Bush administration against deal-breaker amendments on N-deal

WASHINGTON: The Bush Administration has pledged to favour and support a bi-partisan legislation on Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, but asserted it was against "deal-breaker" amendments by US Congress that would force it to "go back and renegotiate" the pact.

"We have pledged to the Congress today that we would favour, support, a majority vote, a straight up and down vote in the Congress at the end of the process on that US-India bilateral agreement," said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, the Administration's pointsman for the pact that would enable US to share civilian nuclear technology with India.

"I made that commitment to many members of the House and Senate today and I think that will be an important provision of the final piece of legislation... I am sure Congress will want to add its own ideas on the Bill. The Bill can be strengthened by Congressional ideas," Burns told a forum on the deal, organised by Congressional Task Force on US-India Trade and US India Business Alliance.

But he warned: "We have always said at the beginning that we wouldn't support deal breakers--requirements and amendments that would force us to go back and renegotiate this agreement. We are not willing to do that."

"Because of the interplay between the Congress and the administration, this is a stronger Bill because Congress has been able to add its own views and I think the Bill is strengthened because of that. We are optimistic that this legislation can now go forward," Burns said.
 
The House International Relations Committee is scheduled on June 27 for a 'mark-up'-- or fine-tuning the text-- of a bi-partisan legislation authored by its Chairman Henry Hyde and Ranking member Tom Lantos on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Next day, Senate Foreign Relations Committee would mark-up a bill authored by its Chairman Richard Lugar and Ranking Democrat Jospeh Biden.