Before the N-deal vote: Bush, Rice meet US legislators

The House International Relations Committee will vote on the legislation on Tuesday, June 27, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will do likewise on Wednesday, June 28.

The President and his aides impressed upon members of the House and Senate Committees the importance of passing the bills in their respective Committees so that the India-US nuclear agreement could be approved before the two Houses of the US Congress break for the summer vacation recess.

Last week, President Bush's spokesman Tony Snow, said, 'The President considers this a top priority. Period. And wants both Houses of Congress to act on it and act affirmatively.'

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A head count by the US-India Business Council indicated there were enough votes on both committees to successfully move the legislation to the respective Houses.

The USIBC has engaged Patton Boggs, one of the leading lobbying firms in Washington, DC, to lobby feverishly for the deal.

The Council has also mobilised CEOs of top Fortune 500 companies like Jeffery Immelt, CEO, General Electric, which has large investments in India, to meet one-on-one with leading US Congressmen and Senators to push for the deal.

According to the USIBC, 27 members of the 50-strong House International Relations Committee strongly support the legislation to pass the India-US nuclear deal or lean toward supporting it. Six members are opposed and 17 are undecided.

On the 18-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee, support for the legislation is overwhelming with 15 Senators assuring their support or indicating that they are leaning toward voting for it. Two Senators are undecided and only Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democrat from California, is opposed to it.

The USIBC, in an urgent memo to its members, asked them not to be complacent, and continue to e-mail,

'A critical moment for the US-India civilian nuclear initiative is now upon us,' the USIBC memo said. 'The bill before each committee will be a version of the bills proposed by the White House, amended with the White House's blessing, to accommodate concerns in Congress.'

The memo noted that 'under discussion are numerous other modifications, many of them killer amendments which would necessitate a renegotiation with the deal with India. The chairmen of the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (US Congressman Henry) Hyde and (Senator Richard) Lugar, respectively are working in concert with the ranking minority members, (Senator Joe ) Biden and (US Congressman Tom) Lantos to preserve the bills in viable form.'

The USIBC urged its members to register their support of the bills with the full membership of the House International Relations Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and advised, 'Members of the HIRC should be contacted immediately (since the vote on the Committee is today, June 27); members of the SRFC should be called on Tuesday and Wednesday morning (since the vote on the Committee is on Wednesday, June 28).'

The memo added, 'We recommend that you call the full membership of each committee, regardless of status, except for Representatives Hyde and Lantos and Senators Lugar and Biden.'

'Our message,' the memo said, 'should be that US industry strongly urges members of Congress to support the bills introduced by leadership, without delay and without further amendment.'

It also provided each of its members the phone, fax and e-mails of the US Congressmen and Senators on the two Committees and also their key aides and highlighted the importance of passing the legislation in the House International Relations Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee before the bigger battle begins in the respective Houses of Congress where 435 members in the House of Representatives and 100 Senators would have to be persuaded to vote in favour of the deal.