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# Legislative Bulletin........................................................July 26, 2006

**Contents:**

**H.R. 5682**---Amendments to the United States and India Nuclear
Cooperation Promotion Act

H.R. 5682, the United States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion
Act, is scheduled to be considered on the House floor on Wednesday, July
26^th^, subject to a structured rule (H.Res. 947). The rule
self-executes (i.e. automatically adds to the underlying bill without a
separate vote) the amendment in Part A and makes in order only the six
other amendments printed in Part B of the Rules Committee report
accompanying the resolution. Summaries below are based on RSC staff's
review of actual amendment text. For a summary of the underlying bill,
see a separate RSC document released yesterday.

**[Part A (self-executing amendment)]{.underline}**

-   Strikes all of the sections in the underlying bill (Sections 4(g)
    through 4(l)) providing for the expedited consideration of the joint
    resolution of approval for a future U.S.-India nuclear agreement.

-   Provides that such a joint resolution of approval would be
    considered under the same expedited procedures that a joint
    resolution of disapproval would be considered for similar
    cooperation agreements, as prescribed by the Nuclear
    Non-Proliferation Provisions of the Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C.
    2159(i)). The procedures are very similar to the ones detailed in
    the underlying bill, with one major difference being a 45-day period
    (in current law) in which the committee of referral has to act on
    the joint resolution before being automatically discharged, as
    opposed to a 60-day period (in the underling bill).

-   Prohibits an amendment to, or a motion to recommit, the joint
    resolution of approval.

**[Part B (amendments debatable for ten minutes on the
floor)]{.underline}**

**1.** **[Hyde (R-IL)/*Lantos (D-CA)*]{.underline}**: **Manager's
Amendment**.

-   Strikes the requirement that the President certify (before any
    nuclear agreement can go forward) that the Nuclear Suppliers Group's
    (NSG) consensus decision to allow nuclear items to be supplied to
    India include a prohibition of civil nuclear commerce with any other
    non-nuclear weapon state that does not have International Atomic
    Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards on all nuclear materials within its
    territory, under its jurisdiction, or carried out under its control
    anywhere.

-   Makes several technical and conforming changes.

**2.** **[Stearns (R-FL)]{.underline}**: Adds a sense of Congress that
the U.S. Government, pursuant to this legislation, shall not participate
in, or contribute to, the manufacture or acquisition of weapons or
nuclear explosive devices.

**3.** **[*Jackson-Lee (D-TX)*/Burton (R-IN)]{.underline}**: Adds a
sense of Congress that the South Asia region is so important that the
United States should continue its policy of engagement, collaboration,
and exchanges with and between India and Pakistan.

**4.** ***[Sherman (D-CA)]{.underline}***: Requires that, before any
nuclear cooperation with India can go forward, and every year
thereafter, the President certify that, during the preceding year, India
has not increased the level of domestic uranium it sends through its
weapons program (based on the amount used between July 18, 2004 and July
18, 2005). \[July 18, 2005 was the date of the Bush-Singh declaration of
nuclear cooperation:
<http://www.indianembassy.org/press_release/2005/July/21.htm>.\]

**5.** ***[Berman (D-CA)]{.underline}***: Prohibits exports of uranium
and other types of nuclear reactor fuel (defined as "source material"
and "special nuclear material" in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954) to
India, until the President determines that India has halted the
production of fissile material (i.e. plutonium and highly enriched
uranium) for use in nuclear weapons.

**6.** **[Fortenberry (R-NE)]{.underline}**: Requires the President to
annually report to Congress on:

-   the effectiveness of the nuclear cooperation agreement for achieving
    stated goals;

-   the level of India's nuclear fissile material production relative to
    the prior year;

-   the amount of natural uranium India has mined and milled in the
    prior year;

-   the amount of electricity India's civilian reactors have produced in
    the prior year;

-   the amount of domestic natural uranium India has used to produce
    electricity in the prior year;

-   the amount of nuclear fissile material India produced for military
    purposes in the prior year;

-   the amount of domestic natural uranium and domestic enrichment
    capacity India has used to produce such fissile material;

-   the amount of domestic uranium India has otherwise stockpiled for
    possible civil or military use;

-   any changes in quantities of the above items from the prior year;

-   the location of relevant production facilities; and

-   any other qualitative factors deemed relevant.