Bush admn hopeful of "timely" ratification of 123 agreement

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Sep 9 (PTI) The Bush administration is
working on the Hyde Amendment Package to be submitted to the
U.S. Congress and there are good chances that the 123
agreement would be ratified in a "timely fashion" in view of
the bipartisan support, senior officials have said.

"As we speak, we have people working on...the so-called
Hyde amendment package. So we are busily working on that, we,
the U.S. government, in preparing to submit that to the
Congress," State Department spokesperson McCormack said.

Though he said that the time for the Congress to ratify
the deal is short, the Bush administration is committed to
trying to move that agreement forward, McCormack said.

McCormack said that senior members of Congress
including Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard
Berman and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Senator Joseph Biden have been contacted to push the deal.

"We're going to do everything we can to hold up our end
of the bargain," he added.

His comments came after the White House said yesterday
that President George W Bush is "hopeful" of being able to
push the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal through Congress before his
term ends in January next year.

"We will work with Congress to get this agreement
approved. We're hopeful," National Security Council spokesman
Gordon Johndroe said.

Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Dana Perino has said
that as the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal has "bipartisan
support" in the legislature, there are "good" chances that the
123 agreement would be ratified in the Congress in a "timely
fashion".

"I would say that signs for it to be able to pass are
good given the bipartisan support it's enjoyed in the past. I
don't think anything has changed in that regard. So if they
are able to get anything done, this could be one of them,"
she said.

The landmark civilian nuclear agreement, which received a
waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group on Saturday,
after hectic parleys spanning over three days will help create
more jobs for Americans and Indians, besides helping to
address issues of climate change, Perino said.

"It increases jobs for Indians and for Americans. It
increases innovation and competition. Civil nuclear energy is
the way of the future if we want to power this country (India)
in a way that is clean, renewable, and does not emit
greenhouse gases," she added.

The deal faces its final hurdle as the U.S. Congress met
yesterday for its session that ends on September 26.