WASHINGTON -- American Indian tribes that operate gambling businesses should receive less money from the federal government than Indians without casinos, an influential senator said Tuesday.

"Gaming tribes are getting the same amount of money distributed to them under old formulas," Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said during a meeting of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that sets spending for the Interior Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"I think it's time to look at perhaps a new formula that gives those who don't have the benefit of casinos a larger share of the government's assistance," said Domenici, a senior senator active on budget and American Indian matters.

Tribes whose reservations are in remote locations are at a disadvantage, Domenici said, because they cannot build casinos. Perhaps a tribe's casino profits should be subtracted from the amount of federal funding it receives, he said.

Domenici spoke up as the panel began writing a fiscal 2006 spending bill for the BIA. Congress last year allocated $1.9 billion to programs run by the agency, including $770 million in grants and other funding to tribes.

Although he stopped short of proposing a change in the funding formula, Domenici suggested the Bureau of Indian Affairs could prepare a report on how federal money could be better divided among the tribes.

Indian gaming produced $18.5 billion in gross revenues in 2004, almost double the amount generated by Nevada casinos.

Mark Van Norman, executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association, said federal funding for tribes should not be based on income.

"It's important to understand how the federal government works with tribes," Van Norman said. "It's a government-to-government relationship; the same as the federal government's relationship with states and local governments."

Calls to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Congress of American Indians were not returned.

Other members of the subcommittee reacted guarded about Domenici's comments.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the subcommittee might be the wrong forum for changing the funding formula.

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, seemed more receptive.

"We do have inherently poor tribes, and it is in large part because of geography and location," Crapo said. "I don't believe it would be wrong for us to recognize that."

Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., said Domenici's idea was interesting, "but I don't know about it on this bill."