Bush seeks lawmakers' help to approve Indo-US nuclear deal

Washington, Mar 8: US President George W Bush has sought the help of key lawmakers to get Congressional approval of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal after returning from India.

In a meeting with a group of Congressmen at the White House yesterday, Mr Bush wanted to know their concerns about the deal.

The hour-long meeting was also attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, who was the chief negotiator on the deal.

Later, Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, said he told President Bush to seek an exemption from the House and the Senate in order for the nuclear agreement to be concluded since India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Mr Ackerman, who is also Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said in a statement ''President Bush listened very carefully to all that was said and he seemed to appreciate the input.'' Mr Ackerman added that President Bush frankly admitted that he needed the help of the lawmakers to seeing the deal through.

He said, '' I think his use of the words 'needs help' was an understatement. While I told the President that I was in favour of the deal, I advised him that if he thought it was difficult negotiating with India, he should wait until he gets to Capitol Hill with it''.

Several Congressmen have expressed skepticism about the deal and even complained that they were kept in the dark by the Bush administration till it was announced suddenly on July 18 last year.

Mr Ackerman said Mr Bush also took the opportunity to complement Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his part in negotiating the agreement.

The President also told Mr Ackerman that the Prime Minister brought up no commitments about the Iranian pipeline issue.

Although supportive of the deal, Mr Ackerman has been critical of the President for proceeding with the agreement without a plan to ensure its approval by Congress.

''The President did not take any members of Congress with him to India unlike what President Clinton did in 2000; he has not designated any member of Congress or the Cabinet to lobby the issue; there are no bills ready to be introduced and there is no timetable to conclude the agreement'', Mr Ackerman said.

''Although I'm convinced that the agreement is a good deal, the President must get on the ball and sell it to other members of Congress. Hopefully he has woken-up and now realises that he is not the only one in the government.'' The US-Indo agreement was announced by US President Bush and Prime Minister Singh during the American leader's trip to India last week.

UNI

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