The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has launched a "full-court press" to win passage in Congress of a landmark US-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal before January, her spokesman said Tuesday.

In a flurry of contacts members of the US Congress, Rice is speaking to key lawmakers by telephone and meeting others in person, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"From her perspective, this is a full court press, working with the Congress," McCormack said, using a basketball analogy for an all-out effort to win passage of the deal before President George W. Bush's term ends in January.

"She has made a lot of calls. She does have a lot of meetings coming up," McCormack said.

US lawmakers returned to work Monday after their August recess-and are expected to leave Washington again in late September to campaign ahead of the November 4 elections, leaving little time for action on the agreement.

US congressional approval is the final hurdle for the 2005 agreement, which offers India access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy as long as it allows UN nuclear inspections of some of its nuclear facilities.

The United States won approval in Vienna on Saturday for the one-off waiver for India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology.

The Group was founded to stop other countries emulating India's example in using imported technology to make an atomic bomb.

McCormack said Rice has spoken to House Minority leader John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell as well as to Joseph Biden, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.