Pro, anti-N-deal lobbies gear up to work Congress

With a deal struck on the 123 Agreement -- that was stalled for months -- following four days of intense negotiations last month in Washington between American and Indian negotiators, the respective lobbies in favour of and against the US-India civilian nuclear agreement, were preparing once again to battle for the hearts and minds of lawmakers.

The agreement will make its way to Congress for approval as the next phase of the deal before it can be consummated.

Although the specifics and the key nuances are yet to be made public, notwithstanding both the Indian and US governments signing off on the agreement, US business and industry along with the Indian-American community were mobilising to urge Congress to overwhelmingly approve this agreement too once India hammers out its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The nonproliferation lobby were sharpening its knives too, bent on torpedoing the deal which it believes if implemented would unravel the nonproliferation regime.

Ron Somers, the president of the US-India Business Council that has hired one of the top Washington, DC-based lobbying firms -- Patton Boggs -- to push through the deal on Capitol Hill, told rediff.com, "We are finalising talking points as we speak about the benefits of the deal regarding the advancement of nonproliferation goals, protection of the environment, and energy security and safety."

"We are in the process of preparing op-eds on these same subjects, plus others," he said, and also noted that "we are meeting with important decision-makers and thought leaders to enlist their support."

Somers said, "We are mobilising interest among our 275 US companies with interests in India, preparing for a sustained campaign on Capitol Hill that will seek to illuminate the attributes of the deal, and to allay any concerns that our elected officials may have."

"The USIBC is reaching out to partner organisations, to think tanks, to policy experts, and to the Indian-American community to join hands under the auspices of the US Chamber of Commerce's Coalition for Partnership with India in preparation of a sustained effort to ensure passage of the 123 Agreement at the earliest possible time -- as time is of the essence," he said.

Somers pointed out that "the Henry Hyde Act is already law, and this landmark legislation enables civilian nuclear cooperation between the world's two largest free-market democracies."

Thus, he added, "Our lawmakers need to hear how this strategic partnership will benefit America as well as India, and how the outcome of this historic initiative will accelerate the alignment of our two great democracies for the 21st century."

Somers said that the USIBC, Patton Boggs, and yet another top Washington lobbying firm, Stonebridge International, had already met as a group "and our best advocates and policy experts are preparing to support the administration in its effort to bring India into the international mainstream of nuclear nonproliferation and secure and safe nuclear energy development."

"We will wait and watch for word from either of our two governments, and then we will begin," he said, and added, "This historic opportunity, which goes far beyond commercial measure, is far too important to let slip away."

Meanwhile, community activist Swadesh Chatterjee, a North Carolina entrepreneur, who coordinated the US-India Friendship Council that was the umbrella organization for all of the Indian-American community, political and specialty organisations that in a concerted effort were catalytic in moving the enabling legislation -- the Hyde Act -- overwhelmingly in the House and Senate -- was in India urging the opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party not to throw a spanner in the works at a time when the impasse over the 123 Agreement has been broken and the deal is once again on track.

Chatterjee, who is well plugged in with BJP leaders and has received the Padma Bhushan during the tenure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government for actively promoting better understanding between the US and India, told rediff.com that he would meet with the hierarchy of the BJP and urge them to support the deal so that it can fructify before the term of President Bush expires and this historic deal begin to be implemented.

But the nonproliferationists weren't sitting on the sidelines either, and according to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, who has coordinated the coalition of arms control, nonproliferation and other like-minded groups to lobby Congress to reject the deal, said, "Of course, we are planning a strategy."

Kimball told rediff.com, "There are a lot of details about this agreement that will make a big difference as to whether this does or does not meet the requirements of the established Hyde Act and US law."

"No one at the moment has all of these details or knows the specifics of the negotiations and what kind of compromises were made, and so it's hard to comment on all of that without all of the details," he said.

But largely at the urging of the nonproliferation lobby, Congressman Ed Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, and a vehement critic of the deal, along with 22 other House members fired off a missive to President Bush, reiterating that any inconsistencies between the so-called 123 Agreement, US law and the underlying intent and purpose of the Hyde Act will put final Congressional approval in doubt.

His office made the point that the co-signers of the letter included both members who originally supported and originally opposed nuclear cooperation with India, and hence showing that the desire of Congress to defend the law transcends the differences which existed during the debate last year over the Hyde Act.

Markey said, "The Congress passed the Hyde Act less than a year ago, setting minimum conditions that must be met for nuclear cooperation with India, as well as the non-negotiable restrictions on such cooperation."

"These conditions and restrictions are not optional nor are they advisory; they were passed by the Congress and signed by the President," he noted.

Thus, he warned that "if the 123 Agreement has been intentionally negotiated to side-step or bypass the law and the will of Congress, final approval of this deal will be jeopardised."

Markey argued that "the President cannot re-write laws during a close-door negotiation session with a foreign government," and noted that "though some of us disagreed during last year's debate over nuclear cooperation with India, all of us are intent on defending the prerogatives of Congress and reinforcing that the law must be followed without exceptions."

In their letter to the President, the lawmakers wrote, "As you continue negotiations with India over nuclear cooperation, we write to underscore the necessity of abiding by the legal boundaries set by Congress for any such cooperation."

They said that the agreement for nuclear cooperation between the US and India "must be fully consistent with the letter and the spirit of the Henry Hyde US-India Peaceful Atomic Cooperation Act of 2006, and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended. The Hyde Act and the AEA set the minimal conditions to nuclear trade with India."

Thus, the lawmakers noted that the agreement "is subject to the approval of Congress, and any inconsistencies between the Agreement and the relevant US laws will call Congressional approval deeply into doubt."

"In addition," they wrote, "our concern over India's ties to Iran have grown more acute with the formation this spring of a Joint Defense Working Group between the two countries."

The lawmakers said that "India's deepening military-to-military relationship with Iran, even as Iran has continued to develop nuclear technology in defiance of repeated United Nations Security Council sanctions resolutions, places Congressional approve of the agreement for nuclear cooperation in jeopardy."