
Washington DC: On Monday came the first signal that the US Senate and the House were preparing to iron out differences between the two bills this week. And with that came a strong message from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In a 5-page letter, Rice wrote that the nine-member conference committee that will draft the final bill either drop or dilute key controversial amendments including:
- A clause that bans transfer of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing technology to India
- Cutting off nuclear co-operation and banning fuel supply from other countries if India violates NSG guideline
- Asking India to back US efforts to sanction Iran for its nuclear weapons program
- Requiring an annual congressional report monitoring India's fuel use
Experts however predict that many of these clauses will be adopted as non-binding requirements making them harmless.
"There are probably 100s of these legislations that impose reporting requirements on the US government," says Director, South Asia Program and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Teresita C Sschaffer.
Administrations usually don't like them but in the end, they wont make a very big effort to get rid of them because the only thing that is required is a report.
And the fact that you tie up a few dozen government servants writing the wretched reports is not something that administrations will pay a high political price to get rid of.
The conference committee met for the first time on Tuesday to kickstart the reconciliation process. The final vote in the Senate and the House on the reconciled bill is expected later this week.
Sorce: IBN LiVE