Rice presses US Congress to OK India nuclear deal

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza pressed Congress to approve a nuclear deal with India after the agreement won the endorsement Saturday from nations that supply nuclear material and technology.

"The main thing is that the international work is now done. I certainly hope we can get it through. It'd be a huge step for the U.S.-India relationship," the top U.S. diplomat told reporters as she traveled from Tunisia to Algeria during a trip to North Africa.

"It would be good to get everything finalized. I hope we can get it through Congress," Rice said.

But time is drawing near for U.S. lawmakers to consider the deal. Congress has only a few weeks of work in September before it is scheduled to break for the rest of the year to campaign for November elections.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs the legal world trade in nuclear components and know-how, approved the deal after contentious talks and concessions to countries that feared the pact could set a dangerous precedent. Some opposing countries, including Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, had expressed fears that a reversal of more than three decades of U.S. policy toward India could set a dangerous precedent in the struggle to discourage other nations from pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

"This is an important step forward," Rice said after hearing of the approval by representatives meeting in Vienna, Austria. "This is really a very good step forward for the nonproliferation framework. The India deal is landmark. It's no secret that India has been outside the nonproliferation regime for the entire history of its program."

The deal would reverse three decades of U.S. policy by shipping atomic fuel to India in return for international inspections of India's civilian reactors.

This past week, a leading Democratic lawmaker made public a Bush administration document that says the U.S. had the right to immediately stop nuclear trade with India if India conducted an atomic test. The U.S. position appeared at odds with Indian officials' insistence that the accord would not ban Indian nuclear tests.

Supporters of the civilian nuclear deal say atomic cooperation with India would provide crucial energy to a democratic, economically vibrant country. Critics say it would ruin global efforts to stop the spread of atomic weapons and boost India's nuclear arsenal.

Rice said she had made "a lot of calls" to help win approval. Among the holdouts were Austria, Ireland and New Zealand _ each of which heard from Rice.

She also spoke with China's foreign minister on Saturday, which a senior State Department official said was important in reaching the compromise.