WASHINGTON —  Lawmakers reached agreement Thursday on allowing U.S. shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to India, clearing the way for overturning decades of American anti-proliferation policy.

After several days of talks, congressional negotiators signed off on the measure, which reconciles separate versions previously endorsed overwhelmingly by the House and the Senate.

Both chambers of Congress must now vote again on the bill before sending it to President Bush to sign into law. The House was expected to consider the bill Friday, with the Senate acting after that. Details of the final bill were not immediately available.

The bill's passage would hand a rare victory to Bush, who has seen his popularity tumble and who will have to deal in January with a Democratic-controlled Congress after his Republican Party was defeated in recent elections.

Senior lawmakers from both parties promoted the India plan as a major shift in U.S. policy toward a country that is strategically an important Asian power, one that has long maintained what the United States considers a responsible nuclear program.

The bill would carve out an exemption in American law to allow U.S. civilian nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants; eight military plants would remain off-limits. Congressional action is needed because U.S. law bars nuclear trade with countries, such as India, that have not submitted to full international inspections.

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"We now have the opportunity to achieve a geo-strategic realignment of India with the United States," said Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee. "This will be of immense importance to global security and economic development, while at the same time furthering our interests in limiting the spread of nuclear weapons."

Critics say the extra nuclear fuel the deal would provide could free India's domestic uranium for use in its weapons program. India developed its nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it has refused to sign.

Although Bush's signature would change U.S. law, several hurdles loom before India and the United States could begin civil nuclear trade, including another congressional vote once technical negotiations on an overall U.S.-India cooperation agreement are settled.

On Thursday, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and his Indian counterpart, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon, expressed confidence that each side would be satisfied with the outcome of Congress' work.

The final bill "will be, in my judgment, well within the parameters of the deal made between our two leaders," Burns said, referring to agreements struck in July 2005 and March 2006 by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Burns called the nuclear deal a "liberation" act for India's nuclear program.

Among the potential sticking points in congressional negotiations was language in the Senate version of the bill requiring Bush to determine that India is cooperating with U.S.-led efforts to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions before he could allow nuclear cooperation with India. The Bush administration and the Indian government have urged lawmakers to remove the condition.

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