26 June 2006David E. Sanger
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday night to approve a nuclear deal with India that would for the first time allow the United States to ship nuclear fuel and technology to a country that has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The accord’s passage, by a vote of 359 to 68, is a quick, major victory for the Bush administration, which argued that nurturing India as an ally outweighed concerns that the agreement would free more nuclear material for India to use for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
The Senate is expected to approve the deal later this year, but before it goes into effect both houses will have to approve the specifics of an nuclear cooperation accord with India. Similarly, India will have to reach agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the loose collection of nations that regulate the sale of nuclear-related technology.
Until the vote on Wednesday evening, American law had prohibited nuclear cooperation with any of the three states that have refused to sign the nonproliferation treaty: India, Pakistan and Israel.
Eight years ago, India and Pakistan took American intelligence agencies by surprise when they conducted nuclear tests, and the Clinton administration’s response was to impose economic sanctions on both countries.
The last of those sanctions were lifted after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the Bush administration needed Pakistan’s help in rooting out Al Qaeda.
Critics of the agreement have argued that it is hypocritical to carve out an exception for India at a time when the United States is trying to force Iran, which is a signer of the nonproliferation treaty, to give up any production of nuclear material.
“What kind of signal are we sending to the world when Iran is on trial in the Security Council for its nuclear program, and we are turning a blind eye to India?” asked Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who led the opposition to the accord. “We will make a mockery of the nonproliferation system.”
But he was unable to convince many members of his own party, much less the Republicans, that the accord would fuel an arms race in South Asia and eliminate the incentive for nations to abide by the treaty.
Several leading Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, argued in favor of the deal, which was supported by both the India-American lobby and the nuclear industry. If the restrictions are lifted, American companies would be free to sell reactors and other equipment and services to generate electricity in India from nuclear sources.
India now mines a relatively small amount of uranium, which it divides between its weapons program and its fledgling nuclear power program.
If completed, the new accord with the United States would free up all the uranium that India mines for weapons purposes, and international inspectors will have no access to the military facilities. An amendment offered by several Democrats that would require India to agree to limit its production of nuclear weapons fuel was defeated on the floor on Wednesday evening, with supporters of the deal saying it would be rejected by the Indians.
“India already possesses nuclear weapons, and is very unlikely to dispose of them,” Representative Henry J. Hyde, the Republican from Illinois who is chairman of the House International Relations Committee. “This is the proverbial deal killer.”
The supporters of the agreement offered several reasons for supporting passage, including economic benefits for the American nuclear industry and encouragement to India to promote American strategic interests. Mr. Hyde spoke of the benefits of countering “the rising power of China,” though administration officials insisted, in testimony earlier this year, that they did not intend for the deal to bolster India against China, a longtime rival.
Opponents accused the administration of playing down the potential problems, including the possible reaction of Pakistan, which has spent decades building a nuclear arsenal to counter India’s. Mr. Markey pointed to recent news reports about Pakistan’s efforts to increase its own production of plutonium through construction of a new reactor.
