United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act

Floor Speech

UNITED STATES-INDIA NUCLEAR COOPERATION APPROVAL AND NONPROLIFERATION ENHANCEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 26, 2008)

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Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself no more than 5 minutes.

I am a strong advocate of closer U.S.-India ties, including peaceful nuclear cooperation. I voted for the Hyde Act, which established a framework for such cooperation today. The bill before us today will approve the U.S.-India Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation.

Under the Hyde Act of 2 years ago, Congress was to have 30 days to review the agreement before beginning the consideration of a privileged resolution of approval. Instead, the agreement is now before us in the waning days before adjournment. We can approve the agreement now with the oversight safeguards built into this bill or we can wait until the next Congress and start over, but if we wait, however, we will likely only vote on a simple resolution of approval without any of these oversight improvements.

On balance, integrating India into a global nonproliferation regime is a positive step. Before anyone gets too sanctimonious about India's nuclear weapons program, we should acknowledge that the five recognized nuclear weapons states have not done nearly enough to fulfill their commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including making serious reductions in their own arsenals, nor in the case of the United States in ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Having said that, I continue to have concerns about ambiguities in the agreement, and I, therefore, will insert several documents in the Record to clarify the meaning of these and other important issues. It is my view that these documents constitute key and dispositive parts of the authoritative representations described in section 102 of this bill.

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Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this bill also gives the right to disapprove a Presidential decision to resume civil nuclear cooperation with any country, not just with India, that tests a nuclear weapon. It will also ensure that India takes the necessary remaining steps to bring its IAEA safeguards agreement fully into force and to conclude an additional protocol with the IAEA as India has committed to do. It gives Congress the ability to review the future reprocessing arrangements that will allow India to reprocess spent U.S. fuel.

Finally, late yesterday, Secretary of State Rice made a personal commitment to me that, in a change of policy, the United States will make its highest priority at the November meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group the achievement and the decision by all of the nuclear suppliers to prohibit the export of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology to states that are not members of the treaty on nonproliferation. This would be consistent with the intent of the Congress as expressed in the Hyde Act.

In light of the improvements for congressional oversight in this bill and in light of the Secretary's commitment, I will be voting for H.R. 7081.

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Mr. Speaker, I'm a strong advocate of closer U.S.-India ties, and I support peaceful nuclear cooperation between our two countries. In 2006, I voted for the Hyde Act, which established a framework for such cooperation. The bill before us today, the ``United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act,'' would approve the U.S.-India Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation, and allow that agreement to come into effect for the United States.

Under the Hyde Act, Congress was to have 30 days to review the agreement before beginning consideration of a privileged resolution of approval. Unfortunately, because of months of delay in New Delhi and the Administration's acceleration of the deliberations of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to grant India an exemption from its restrictions on trade to India, the Agreement is now before us in the waning days before adjournment.

We therefore have two choices: approve the Agreement now, with the safeguards built into this bill; or wait until. the next Congress and start again. If we wait, however, we will likely only vote on a simple resolution of approval, without the safeguards of this bill, and without the additional enhancements to Congressional oversight over these types of agreements that are required. Our leverage on the Administration--this one or the next--will only decrease with time.

On balance, integrating India into the global nonproliferation regime is a positive step. And before anyone gets too sanctimonious about India's nuclear weapons program, we should acknowledge that the five recognized nuclear weapons states haven't done nearly enough to fulfill their commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including making serious reductions in their own arsenals. Nor has the U.S. ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Having said that, I continue to have concerns about ambiguities in the nuclear cooperation agreement that the Bush Administration negotiated with the government of India, particularly with regard to the potential consequences if India tests another nuclear weapon, and to the legal status of so-called ``fuel assurances'' made by our negotiators.

Section 102(a) of the legislation before us declares that the agreements have the meanings contained in the authoritative representations by the President and his representatives.

I ask unanimous consent to include in the RECORD5st a message from the President and a letter from the State Department that directly pertain to the interpretation of the U.S.-India agreement and that constitute some of the authoritative representations made by the President described in section 102(a).

These documents make clear that the assurances contained in Article 5(6) of the Agreement are political

commitments, and do not constitute a legal obligation on behalf of the United States or any official, agency, or instrumentality of the Government of the United States to provide nuclear fuel in any form to the Government of India, or to any Indian organization, individual, or entity under any circumstances whatsoever. They also make clear that the political commitments contained in Article 5(6) of the Agreement do not apply in the event of a disruption of the foreign supply of nuclear fuel to India as a consequence of a detonation of nuclear explosive device or a violation of nonproliferation commitments by India.

I am also deeply troubled that the Administration completely disregarded important nonproliferation requirements in the Hyde Act-- thus putting American companies at a competitive disadvantage--when seeking a special exemption for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

This bill therefore includes a number of provisions designed to improve Congressional oversight of the India nuclear cooperation agreement and help ensure that the agreement is interpreted in a manner consistent with the constraints in the Hyde Act.

It gives Congress the right to disapprove, under expedited procedures, a Presidential decision to resume civil nuclear cooperation with any country--not just India--that tests a nuclear weapon. We, the Congress, should be involved in that process.

And the legislation will ensure that India takes the necessary remaining steps to bring its IAEA safeguards agreement fully into force, to place the reactors and other facilities under those safeguards, and to conclude a more extensive Additional Protocol for enhanced safeguards with the IAEA, all of which it has previously committed to do.

And, Mr. Speaker, this legislation gives Congress the ability to review the reprocessing arrangement yet to be negotiated that will set out the conditions and safeguards to allow India to reprocess spent U.S. fuel.

Finally, late yesterday, Secretary of State Rice made a personal commitment to me that--in a change of policy--the United States will give its ``highest priority'' to achieving an agreement at the November Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting to prohibit the export of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology to states that are not members of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This would be consistent with the intent of Congress as expressed in the Hyde Act to further restrict the international transfers of this sensitive technology.

In light of the improvements for Congressional oversight in this bill, I will be voting for H.R. 7081.

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I reserve the balance of my time.

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