Are Democrats trying to scuttle the N-deal?

The United States' opposition Democratic Party on Monday denied the ruling Republican Party's contention that Democrats are sabotaging the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Chief Minority Deputy Whip, Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, on behalf of the Democratic Leadership in the US House of Representatives, debunked the contention that his party is trying to delay the deal till the November Congressional elections to deny President Bush a major foreign policy victory.

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Senior aides to Republican Party members of the House International Relations Committee have called rediff India Abroad to say that the recent alternative legislative proposals floated by Congressmen Tom Lantos, and Howard Berman -- the senior-most Democrats on the HIRC respectively -- were delaying tactics to drag on debate in the Committee without voting it out, and a strategic ploy to mark time up until the Congressional elections, where the Democrats hope to regain at least the House.

Speaking exclusively to rediff India Abroad, Crowley said, "The last time I checked, Tom [Lantos] is in the minority, as am I, and we don't control the agenda of the House nor do we control the agenda of the Senate. So it really is quite frankly, up to the leadership here to determine how they are going to move on this."

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"We've had about 10 hearings on this already and I suspect we'll have some more. But it's the majority that have to make the decision in terms of whether additional hearings will take place," he said.

He added: "Chairman [Henry] Hyde has reservations about the deal, and again, he is a Republican and he's in the majority. So for the majority to say that it's the minority who are holding this up is quite disingenuous -- this is a new one for me that they actually believe that we can hold anything up in this House."

Crowley, a former co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said, "[Senior member of the HIRC] Gary Ackerman and I have been the loudest proponents of this [support for the nuclear bill]. You've been to the hearings and you've heard Democrats at these hearings speaking overwhelmingly in favor of the deal.

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"The closer we get to August, the more difficult it is to do things in a bipartisan way and that's why I have been prodding and promoting that we move forward because I understand that the political calendar will come into play here."

However, Crowley asserted that the approval of the deal won't be a major foreign policy victory for the President that would help him bounce back from his lowest popularity numbers ever.

Crowley declared that "this is not just about today. This is about bilateral relations between the United States and India for the next century quite frankly. This should be one of those issues that comes before us… that should be above the politics of it and quite frankly, so far, it has been dealt that way."

Crowley also says that the Republicans, who control both Houses, have failed to move forward on this issue.

"We are holding hearing after hearing -- and I understand the hearing process -- but there is no indication that shows there is any further movement beyond the hearing process.

And, that's up to Hyde and that up to Lugar to move this forward," he said.