Friday, June 30 2006 10:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The Bush administration has welcomed the passage of the bill seeking implementation of Indo-US civilian nuclear deal in key congressional panels with a thumping majority and said it was looking forward to working with Congress to address a few remaining issues.

"We welcome the strong bilateral support for our civil nuclear cooperation initiative shown by 16 to 2 vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 37 to 5 vote in the House International Relations Committee" State Department Spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.

"We appreciate the hard work done by both Committees and their prompt consideration of the legislation. We also look forward to continuing to work with Congress in the coming weeks to address a few remaining issues in the bills, as the progress on this major US-India initiative continues" he added.

"We look forward to continuing to work with India to fulfill the promise of the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 statements made by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh" the official added.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday endorsed the US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act by a 16-2 vote while the International Relations Committee in the House of Representatives passed the bill (37-5) on Tuesday.