'As is so often the case, we agree on the ultimate objective and that is to reduce proliferation of nuclear weapons, but we differ about the means,' the Republican Senator from Texas said, and asserted that he supports the deal 'because it is in the best interests of the United States.'
The nuclear deal | The Nuclear Chats
According to Cornyn, the agreement in the broader sense, would 'take another friend of the United States, the world's largest democracy, composed of more than 1 billion people, that has a good record for nonproliferation, and it will make us partners with them for peaceful civilian use of nuclear power while avoiding the threat of proliferation and the possibility that terrorists might acquire a nuclear weapons or it might proliferate to some other irresponsible party and then endanger the United States or our allies.'
Earlier, Dorgan, a three-time Senator, who is chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee had vowed to do everything he can to scuttle legislation on the nuclear agreement when it is brought to the Senate floor.
'If I cannot stop it, I'll slow it down a lot,' Dorgan had said, while serving notice that he intends to filibuster the measure, saying, 'We'll have a long discussion about what the responsibility is in this country about stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in this day and age of terrorism.'
Cornyn, the only Senator who took to the Senate floor to strongly argue in favour of the deal, was the only Senator who took on Dorgan.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the other co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, has been silent and not co-sponsored
He said the US Congress would 'have a chance to get very much involved in this issue,' when the legislation is taken up on Wednesday, June 28, by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
That is when the bipartisan bill of the Committee chairman, Senator Richard Lugar, and the ranking Democrat, Senator Joe Biden, would introduce their legislation to amend the US Atomic Energy Act 1954 in order to provide the Bush administration with an India-specific exemption to facilitate implementation of the India-US nuclear accord.
'I do know there are a lot of people watching to see just what the reaction of Congress and the United States to this agreement will be,' Cornyn acknowledged, and reiterated, 'I, for one, believe it is an important step in our strategic relationship, in our growing friendship. It will be another way the United States and India can work together to make the world a safer place and the United States can demonstrate its goodwill by providing civilian nuclear technology to a country that needs the energy.'
Cornyn argued that 'We know how much the geopolitics of the search for oil has distorted our foreign relationships, so it is important that we find clean alternatives to oil and gas. That is what nuclear power provides, that clean, efficient alternative, although it has problems in that it can, in the wrong hands, be abused. It can be used to create nuclear weapons.'
Rebutting Dorgan's allegations that India will misuse the agreement and use American nuclear fuel to develop more nuclear weapons, Cornyn said, 'As we all know, India already has a nuclear weapon, so it is not a question of whether it is going to acquire one. It already has one.'
Cornyn informed his Senate colleagues that India 'has demonstrated its responsibility and its willingness to work with peace-loving partners like the United States in a way that looks to this alternative of civilian nuclear energy but at the same time makes sure the dangers of proliferation are reduced to a minimum.'
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