Date:19/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061904351200.htm

International - India & World

U.S. Congress likely to finetune Bill this week

WASHINGTON: The India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal is likely to reach a milestone this week, when Congress is likely to start the mark-up, a process of finetuning the legislation required to implement the pact.

The International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives is scheduled tentatively to do its mark-up on Wednesday.

Though the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not set a date for its mark-up, it is expected to follow suit soon.

Given the way mark-ups proceed in Congress, there is no sanctity about the dates.

But even a postponement of the vote in the House Committee by a few days would neither be a reflection of the interest of lawmakers nor an indication of the legislation being in `serious trouble.' — PTI