Washington, Wednesday 24 Sept 2008: The US Senate has taken the first important step towards a possible vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The deal has been marked up to the business agenda of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for Tuesday.

The lawmakers in the crucial Senate panel adopted the agreement by a vote of 19-2.

Senator Russell Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat and Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, voted against the deal.

The Senate panel rejected by a 15-4 vote an amendment sought by Senator Feingold, asking the administration to enter into agreement with the Nuclear Suppliers Group that there will be no transfers of enrichment and reprocessing technology to any country that is not a party to nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

However, there is no confirmation yet on when the vote will actually take place.

The Bill, which was initially not on the agenda of the powerful panel, was added to the business list as the ninth and last item of business shortly after it met on Tuesday afternoon.

Indian and US officials are hoping that the US Congress could ratify the deal before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to meet President George W Bush, at the White House on September 25.

The Business Committee of the US Congress is still to decide whether to waive the mandatory 30 days discussion period for the 123 Agreement.

The Committee’s Democratic chairman Howard Berman says he supports the deal but has reservations about the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) waiver for India.