Thursday, June 29 2006 10:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The India-US nuclear deal is expected to get another ringing endorsement Thursday from a key panel of the US Senate close on the heels of its approval by a committee of the lower house by an overwhelming 37-5 majority.

The draft enabling bill coming up for review by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not been made public, but it's expected to be on the lines of the House panel's 'historic' legislation that set out a two-vote process for the deal's final Congressional approval.



Like their counterparts on the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, the Senate panel's Republican Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana and leading Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware have chosen to bring forward an altogether new bill instead of the one they had introduced last March at the Bush administration's bidding.



"The Committee has taken its role in the Constitutional review process of this important diplomatic endeavour very seriously," Lugar stated, noting the 18-member panel made up of ten Republicans and eight Democrats has had four hearings with testimony from 17 witnesses, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and two closed intelligence briefings with the under secretaries of state, Nick Burns and Bob Joseph.



The Senate panel's approval of the enabling legislation on Thursday would pave the way for its introduction before the two houses of US Congress some time in mid-July when it reconvenes after a ten-day recess.



The House and Senate versions are not expected to differ substantially in the operational part, as Lugar and House panel chairman Henry Hyde, who has played key roles to build a bipartisan consensus around the deal, have been in touch to ensure that there is no conflict between the two houses as that could delay the whole process.

Both Washington and New Delhi are keen to complete the two-step approval process by August. In the first instance, the proposed legislation would "exempt from certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 US exports to India of nuclear materials, equipment and technology" after the president makes a set of determinations.

This in turn would allow the Bush administration to negotiate the so-called 123 Agreement - the specific bilateral contract on nuclear cooperation - named so after the relevant section of the US law. It would then go before the Congress again for final approval.

The required presidential determinations include India's separation plan for civilian and military nuclear facilities, conclusion of a safeguards agreement and an additional protocol with the IAEA, working with the US on the fissile material cut off treaty and a moratorium on nuclear tests.

These, diplomatic sources point out, are well within the ambit of the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 joint statements of President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.