Senate unlikely to take up nuke deal this week

WASHINGTON: With the US Senate winding down its legislative business at the end of this week, the chances of it taking up the Indo-US nuclear deal for debate and vote are dim, but some lawmakers are of the view that there may be a faint chance that it may be considered during the November lame duck session.

Some Congressional sources and policy analysts are of the opinion that one of president George W Bush’s top foreign policy initiatives may not get through this session. But it there is a faint chance that the law makers will consider the legislation in a lame duck session that is expected to convene by the middle of November for a period of two weeks to wrap up unfinished business for the 109th Congress.

“We have a very small window to complete our business over the next six days,” majority leader Bill Frist remarked at the start of the session of the Senate on Monday and urged for a week of co-operation from the Democrats.
But minority leader Harry Reid came back saying, “We have three days left and a list of things a mile long to do. Why? Because Republicans are busy campaigning, not leading.”

In fact, there are questions if the Senate will be in a position to pass the spending bills by Friday or Saturday. One argument has been that even if a ‘unanimous consent’ agreement has been reached by Senators on S 3709, the bill dealing with the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Co-operation, whether the legislation can actually reach the Senate floor for debate and vote is a matter not clear.

Sources at Capitol Hill and elsewhere say that the problem with the civilian nuclear deal in the Senate is that Republicans and Democrats are unable to come to an agreement on the procedural aspects of bringing the legislation to the floor, primarily as it relates to the length of the time of deba te, the number of amendments and the kinds of amendments that are to be permitted.

The procedural hurdles have to do with the fashion in which some Democrats view the US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Co-operation legislation as it stands and the fashion in which the Bush administration and the Republican Majority is trying to guide the legislation on the floor.

The point made in political circles is that the civilian nuclear legislation has a chance to be acted upon during the lame duck session in the middle of November, but this again depends on how the Congressional elections of November 7 turn out.

The argument goes that if the Democrats win either the House of Representatives or the Senate or even make substantial inroads in one of the two chambers, they could play “hardball” and insist on all unfinished legislative business being taken up in the 110th Congress, which will not convene until the beginning of ’07.

Congressional staffers have made the point in background conversations that the top priorities of the Senate include border fencing, a bill that sets interrogation standards and prosecution of terror suspects and approving spending bills for the departments of Defence and Homeland Security.

When the Senate resumes its deliberations on Tuesday after discussing business matters, law makers are scheduled to take up the Border Fence Act for debate.