WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making what her spokesman calls a "full-court press" to win passage in Congress of a landmark US-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal before January.
In a flurry of contacts with both houses of the Democrat-controlled Congress, Rice is telephoning and meeting key lawmakers to seal a deal that passed a major weekend hurdle, spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Rice, he added, will also seek the Indian government's cooperation in order to reassure Congress that the deal signed by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005 carries adequate safeguards.
"From her perspective, this is a full court press, working with the Congress," McCormack said, using a basketball analogy for an all-out effort to win passage of the deal before President George W. Bush's term ends in January.
"She has made a lot of calls. She does have a lot of meetings coming up," the State Department spokesman said.
US lawmakers returned to work Monday after their August recess -- and are expected to leave Washington again in late September to campaign ahead of the November 4 elections, leaving little time for action on the agreement.
US congressional approval is the final hurdle for the pact, which offers India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy as long as it allows UN nuclear inspections of some of its nuclear facilities.
The United States won approval in Vienna on Saturday for the one-off waiver for India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology.
The Group was founded to stop other countries emulating India's example in using imported technology to make an atomic bomb.
McCormack said Rice has spoken to fellow Republicans like House Minority leader John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell.
She has also spoken to powerful Democrats like Joseph Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and intends to meet Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, he said.
In a meeting later Tuesday, Rice and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, discussed "the agreement and the process for considering it once it is submitted," said Nadeam Elshami, a Pelosi spokesman.
"The speaker looks forward to reviewing the submission in detail and consulting with chairman Berman and members of the leadership in determining the appropriate course of action on this matter," Elshami told AFP.
He highlighted the key role played by Berman who has demanded that any final agreement be consistent with a special law -- the Hyde Act -- passed overwhelmingly in 2006 laying the foundation for the nuclear deal.
"Before we vote, Congress needs to study the NSG decision, along with any agreements that were made behind the scenes to bring it about," Berman said.
A key condition under the Hyde Act is immediate termination of all nuclear commerce by NSG member states if India detonates a nuclear device.
Weapons experts said the NSG did not provide clear restrictions over India's involvement in nuclear trade or about terminating such commerce if India conducted a test explosion.
And officials at the White House and State Department have declined to confirm directly that the United States would cut off nuclear fuel supplies if India tested a nuclear weapon.
McCormack said Rice "made very clear to her staff" Tuesday that she wants to have all material Congress has requested concerning the Hyde Act sent to them within "the next 24 to 48 hours."
He added it was also a "full court press with the Indians as well" to obtain from them assurances required by Congress.
The deal has stirred huge controversy in India.
Both the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the communists slammed the deal, saying it would curb India's military options and bring the country's foreign policy too much under US influence.
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