WASHINGTON, D.C.– Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Co-Chair of the Bipartistan Task Force on Nonproliferation, today sharply criticized the Bush Administration’s draft legislation to exempt India from key requirements of our nation’s nuclear nonproliferation laws.  The draft Administration bill was circulated on Capitol Hill yesterday and is expected to be introduced next week.

“This bill, which would ask Congress to approve something it hasn’t seen, makes a mockery of the Congressional oversight process,” said Rep. Markey, a leading critic of the Bush India nuclear deal. 

Markey added, “If this bill is enacted, Congress will essentially be granting a blank check to the Bush Administration to exempt India from our nation’s nuclear nonproliferation laws.  It appears that the Administration wants to avoid a vote on the actual text of the nuclear cooperation agreement they will be negotiating with the Indian Government.  Perhaps they’ve begun to realize that if the Members have to actually vote on this bad deal, they’ll face a serious uphill battle.”

Under the Administration’s draft legislation, India would be exempted from Section 123(a) (2) of the Atomic Energy Act.  That provision requires that any agreement for nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and a country which is not a nuclear weapons state under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty include a requirement that full-scope International Atomic Agency (IAEA) safeguards “be maintained with respect to all nuclear materials in all peaceful nuclear activities within the territory of such state, under its jurisdiction, or carried out under its control anywhere.”

In addition to exempting India from this requirement, the draft Administration bill goes on to stipulate that any future agreement for nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and India “shall be subject to the same congressional review procedures” used for agreements that have “not been exempted from any requirement contained in section 123(a).”  This means that the nonconforming India agreement would be considered under a procedure normally reserved for agreements that comply with all of the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act.  In such cases, the nuclear cooperation agreement goes into effect unless both the House and the Senate pass a joint resolution within 60 days to disapprove of the agreement.  Inaction by either House, or a failure of both Houses to move legislation before the 60-day time clock expires, therefore results in the agreement going into effect.

Under current law, proposed agreements for nuclear cooperation that do not comply with all of the requirements set forth under section 123 would normally be considered under an alternative procedure in which affirmative approval by both the House and the Senate would be required.  The President has the power to submit an agreement to the Congress which fails to meet safeguards or other requirements, but under current law he must formally determine that “inclusion of any such requirement would be seriously prejudicial to the achievement of United States non-proliferation objectives or otherwise jeopardize the common defense and security.”

The draft Bush Administration India legislation therefore sets up the possibility that Congress will be asked to vote on an India exemption, and then never actually have an opportunity to vote on the actual agreement.  This is because if the bill is adopted, the White House can avoid a vote by getting the Republican Congressional Leadership to refuse to schedule any floor action on a disapproval resolution, or by getting its allies in the Senate to filibuster such a resolution.

In addition to this procedural shenanigan, the Administration draft bill also contains two other disturbing waivers of U.S. law.  One would “waive the application of section 128 of the Atomic Energy Act with respect to India.”  The other would “waive the application of any sanction under section 129 of the Atomic Energy Act with respect to India.”  The effect of these waivers is that IAEA safeguards will not be required as a condition of any continued export of nuclear fuel or nuclear technology to India, and India would not be subject to any cut off of exports of nuclear materials or equipment even if it were to subsequently be found to have detonated a nuclear explosive, terminated or abrogated IAEA safeguards, materially violated any IAEA safeguards agreement, engaged in activities having direct significance for the manufacture or acquisition of nuclear explosive devices and failed to terminate such activities, materially violated the terms of an agreement for cooperation with the U.S., assisted, encouraged, or induced any other non-nuclear weapon state to obtain nuclear explosives or the materials and technologies needed to manufacture them, or retransferred or exported reprocessing equipment, materials or technology to another non-nuclear weapons state.

Rep. Markey concluded, “The sweeping nature of the Bush Administration’s proposed exemptions should be of concern to even those Members who have expressed sympathy for the Administration’s India nuclear deal.  The Administration is essentially asking Congress to give up its prerogatives and exempt India from all our laws, allow them to break any agreement they reach with us, and probably not even have a chance to vote on the actual final text of the Administration’s India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement when it is signed.”   

For more information on Rep. Markey’s work to address the proliferation of nuclear weapons or a copy of the Resolution, please visit http://markey.house.gov/