Washington, DC – Chairman Tom Lantos of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs today issued the following statement about the peaceful civilian nuclear cooperation agreement text released today by the U.S. and Indian governments:

“I welcome the opportunity to review the civilian nuclear cooperation deal in detail. As Congress considers it, we need to determine whether the new agreement conforms to the Henry Hyde Act, and thereby supports U.S. foreign policy and nonproliferation goals.”

Lantos and Hyde were the co-authors of the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act, which gave the Administration authority to waive certain requirements of U.S. law in order to permit civilian nuclear cooperation between the United States and India. The legislation required that any resulting agreement could only be implemented with congressional approval.