Bush administration slammed in Senate over Indian nuclear deal

[cal04]

Senators criticised the US administration for not being transparent with lawmakers on a controversial civilian nuclear deal with India. Legislators were particularly interested in an agreement being negotiated with New Delhi detailing the landmark deal clinched on March 2 by President George W. Bushand Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The deal would allow India, which is not a signatory of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), access to long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing a majority of its atomic reactors under international safeguards.

Speaking at a hearing on the deal, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden charged that the administration had "reneged" on a promise to share drafts of the bilateral nuclear agreement. The United States had sought a provision in the agreement that nuclear cooperation would be discontinued if India conducts a nuclear test, but New Delhi has flatly rejected the suggestion, officials have said.

Biden said the administration also had yet to answer a deluge of questions posed by lawmakers, or share with them the full list of India's civil nuclear facilities -- "even in classified form". He wanted the administration's "negotiating record" on the question of international safeguards that Indian nuclear reactors would be subject to. The International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), the UN global nuclear watchdog, is still negotiating with India on the safeguards.

"All parties involved in the negotiations, including the Bush administration, should facilitate the maximum amount of transparency possible, so that Congress is better equipped to make informed judgments," said Republican Senator Dick Lugar, who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committeewhich held a hearing Wednesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060427/pl_afp/usindianuclear_060427011334

[TomInTib]

1. This smelled to high heaven at the time

Exempting present and future Gen4 plants was bs and everyone in the industry knew it.

[rodeodance]

2. L..Dobbs reported on this--a quest was saying WH is trying to change

the # of votes nec. for approval (some legislature rule Frist is in on).

[rodeodance]

3. or letting it lapse for 90 days in which case it goes into effect automati

cally. I did not catch all of it. but lou said--We have had a bellyfull of this crap from the WH.

[rodeodance]

4. Ok--here is the Dobbs transcript

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/26/ldt.01.html

PILGRIM: By law, Congress has the power to block the deal. But the Bush administration wants to change the rules.

GARY MILHOLLIN, THE WISCONSIN PROJECT: What the administration is trying to do is, in effect, get rid of congressional oversight. Under the present rules, Congress has to affirmatively vote yes before an agreement for cooperation with India can go into effect. But the administration is afraid that they can't get that vote. So what they want to do is have the agreement go into effect automatically after 90 days.

PILGRIM: The march signing was only a joint statement of understanding. The Bush administration is trying to force Congress to give up its oversight.

HENRY SOKOLSKI, NPEC: All of those questions seem to be pushed aside by a mad rush to try to get to "yes" and get this thing off -- off the plate. I would hope that people who are concerned about selling our security quickly would say, we really owe it to ourselves to demand that Congress get this right. Right now, most Americans don't know much about this.

PILGRIM: India is anxious to have the deal done. Its reactors are expected to run out of fuel next year.

[The Wielding Truth]

5. Yes we have!

"We have had a bellyfull of this crap from the WH."

[rodeodance]

6. yes, a BIG BELLY-full from the WH