Mumbai: A US Senate panel today voted 19-2 to approve the draft civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India, raising hopes of an early passage of the agreement by the full Senate.

Democrat senators Barbara Boxer (proxy) and Russel Feingold voted against the deal.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and the vice presidential candidate and current head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden voted (by proxies) for the agreement.

''Today's committee passage is significant, but several steps remain before this bill becomes law,'' said Biden, adding, ''I hope the Congress can complete the job in the few days remaining before adjournment, and I'll continue fighting as hard as I can to achieve this important victory.''

The draft bill, approved by the Senate panel, did not include a controversial clause that would give Congress greater say over future deals.

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman had last week proposed changing US law to make Congressional approval mandatory for any future agreements.

He had also sought a change in the US Atomic Energy Act in exchange for speeding up a vote on the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

''The President may not exchange diplomatic notes pursuant to Article 16(1) of the 5 Agreement unless the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the NSG has amended its guidelines to prohibit the transfer of technology related to the enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel to any state that is not a party to the NPT,'' the amendment by Feingold suggested.

The amendment was rejected 15-4 with two Democrat senators - Obama and Robert Menendez - not voting.

While the Senate panel approval in itself is an important development, the agreement has to be passed by the full Senate and the House of Representatives before being signed into law by President George W Bush.

The deal would end a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with India and help India secure the country's energy future by ensuring nuclear fuel supplies.

The deal would also create millions of new jobs in the US as the American nuclear industry signs billions of dollars worth of deals with India.

Opponents of the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, most of them hard-core  non-proliferationists, however, say the deal undermines global nonproliferation efforts.

While the Bush administration is in negotiations with members of the Congress to assuage their concerns, it is still unclear whether the agreement would be passed during this week and without the controversial proposal of Senator Berman.

White House officials hope the US Congress to approve the deal before the meeting.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh, who is in the US to attend the UN General Assembly, is due to meet President George Bush on Thursday even as Indian Americans are coordinating an effort to push the deal through the Senate for an early passage.

The US halted nuclear co-operation with India after it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. Many, including Us lawmakers, now see the agreement as the centrepiece of future Indo-US cooperation.