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Summary

On July 18, 2005, President Bush announced he would "work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation with India" and would "also seek agreement from Congress to adjust U.S. laws and policies," in the context of a broader, global partnership with India to promote stability, democracy, prosperity and peace. Administration officials have promoted nuclear cooperation with India as a way to reduce India's carbon dioxide emissions and its dependence on oil, bring India into the "nonproliferation mainstream" and create jobs for U.S. industry. India, which has never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), has nuclear weapons and does not have International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on all nuclear material in peaceful nuclear activities. Its explosion of a "peaceful" nuclear device in 1974 convinced the world of the need for greater restrictions on nuclear trade. The United States created the Nuclear Suppliers Group as a direct response to India's test, halted nuclear exports to India a few years later, and worked to convince other states to do the same. India tested nuclear weapons again in 1998. Nonproliferation experts have suggested that potential costs to U.S. and global nonproliferation policy of nuclear cooperation with India may far exceed the benefits. At a time when the United States has called for all states to strengthen their domestic export control laws and for tighter multilateral controls, U.S. nuclear cooperation with India would require loosening its own nuclear export legislation, as well as creating a Nuclear Suppliers Group exception. It would reverse nearly three decades of U.S. nonproliferation policy and practice towards India. Some believe this agreement undercuts the basic bargain of the NPT, could undermine hard-won restrictions on nuclear supply, and could prompt some suppliers, like China, to justify supplying other states outside the NPT regime, like Pakistan. Others believe that allowing India access to the international uranium market will free up domestic uranium sources to make more nuclear weapons. Nuclear cooperation is governed by the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), which would require certain waivers and determinations from the President before nuclear cooperation with a state such as India could proceed. The Administration proposed legislation to Congress (H.R. 4974 and S. 2429, introduced by request) that would provide waivers of relevant provisions of the AEA (Sections 123 a. (2), 128, and 129) in advance of completion of a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement. In addition, the legislation would alter the approval process of the agreement as though it conformed to the law's requirements, so that it could enter into force unless Congress acts to disapprove the agreement in 60 days of continuous session. On June 26, 2006, Representative Hyde introduced H.R. 5682, amending H.R. 4974 in the nature of a substitute. Meanwhile, Administration efforts to negotiate the text of a cooperation agreement (so-called "123 agreement") with India proceed, as do consultations with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The outcome of those two negotiations will be extremely important to Congressional consideration of any such agreement. This report will be updated as necessary.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.4974
• S.2429
• H.R.5682
• S.123

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