(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) moved Wednesday to block the Poarch Creek Indians from trying to build a casino on tribal land at Wetumpka.
The Senate approved a Sessions amendment to the FY 2001 Interior Department appropriations bill, that would establish a one-year moratorium on the Secretary of Interior's ability to issue a casino license to the Creeks. That would give a federal court time to rule on a case brought by Alabama and Florida challenging the validity of recently published regulations authorizing the Secretary to grant such a license. The Interior Department published regulations last year that give the secretary authority to approve a casino license for Indian tribes who cannot get a state to agree to a gambling compact, something Alabama has not yet done.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has said he would delay granting such a license until the federal court suit is decided. But Sessions' amendment, if passed by Congress and signed into law, would legally tie the Secretary's hands for one year.
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