Democrat Gary Ackerman and Republican James C Greenwood, co-chairmen of the India Caucus, opposed the amendment moved by Republican lawmaker William F Goodling on the ground that it was unfair to India vis-a-vis Pakistan and would harm US-India ties.

"As drafted, the amendment would have the perverse effect of cutting military assistance to India (which she does not get anyway), while allowing such assistance to Pakistan whose fighters recently invaded India's side of Line of Control (LoC), almost provoking a war between the world's newest nuclear powers," Ackerman told the House of Representatives on Thursday.

"The only effect of this amendment would be to strain our relations with India and to cast India as an opponent of the US, when the opposite is true," he said.

Apart from India,other countries likely to be affected include Libya, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, Syria, Cuba and North Korea.

In a letter to all the 435 lawmakers in the House and the four delegates who have no voting rights, Ackerman and Greenwood said, "We do not believe a nation's voting record on recorded votes in the UN is a fair way to assess whether a country shares our values or our positions in the general assembly, where 78 per cent of resolutions were adopted by consensus.

"When those votes are taken into consideration, India supports the US position 82.2 per cent of the time on votes designated as important by the state department."

Terming India as "a thriving sister democracy", the letter said, "There are many issues that bind our relations with India, including the important contributions made by the well-educated and productive Indian American community."

The co-chairmen of the India Caucus said, "US assistance to India and elsewhere serves our national interest and is provided because it promotes ourpolicy-ends, not because it is a reward."