Washington DC: The Indo-US nuclear deal is now set for the next stage in the American legislation progress. A debate and vote in the Senate later on Thursday.
Ahead of the vote, some reassuring words from key democratic Senator John Kerry spoke in support of the agreement.
The Republican and Democratic leadership in the Senate on Wednesday agreed to have a debate and vote on the Indo-US nuclear agreement in the upcoming session.
The Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, endorsed the nuclear deal for the first time publicly since the agreement was signed. Speaking at the US chamber of commerce in Washington DC, Kerry said the deal was in US interest.
"Meeting the energy needs of India are critical for the world, critical for spreading democracy, critical for our ability to fight terror, to show what this kind of cooperation can produce and take this and market to other countries and show the value of behaving responsibly even being out of the NPT," Kerry said.
Kerry's support comes at a time when the democrats have seized control of both the House and the Senate. Almost all of the 12 Senators who have called for amendments to the agreement are democrats. Kerry, however, assured a majority of the Senate would vote in favour.
“There's an inclination by a lot of people to want to vote for them to express concerns but also not to see an agreement that is ultimately not going to be successful,” Kerry added.
Although Senator Kerry would not say if the Senate would approve the Indo-US nuclear agreement, he did confirm that a possible vote could happen as early as Thursday.
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