US promises to move its nuke deal with India through Congress

Washington, Jun 18 (UNI) The Bush Administration has promised to make every effort possible to move the Indo-US Civil Nuclear agreement through the US Congress if the Indian government approves it before January 20, the day new administration assumes office in the United States.

''The bottom line is, from now until January 20, we'll continue to work to support this agreement. We'll continue to encourage the Indian Government to approve it. And if such time, it is approved, whether that is today, tomorrow, or January 19, we will make every effort to move it through Congress,'' State Department's Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said yesterday.

''we would certainly hope that the next administration, whoever comes to office in January, would also see this agreement as something fundamentally in America's interest and want to move forward with it as well,'' he said.

''Fundamentally, we think that the India Civil Nuclear Agreement is something that's in the interests of both countries. But, you know, the obstacle has been that the Indian Government has some internal political issues that it needs to resolve before it can move forward with it,'' the Spokesman said.

Casey said, ''I guess we could all get out our calendars and figure out how many more days Congress is actually in session between now and January 20, and how likely it would be that should an agreement be reached at a certain point, you could get it on the calendar and move it to vote and have those votes take place in time, and all that other great stuff.'' UNI XC CS VP0716