US Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared the Indo-US nuclear deal on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 by a 19-2 margin. This development has taken place at a time when the Indian Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh is about to reach New York.

This clearance by US senate now has rekindled hope that the Indo-US nuke deal will get finalized by the time the Indian PM visits Washington DC this Thursday. It was at the very last minute that the Senate panel put out the agreement for consideration at its business meeting on Tuesday.

It is not known as of now as to which of the two lawmakers resisted the nuclear deal. But during the SFRC hearing previous week, it was Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin who strongly tried resisting the Indo-US nuclear deal. The next move is awaited from the House side.