have difficulty in rounding up Republican support.

There is apprehension that Conservative lawmakers inclined to support the deal will vote against the Senate Bill if the additional protocol remains a part of the measure.