Breaking her long silence on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Senator Hillary Clinton has finally endorsed the pact, saying: "I intend to vote in support of this legislation when it comes to the Senate floor."
"United States and India are bound together by deep mutual respect and our common efforts to work towards a democratic, free and secure world," she said in a statement posted on her website.
Clinton's failure to spell out her stance over the past several months had become a sore point with Indian American activists, who otherwise know her as an avid supporter of India-related causes. Their disappointment was all the more acute, given the fact that she is the co-chair of the Senate's Friends of India Caucus.
But the former First Lady, who is widely expected to run for Presidency in '08, has obliquely indicated why she took so much time to make up her mind — the Bush administration's original proposal "sought to undercut Congressional authority".
According to her, the legislation that has emerged from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is "a significant improvement over the implementing legislation put forward by the administration in March."
{{/usCountry}}According to her, the legislation that has emerged from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is "a significant improvement over the implementing legislation put forward by the administration in March."
{{/usCountry}}"The initial proposal sought to undercut Congressional authority by asking us to effectively approve an agreement before it being negotiated with India and before India had reached its nuclear safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency," she said.