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U.S. Senate goes into recess

Consensus eludes lawmakers on how to deal with nuclear deal bill

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Senate on Saturday formally went into recess prior to the November 7 Congressional polls without taking up a Bill on enabling Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation, as the ruling and Opposition lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on how to deal with the legislation.

The United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 or `S 3709' did not make it because Republican and Democratic leaderships could not come to terms on the "Unanimous Consent Agreement," the broad framework on how the Bill would be dealt with on the Senate floor. Prior to the adjournment, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist tried to proceed with the enabling legislation by staying only with the Manager's amendments provided by Senators Richard Lugar and Joseph Biden.

Mr. Frist argued that Republicans were prepared to table the legislation with no further amendments and that the measure could be voted on and sent to the conference over the recess period to hammer out the differences.

But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid would not budge, insisting that the Grand Old Party was to blame for the delay, having come up with Title Two of the legislation on an Additional Protocol between the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Mr. Reid argued that the legislation was too important to be rushed through and maintained that it could be taken up as a "priority" in the `lame duck' session after Congressional elections.

Earlier, Mr. Frist made the point that he offered the Democrats five amendments to be debated for an hour each and a general floor debate of one hour for a total of six hours for the legislation.

The Democrats, going by what Mr. Reid said, were demanding second-degree amendments and flexibility in the number of amendments that were to be offered. Mr. Reid argued that the timeframe for the amendments could be so worked out that the legislation could be finished in one "long" day.

"I hope that before we leave here, today or tomorrow or Sunday or whenever it might be that, we will have it on so-called automatic pilot so that we take this up when we get back. I would hope that would be the case," Mr. Reid told the Senate on Friday.

Both Mr. Frist and Mr. Reid underlined the importance of passing the Bill in the overall context of the enhanced strategic relationship between the U.S. and India. They said the legislation would be a top priority when the Senate came back for the "lame duck" session. — PTI

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