IAEA green signal doesn't mean N-deal is through

Washington: Even if India finalises the nuclear safeguards agreement with IAEA , experts say the Indo-US nuclear deal may still fail to reach the US Congress for a vote.

Due to the election year, the short Congressional calendar will expire in September leaving only a three to four-week window in which both houses of the house must vote on the deal.

"The good news is on the Senate side there's clear agreement that this is important for the country and we have to get this done quickly, the 2 presidential candidates thankfully have also come out and said we want to do this quickly. House side is little more unclear part of this,” says South Asia expert from The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ashley Tellis.

Unclear in part because US lawmakers have dozens of domestic issues to take care of. US State Department officials are, therefore, pushing for an accelerated timetable to accommodate the vote.

That has prompted criticism that the Bush administration is trying to rush a controversial agreement through Congress.

"Congress overwhelmingly approved the Hyde Act but it hasn't even looked at, discussed, held hearing on the 1-2-3 agreement. In fact one of the concerns in the congress is that the 123 agreement in not consistent with the elements of the Hyde Act,” says Robert Einhorn of Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Other possible hurdles also remain. Congressional aides are invoking a controversial clause in the original 1-2-3 agreement that says

Congress must be in session continuously for 30 days before voting on the deal. That means the leadership will have to either revoke the rule or ensure the September session lasts at least for a month.

Sources tell CNN-IBN that State Department and the White House officials are working overtime lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to ensure the legislation comes up for a vote in the September session itself.

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