WASHINGTON — The Seneca Nation's lucrative mail-order cigarette business appears doomed.

The Senate late Thursday unanimously voted to ban the mailing of cigarettes, and

congressional sources said Friday the House is likely to adopt that Senate bill sometime in

the coming weeks.

After that, only one more thing — President Obama's signature — will be needed

to devastate a business that the Senecas claim now employs 1,000 in Western New York.

The Senecas vowed to keep fighting, even though the usual fractious Senate has united

against them and they found a mere 11 supporters in the 435-member House the last time the

issue came up.

"We will not back down," said Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. "We will pursue

an aggressive campaign of outreach and education to inform the voters of Western New York

which political leaders stand with the Seneca Nation and those who don't."

Meanwhile, supporters of the bill — who argue that the mailing of cigarettes leads to

tax-dodging, shady profits and an increase in teen smoking — talked as if they were on

the cusp of winning their long legislative fight.

"Today, we begin to provide law enforcement authorities with the tools they need to combat

a very serious threat to our states' coffers, national security and public health," said Sen.

Herb Kohl, R-Wis., the chief Senate sponsor of the legislation.

Kohl might be a bit premature in his comments, but congressional sources and the bill's

supporters said its final enactment is now probably imminent.

Rather than setting up a conference committee to merge the slightly different versions of

the bill that the House and Senate have passed, congressional sources said House leaders

simply plan to have the House vote on the Senate measure.

For the Senecas — who rely on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 70 percent of their

tobacco products — that's very bad news, because it will fast-track the legislation.

"We hope the House will pass this bill quickly and that President Obama will act swiftly to

sign this common sense legislation into law so that we can put an end to the illegal sale of

tobacco products," said Scott Ramminger, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Contraband

Tobacco, which pulled together the big cigarette companies and retailers to fight the

mail-order cigarette trade.

While the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and American Cancer Society also fought for the

bill's passage, the Senecas pointed to Big Tobacco's role in pushing for the new law. Altria,

formerly Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard — tobacco giants all — are key

members of the coalition.

The Senecas warned that the economic impact of the bill on the tribe and on Western New

York would be devastating.

"The ultimate effect of this legislation will turn the clock back on the Indians, return us

to the want, squalor and dependency of the past," said J.C. Seneca, co-chairman of the tribe's

Foreign Relations Committee and a successful tobacco entrepreneur.

"The small measure of self-sufficiency we have achieved to care for ourselves and our

people, to provide health and education programs and essential services, will drastically

diminish," he added.

In addition, the bill, called the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, increases

government power over Indian tribes and intrudes on their sovereignty, said Richard Nephew,

chairman of the Seneca Nation Council.

"The passage of the PACT Act should draw outrage and opposition from every corner of Indian

Country," he said. "Aside from tobacco, all Indian nations should be concerned about the

federal government's attempt to confer further jurisdictional power to states over Indian

territories; this invites much trouble."

Of course, the Senecas have been saying such things for months, especially targeting Sens.

Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., in a publicity campaign that didn't

change the senators' minds.

Gillibrand, in Buffalo on Friday, noted that without the law, children can use borrowed or

stolen credit cards to order cigarettes on the Internet.

"We want to do everything we can to help the Senecas to continue to be such a vital part of

the economic growth of this community," she said. "We just want to help them in ways that

don't also endanger children."

Meanwhile, Schumer said: "Cigarettes should not be sold in the mail or anywhere else to

children or minors. We greatly appreciate and have supported the role of the Senecas in

economic development in Western New York, and will continue to work with them."

While banning the mailing of cigarettes, the bill would still allow private shippers to

deliver tobacco products. But many — including FedEx, UPS and DSL — have bowed to

state pressure and refused to ship them.

The PACT Act would go after the Senecas' cigarette business in other ways as well. Most

notably, it requires those selling cigarettes on the Internet to:

Pay all federal, state, local or tribal tobacco taxes and affix tax stamps before

delivering any tobacco products to any customer.

Register with the state where they are based and make periodic reports to state tax

collection officials.

Check the age and ID of customers both when they purchase tobacco and when the

tobacco products are delivered.

To advocates of the bill, it all adds up to a good way to control cigarette sales that now

take place out of the reach of tax collectors and behind the backs of parents.

"Let's face facts: Cigarettes kill people, and when these bootleg operations lose, the

public wins," said Gretchen Leffler, regional vice president of the American Cancer Society in

Western New York.

"Can you imagine a piece of legislation that is so common sense, so painfully obvious that,

even in Washington's partisan climate, it passes the U.S. Senate unanimously?" she added.

"That's what the PACT Act is."

News Niagara Bureau Reporter Aaron Besecker contributed to this report.