WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Many Senate and House members told administration officials Thursday they want to rewrite parts of the nuclear deal President Bush made with India.
Leaders of the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees introduced bills to authorize the deal, but the Republican chairmen said they did not necessarily support the legislation and introduced it only as a favor to the White House.
Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said he believed members of Congress "may seek conditions for its approval."
Under a plan made last July, the United States would help India build nuclear power plants, and India would allow regular international inspections of its civilian reactors. Its nuclear weapons program would remain secret.
President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached a formal agreement this month.
David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector, concluded in a report that "onward proliferation" of Indian nuclear materials "is expected to become a serious problem." India's export "control system is poorly implemented," Albright said.
