Advancing the hope for an early Indo-US nuclear accord, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve the Bill by 19 to 2, sending it to the full Senate (rpt) Senate.
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 NSG 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 (NPT).
"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 NPT," 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 Senator and a major backer of the civil nuclear initiative Richard Lugar of Indiana told a news agency 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 a news agency, 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 NSG 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 IAEA 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-US 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-US relationship grow, while advancing Indias ability to meet its energy needs in a way that fits within the cooperation framework, Congress has worked so hard to establish."
"Todays 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-US nuclear deal is going to be tagged to some kind of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government functioning after 30th September 2008.
By DDNEWS India
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