(Columbia-AP) Bingo was the first topic of discussion today as senators began debating Governor Mark Sanford's plan to lower the state's top income tax rate. Orangeburg Senator Brad Hutto proposed an amendment to the tax plan that would let the Catawba Indian Nation open a high-stakes bingo operation in Orangeburg County near Interstate 95.

Hutto says the operation would bring eleven hundred jobs. The tribe wants to build an electronic bingo hall in Santee, but they need the General Assembly to pass legislation allowing the operation. The Catawbas have said if the General Assembly does not pass the legislation before it adjourns, they will put video gambling machines on their reservation near Rock Hill.

Sanford's spokesman Will Folks says the governor does not think a 1993 agreement allows a second bingo operation in Santee. He also thinks it would be illegal for the Catawbas to operate the machines on the reservation.