A key US-India nuclear deal is likely to be approved by Congress in the next session starting from Monday, a senior US official said on Friday.
"I'm very hopeful," US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher told reporters in New Delhi.
"The president has made very clear this is a priority," he said, adding that Democrats and Republicans were strongly behind it.
"They want to take this up in the lame-duck session," Boucher said, referring to the deal which would end a three-decade US ban on the supply of nuclear fuel and equipment to energy-starved India.
Fears had been raised in India that loss of control of the House of Representatives and the Senate by President George Bush's Republican Party in this week's elections would consign the historic agreement to the dustbin.
At best the new Congress would have to consider the legislation from scratch again next year.
But Boucher said he would bet on it going through.
"There's been very solid support for the specific legislation," he said. "There's also been enormous support for the Indo-US relationship."
"I can't give you a certainty, but my bet is it's gonna happen. We are determined to do this. We are all gonna try to make this happen now.
"Congress has been extremely supportive of the US-India relationship, both Democrats and Republicans. This process will go forward."
But he cautioned: "It's always hard to predict exactly what's gonna happen on the Senate floor."
The agreement, clinched during Bush's March visit to India as the centrepiece of a bilateral strategic relationship, is a controversial component of his administration's foreign policy.
India, which has not signed the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would be allowed access to civilian nuclear technology in return for placing its atomic reactors under international safeguards.