Capitol deal

There is a deserved sense of relief in the foreign office and amongst India hands in Washington over the American Senate8217;s passage of legislation that enables the renewal of Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation after nearly three decades. This sets the next stage, to reconcile the Senate and House of Representatives versions the House had cleared the legislation this summer. It will require tough negotiation to produce a version both Houses can be comfortable with. But it should put firm closure on the months of gloom and doom in New Delhi, where the permanently pessimistic cadre of experts and talking heads invented every possible reason to proclaim the death of the deal. Proof: the Senate 85-12 vote, bettering the 80 per cent support the bill had got in the House, defied even the most optimistic predictions.

The vote came after weeks of fascinating legislative theatre, where every single step in the process, including the conditions under which the bill will be brought to the floor, the number of amendments, and the terms of debate had to be negotiated and settled. Failure to get the vote done, it was widely known, would have meant starting all over again under new committees in the next Congress, which would only have taken charge next January. Yet, in an extraordinary spirit of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats delivered on Thursday night 8212; that too in the immediate aftermath of deeply divisive mid-term elections.

The Indian team in Washington, headed by Ambassador Ronen Sen, deserves full credit. President George W. Bush too put his personal prestige on the line, pushing Senate leaders to act on the bill during the 8216;lame-duck8217; session. Much as in India, all manner of objections, most born out of genuine concern, were debated threadbare in the Senate. In the end even those senators who had moved killer amendments voted for the deal to demonstrate strong support for transforming America8217;s ties with India. As the deal now moves to the next stage, the reconciliation of the House and Senate versions of the bill for the president8217;s signature, the advice of Senator Richard Lugar on the Senate floor, 8220;Don8217;t make perfect the enemy of good8221;, must now be heeded in both Washington and New Delhi.