Wendy Sherman: “India is a democracy that understands the role of this Congress. They have negotiated a deal that dramatically loosens…”

“India is a democracy that understands the role of this Congress. They have negotiated a deal that dramatically loosens the controls on their nuclear weapons program, and they know that it is the role of this Congress to make that deal one step tighter. Our job is to protect the nonproliferation interests of the United States. The job of India is to say that any amendment we offer is a ``killer amendment.'' Do not be fooled. They know and they expect that this Congress will do its job and make this deal one step better when it comes to controlling nuclear weapons. India did not sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. We should not punish India for becoming a nuclear power, but this deal in its present form facilitates building additional nuclear weapons by India. It will allow them to build twice as many nuclear weapons per year as they are doing now. That is why I will be offering an amendment that will help India's civilian nuclear program, without helping their military program.”