Political Quotes

“This amendment, which has been cosponsored by Senators Enzi, Bryan, Reid, Voinovich, Grams of Minnesota, Lugar, Sessions, and Bayh, has been before the Senate on several previous occasions. It essentially goes to the issue of what will be the process to determine whether on Indian properties there shall be allowed class III gambling. Class III gambling is the type of gambling that occurs in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. It is what we would characterize as casino gambling. Currently, for that gambling to occur, there has to be a compact entered into between the representatives of the Indian tribe and the Governor of the State in which the proposed casino would be located. This is all part of the Indian Gaming Act passed by the Congress in the past. The Secretary of the Interior, earlier this year, on April 12, issued a regulation that essentially said if he determined the States were not negotiating on these compacts in good faith, then he could remove that power from the States, and the Secretary of the Interior would decide whether there should be class III gambling under the aegis of Indian tribes. I personally think that is a very bad idea. It disrupts the basic principle of federalism, the responsibility which this Congress has placed with the States and the tribes to reach an agreement. In my own State of Florida, we have a prohibition in our constitution against casino gambling.”