Washington Gov. Mark Sanford and several congressmen are decrying federal legislation they fear would usher casino gambling into South Carolina.

The proposed bill, pushed by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, would grant the Catawba Indian Nation a high-stakes bingo hall in Santee.

But Sanford, and U.S. Reps. Gresham Barrett and Jim DeMint, worry that the proposal would do more.

"My concern is that this bill could open the door for other forms of gaming in South Carolina," said Sanford, a Republican.

Casino gaming includes generally higher-stakes gambling, such as poker, roulette and blackjack. Casino opponents say such gambling would tear at the moral fiber of the state.

"It preys on the less fortunate in our society, and I have major concern with that," Barrett said.

In dispute is the intent of Clyburn's proposal. Why, casino opponents want to know, does the proposal place the tribe under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act? That, they say, could make it easier for the Catawbas to get a casino in the future.

Clyburn said the legislation is needed to allow the tribe to build a second bingo hall in the state.

That's all it would do, said the Columbia Democrat, who sees development of another Catawba bingo hall as a chance to bring jobs and money to economically depressed Orangeburg County.

Clyburn has been circulating his proposal among members of Congress, seeking their support.

Gilbert Blue, chief of the Catawba Indian Nation, said the tribe is not aiming for a casino.

"Putting my honor on the line, there is nothing in this bill that would give us anything but Class II Bingo," said Blue, referring to the type of game the tribe is authorized to operate.

Robert Gip, a nationally known lawyer for Indian tribes who is working with the Catawbas on the Santee project, said the law forbids the Catawbas from building a casino.

Still, he said, he and others who crafted the proposed bill took care to emphasize that point.

There can be no casino "without the consent of the state," Gip said, pointing to a section of the proposed bill that excludes the Catawbas from certain remedies under the IGRA.

Clyburn said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is working to help the Catawbas in the Senate. But a spokesman for the Seneca Republican said the senator is not involved in pushing legislation for the Catawbas. Graham could not be reached for comment Friday.

Gaming has been a particularly difficult issue in South Carolina, where strong coalitions of churches and politicians organized to oppose and eventually kill video poker.

A 1993 agreement among the state, the federal government and the Catawbas -- signed to resolve a dispute over ownership of tribal lands near Rock Hill -- permits the tribe two bingo halls. The tribe established the first in Rock Hill in 1997 and hopes to open the second in Santee, off I-95 in Orangeburg County, in Clyburn's district.

Clyburn said the tribe needs federal legislation of the sort he has crafted to designate a piece of property in Santee as the second hall location.

Concern has focused on a section of his 10-page proposal that would place the tribe under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA.

Some who are uncomfortable with the proposal say giving the federal government a bigger role in the Catawba gaming equation could undermine the 1993 agreement that limited the tribe to two bingo parlors.

Blue said IGRA offers the Catawbas some advantages in establishing a second bingo hall. It would be easier, he said, to bring the Santee land into federal trust, which would afford the Catawbas tax breaks.

But casino gambling is not something the IGRA would allow the tribe, he said, and building a casino could be negotiated only with the state.

Still, Barrett, a Republican from Westminster, sees potential trouble in the proposal. He said he first saw it Thursday afternoon.

He said he sent the proposal to the Congressional Research Service, the analytical arm of Congress, which pointed out "some loopholes."

"If there's a provision in there that might potentially bring full-blown casino gambling to South Carolina, I'm going to fight it," Barrett said.

DeMint spokesman John Hart said the Greenville Republican has "serious concerns with this legislation."

Clyburn said other tribes have the right to be governed by IGRA and there is an element of prejudice involved in the worrying over applying it to the Catawbas.

"If I was a Catawba, I would sue the state of South Carolina."