Mulford reassures India on passage of N-bill

NEW DELHI: The Bush administration is determined to see the Indo-US civilian deal through in the Congress, and if it doesn’t happen in the lame-duck session in November it would go through in a newly-constituted Congress.

US ambassador to India David C Mulford on Friday said that he hoped that the US Senate would vote on the nuclear waiver legislation in the lame-duck session after the congressional elections, but also cautioned that the lame-duck session was largely meant for budgetary bills. ‘They (Democrats and Republicans) agreed they should continue efforts to enact this legislation. They are trying their best and hope that they will be able to do it in this session,” he said.

He also indicated that the Bush administration was reconciled to the possibility that the deal might have to go through the entire Congressional process if it is not brought up in the lame-duck session. “If the deal does not get the Senate vote and the presidential signature this year, the whole Congressional process will have to start all over again next year after a new Congress is elected,’’ he added.

That would mean that the bill will have to be reintroduced into the system through the two committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The bill got stuck in political wrangling between the Republicans and Democrats just ahead of congressional elections. Both parties were unable to decide on a “unanimous consent agreement” and the Democrats refused to let the bill pass without a debate or amendments.

Mr Mulford said that the problem was about methodology, adding that the bill still enjoyed bipartisan support. “There were differences of opinion over parliamentary methodology. They (the Democrats and the Republicans) couldn’t resolve their differences in time. Literally, they ran out of time,’’ he said. He added that pre-election emotions and election campaigns were among the reasons for the delay.

He also tried to address concerns about killer amendments being brought in by the Democrats “It was a finely balanced deal on both sides. Substantial changes to the deal will render it ineffectual,’’ he said.

Mr Mulford also said that differences on issues like a ban on nuclear testing would be resolved through the bilateral or 123 nuclear agreement and that the matter would have to be dealt with in one way or the other. He also said that the deal is a “very special initiative” for India and was a one-time exception for New Delhi which Washington was not going to repeat for anyone else.