Senator Joe Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-author of the enabling legislation to facilitate the US-India civilian nuclear agreement on Thursday said that the accord, if approved, will be 'a victory for US-India relations.'
Addressing some of the naysayers, who intend to introduce amendments that would be inimical to the bill being acceptable to India, Biden warned: "Lawmakers always believe we could have gotten a better deal, but we should not make the perfect the enemy of the good."
"I believe India understands the consequences of this bilateral agreement as profoundly as we do," he said, adding: "This bill before us will maintain nonproliferation provisions that have served as well."
But as soon as Biden finished his remarks, North Dakota Republican Senator Byron Dorgan, who has said he has 2 or 3 amendments to the Lugar-Biden Bill began filibustering and talked about the dangers of nuclear terrorism, quoting excerpts from various books.
Excerpts from Biden speech:
"When we pass this bill, America will be a giant step closer to approving a major shift in US-Indian relations. If we are right, this shift will increase the prospect for stability and progress in South Asia and in the world at large.
The Committee on Foreign Relations has worked to move this project forward, while safeguarding the role of Congress and minimising any harm to nuclear non-proliferation policies and institutions. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
It has become a cliché to speak of the US-India relationship as a bond between the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy - but this cliché is also a fact. Shared political values are the foundation for our relationship," he said.
"The need for new energy supplies is an important underpinning of the issue before us today, legislation opening the way for civil nuclear cooperation between the United States and India. In time, I hope that India's burgeoning energy needs will prove a spur to a wide variety of alternatives to fossil fuel, including solar, wind and bio-fuel. On many of these, India is already moving ahead.
"But at present, nuclear power is a vital part of India's energy equation - and it is likely to grow in significance in the years to come. Experts note correctly that nuclear power will still provide only a small proportion of India's energy consumption. But at the margin, the contribution of nuclear power will be greater. And Indian leaders across the political spectrum see nuclear power as an important and necessary contributor to their country's economic progress.
"Chairman Lugar and I yield to nobody in our commitment to non-proliferation. No one has a stronger record on this than Senator Lugar. We believe that we have presented to this body a bill that allows civil nuclear cooperation with India to proceed and ends India's nuclear isolation - but that does so without seriously jeopardising the hard-won non-proliferation gains of nearly four decades.
"Specifically, our aims have been: to preserve the right of Congress to conduct a meaningful review of the peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement that India and the United States are negotiating; to ensure that such nuclear cooperation is used exclusively in India's civil nuclear program and that India continues to be a 'good citizen' when it comes to non-proliferation; to preserve the role and procedures of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and of the International Atomic Energy Agency; and to do all this without requiring any renegotiation of the US-India nuclear deal.
"That wasn't easy, but I truly believe we have succeeded. There is a reason why this bill was reported out of committee by a 16-2 margin; we really did try to address the major non-proliferation concerns raised by this nuclear deal.
"This bill requires that India sign a safeguards agreement with the IAEA and negotiate an Additional Protocol as well. It requires the President to certify, moreover, that the safeguards agreement is 'in accordance with IAEA standards, principles, and practices.'
"We understand that India, having nuclear weapons, will not accept full-scope safeguards. But the language in this bill makes clear our expectation that the safeguards agreement India works out with the IAEA will guard effectively against diversion of foreign nuclear material and technology to India's military programs.
"The administration has said repeatedly that this is an India nuclear deal, not intended to permit nuclear commerce with Pakistan or Israel (the only other states that have never signed the NPT). The Committee's bill incorporates that distinction by requiring the President to certify that the NSG decision does not permit nuclear commerce with any other state that does not accept full-scope safeguards.
"The NSG is not likely to single out India as an exception to its guidelines. Rather, it will create tests that a non-NPT state must meet before nuclear commerce with that country may take place. The Committee believes that such tests should be substantial, so that countries outside the NPT are not all given the same benefits as the non-nuclear weapon states inside the treaty.
"Thus, the bill before us today is designed to maintain important non-proliferation policies that have served our country well. The US-India agreement is much more than just a nuclear deal. I believe historians will see this as a historic step, part of the dramatic and positive departure in the US-India relationship that was begun by President Clinton.
"President Bush is to be commended for continuing and accelerating the journey that President Clinton started in our relations with India. If I were asked to name the pillars for security in the 21st century, India and the United States would be two of them. And for the United States, no relationship is more important than the one we are building with India.
"The ultimate success of this agreement will rest on India's willingness and ability to reduce tensions with its nuclear neighbours and achieve nuclear stability. We all hope to see the day when India and Pakistan voluntarily reduce or end their fissile material production, as the recognised NPT nuclear weapons states already have done.
"I hope especially that India will not use its peaceful nuclear commerce to free up domestic uranium for increased production of nuclear weapons. The US-India nuclear deal does not bar India from doing that.
"India is an important world power, and its support for the complete non-proliferation regime will make a big difference. Currently, however, India does not stop its companies from exporting dual-use chemicals and equipment to countries like Iran, because those exports are not banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
"India will not attain the respect and status it seeks in the world unless it takes a willing and active role in preventing proliferation of all kinds. The nuclear deal that we are considering today is a sign, however, of the world's desire to bring India into the fold. I hope that India will use this deal as a departure point from which it will branch out to embrace all international non-proliferation activities. It will surely be welcomed as it does so.
"In my view, the bill before us is a victory for the US-India relationship. It is a victory for the quest to move beyond fossil fuels. And it is a victory we have achieved while doing our best to maintain the global effort to end nuclear proliferation. I urge my colleagues to vote for this legislation.
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