WASHINGTON, March 14: The US Congress may seek to put unspecified conditions on the Indo-US nuclear deal amid the Bush administration’s warning that such moves could scuttle the deal, a key lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The disclosure by Representative Henry Hyde, chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, could presage more trouble for the controversial accord, which has come under sharp attack from lawmakers and others concerned about proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Last week, Rep Hyde, a member of the ruling Republican Party from Illinois, and the committee’s senior Democrat Tom Lantos of California met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and accepted her proposal to jointly introduce legislation needed to implement the deal. But Mr Hyde suggested that Congress might seek conditions for its approval.
Earlier reports said that Congress could hold hearings on the Indo-US pact later this month but Congressional aides are now saying that it’s difficult to predict when the proceedings would start.
Congressman Lantos’ spokeswoman, Lynne Weil, said it would take Congress ‘months’ to act. “There are a lot of members raising concerns, including some in the US-India Caucus,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to rush precipitously into something like this. The implications for non-proliferation are huge.”
Mr Hyde said: “This is a complex agreement with profound implications for US and global interests.”
