However, U.S. Sen. John McCain has colluded with those who want to stifle the stories of similar old bones and the light they can shed on the earliest Americans and where they came from. The Arizona Republican, who is chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, supported a sweeping policy change in Senate Bill 536, which is billed erroneously as a technical corrections bill.[...]
"The effect is to push science and scientists out of the picture," says Alan Schneider, a lawyer for the scientists in their federal court battle. "The issue would be solely between the government and the tribes."
A member of the committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., raised concerns about such a substantive policy change being tucked into a technical corrections bill. But she voted for it because of other items in the bill. Another Northwest senator, Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon, also serves on the committee.
Way to go John, Mary!