Bingaman Works to Strengthen India Civil Nuclear Pact

Press Release

Bingaman Works to Strengthen India Civil Nuclear Pact

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today joined his Senate colleague Byron Dorgan (D-ND) in working to strengthen a proposed civil nuclear agreement with India to protect against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Later today, the U.S. Senate will vote on a U.S.-India civil nuclear pact that would end a ban on the sale of uranium and nuclear technology to India for the purpose of nuclear energy production. The ban was instituted when India tested a nuclear weapon in 1974.

The Dorgan-Bingaman amendment would prevent the United States from exporting nuclear technology if India detonates a nuclear explosive device, and in the event such a detonation takes place it requires the President to certify to Congress that U.S.-supplied technology did not enable India to detonate a nuclear weapon.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Bingaman pointed out that India has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has tested nuclear weapons five times in the past decade.

He also said the following:

"By adopting this pact without our amendment, not only are we sending the wrong signal to Iran, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and desires to have its own nuclear program but also to North Korea, Pakistan, Israel, which are not signatories and have detonated nuclear weapons. Approval of this pact makes it difficult to justify our nonproliferation policies to the world at large, and in particular to other treaty signatories such as South Africa, Brazil and Taiwan which have foresworn their nuclear weapons program.

"The United States and India have deep and important ties. But we need to draw a line in the sand in certain areas and the area of nonproliferation -- and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in particular -- is such an area."

The amendment is subject to a 60 vote threshold. A vote will be taken later today.

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