Washington: It was a fiery hour in the House of Representatives with critics making one last effort to defeat a vote on the Indo-US nuclear agreement.
Vocal critic of the deal Ed Markey called the bill a "disastrous agreement" that will open the floodgates to unregulated nuclear commerce around the world.
“Giving green light to India will send a signal to Pakistan, North Korea and Iran to pursue nuclear weapons,” said Congressman Ed Markey.
But Representatives who support the deal pushed back. Like Frank Pallone the former co-chair of the India Caucus. He said “This is about fueling India's economy. US wants independence from Mid-East oil. US can also help India gain independence from mid-east oil.”
Lawmakers also debated the issue of whether the agreement would allow India to proliferate sensitive American nuclear technology.
“On balance, integrating India into a global nonproliferation regime is a positive step. And before anyone gets too sanctimonious about India's nuclear weapon programs, we should acknowledge that the five recognized nuclear weapons states have not done nearly enough to fulfill their agreements under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including making serious reductions in their own arsenals, nor - in the case of the United States - ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” said Howard Berman
Friday night's debate sets the stage for a formal vote on the agreement over the weekend. With vocal critic of the deal Congressman Howard now fully backing the agreement, House democrats are expected to join Republicans in approving the deal.
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