Last minute hitches to nuclear deal in Senate

An anonymous lawmaker in the Senate put a "hold" on consideration of the Bill in the Senate which must be lifted before the agreement is brought to its floor or approved by a Unanimous Consent Agreement.

Last minute hitches appeared to have cropped up on Friday in the Senate for passage of the Bill on the Indo-US nuclear deal but an identical measure inched forward in the House of Representatives for early approval.

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An anonymous lawmaker in the Senate put a "hold" on consideration of the Bill in the Senate which must be lifted before the agreement is brought to its floor or approved by a Unanimous Consent Agreement.

It, however, is not clear to what provisions of the Senate Bill that a lawmaker is objecting to.

The "hold" process involves a lawmaker telling the Majority leader and Minority Leader that he/she is against the "hotlining" of the Bill without debate and vote through Unanimous Consent.

However, in the House of Representatives, Howard Berman, a known opponent of the deal, agreed to support the Senate version of the Bill saying that it was in consonance with the Hyde Act.

Berman, who is the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said he backed the Bill after the Bush Administration assured him that they will push for an NSG decision prohibiting the export of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies to states that are not party to NP