Click to play videoWashington: The US senate has taken the first important step towards a possible vote on the Indo-US nuclear agreement.
The Senate Foreign relations committee has added the agreement to its business agenda for Tuesday. But there's no confirmation yet on when the vote will actually take place.
The Business Committee of the Congress is still to decide whether to waive the mandatory 30 days discussion period for the 123 agreement. It will also decide if there will be a separate or joint resolution of Congress to approve the 123 pact.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet President Bush on the 25th of Sep and there have been hopes that the US Congress would pass the deal before that.
The Prime Minister enroute to the UN General Assembly in New York already has his eyes on the US Congress.
In his first public comment regarding the Indo-Us nuke deal PM Manmohan Singh said he is not certain if the US congress will be able to take up the nuke deal for vote this week.
The PM also added that one has to live with disappointments, but we have not reached that stage as yet and that he is still hopeful. PM's uncertainty reflects the challenges the US congress faces due to the financial crisis in the short legislative calendar.
The senate will end its congressional session on Friday this week. There was however a positive development in the senate on Tuesday regarding the deal.
The senate's foreign relations committee added that the nuclear agreement to its business agenda, which essentially means that the committee marks up the legislation that paves the way for a possible vote in the senate.
The committee is expected to take up the India legislation for a vote in its meeting which is expected to begin shortly. If the committee goes ahead and votes yes in the legislation it will then go to the senate majority leader who can then potentially schedule a possible meet on the nuclear agreement.
But even if that happens, that is only half the battle won because the agreement must then go to a house for another approval.
We know that there is a powerful democratic leader Harvard Berman who is still holding out strong reservations against the nuclear agreement and Berman has not given any indication whether and if he intends to bring up the nuclear legislature for a possible vote this week.
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