Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman intends to introduce a similar amendment in the House of Representatives soon. Gilman is chairman of the House International Relations Committee and his proposal is expected to make it through the House without opposition, as had happened in the Senate. The administration, instead of immediate suspension ofsanctions as suggested by the Congressmen, prefers "a comprehensive and permanent national interest waiver" for all of the sanctions of the Glenn Amendment under which India and Pakistan had been penalised. Lawmakers disagree with this approach. "I believe that giving the administration waiver authority does not fully accomplish the goal of getting the US-India relationship back on track and restoring confidence in the future of that relationship," Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone said.

Explaining his point on the floor of the House, he said the broad discretion given to President Bill Clinton last year to waive sanctions for a year "means more of the same incremental, carrot-and-stick approach of the past." He was critical of the US opposing World Bank funding for India's infrastructural projects. "We should not allow these important development projects to be held hostage to other diplomatic considerations," he remarked. Meanwhile, leaders of several of America's best-known companies have expressedstrong support for the Senate initiative that would encourage reduction in economic sanctions against India, while affording to U.S. diplomats "greater flexibility" in negotiations with New Delhi and Islamabad.

The lawmakers, who generally disfavour sanctions, are divided on the issue of the Pakistan-specific Pressler Amendment. The Brownback Amendment envisages its repeal which Gilman, Pallone and prominent New York Democrat Gary Ackerman oppose.

In 1990, under the Pressler Amendment, then President George Bush banned economic and military aid to Pakistan, which had been of the order of $650 million a year in the 1980s. The action followed reports of Islamabad going ahead with its nuclear weapons programme. Lawmakers friendly to Pakistan are expected to press for scrapping the Pressler Amendment. Their argument is that it singles out Pakistan for punishment. Moreover, Pakistan has been punished sufficiently under it, they argue. The existing presidential authority to waive sanctions expires thisOctober. Meanwhile, several different Congressional proposals dealing with the sanctions issue have come up.

The administration is in close touch with Senator Brownback and others to evolve a consensus on the issue. The process may go on for another three months before a final decision is taken, according to informed sources.