Click to play videoNew Delhi: The much-touted and widely debated Indo-US nuclear deal cleared its last legislative hurdle early Thursday morning, as US Senate passed it after a two-and-a-half-hour debate, with members from across the political divide supporting the landmark accord.
In the 100-member Senate, 86 members voted for the deal, while 13 opposed it.
Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain and Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden also participated in the voting.
The Senate rejected the killer amendments introduced by Democratic Senators Byron Dorgan and Jeff Bingaman to ensure that the US nuclear exports to India do not help boost New Delhi's nuclear weapons programme.
The Senate's endorsement comes just four days after the House of Representatives passed the bill.
Following the Senate stamp, the final leg of the three stages of the Indo-US nuclear deal is over.
India has secured the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver and the US Congress approval.
Following the Senate vote, the deal is now ready for signing by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice when she arrives in New Delhi on her rescheduled trip on Saturday with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to arrive in India on Saturday.
Rice may ink the agreement with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a feat that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush could not achieve when they met at the White House on Friday last.
Singh and Bush had signed the deal in 2005 which had sharply divided the political class in India with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government forced to seek a trust vote in Parliament in July 2008.
Already approved by the House of Representatives, the Bill has a paragraph that the US can cease nuclear cooperation with India if New Delhi conducts a test.
(With PTI inputs)
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