Rice makes 'full-court press' to win US approval

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WASHINGTON, Sep 10 (AFP) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making what her spokesman calls a full-court press to win passage in Congress of a landmark US-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal before January. brIn a flurry of contacts with both houses of the Democrat-controlled Congress, Rice is telephoning and meeting key lawmakers to seal a deal that passed a major weekend hurdle, spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. Rice, he added, will also seek the Indian government's cooperation in order to reassure Congress that the deal signed by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005 carries adequate safeguards. br From her perspective, this is a full court press, working with the Congress, McCormack said, using a basketball analogy for an all-out effort to win passage of the deal before President George W. Bush's term ends in January. brShe has made a lot of calls. She does have a lot of meetings coming up, the State Department spokesman said. brUS lawmakers returned to work Monday after their August recess -- and are expected to leave Washington again in late September to campaign ahead of the November 4 elections, leaving little time for action on the agreement. brUS congressional approval is the final hurdle for the pact, which offers India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy as long as it allows UN nuclear inspections of some of its nuclear facilities. brThe United States won approval in Vienna Saturday for the one-off waiver for India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology. brThe Group was founded to stop other countries emulating India's example in using imported technology to make an atomic bomb. br McCormack said Rice has spoken to fellow Republicans like House Minority leader John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell. brShe has also spoken to powerful Democrats like Joseph Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and intends to meet Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, he said. brIn a meeting later Tuesday, Rice and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, discussed the agreement and the process for considering it once it is submitted, said Nadeam Elshami, a Pelosi spokesman. brThe speaker looks forward to reviewing the submission in detail and consulting with chairman Berman and members of the leadership in determining the appropriate course of action on this matter, Elshami told AFP.