Kennewick Man is poised to tell his secrets.

Almost nine years after the 9,300-year-old remains were found on the banks of the Columbia River and a fierce legal battle, federal courts agreed unequivocally scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man.

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.

At the risk of invoking our former president's imbroglio, the issue really does boil down to what the definition of "is" is.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act currently defines "Native American" as "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States."

That wording was key to the scientists' victory in federal court, because it required proof of connection to modern tribes. But tribes who sought to bury Kennewick Man could not prove a link. In fact, limited studies found the remains more closely resembled the Ainu of Japan than modern, Native American tribes.In response to the federal court ruling, the Indian Affairs Committee approved SB 536, which would insert two seemingly innocuous words into the repatriation law. It would read: "... is, or was, indigenous. ... " That means modern tribes could claim remains with no discernible link to them except that they were found in an area where the tribes lived.

Proving a connection over more than 400 generations is problematic. How can we know the extent of early migration 10,000 years ago?

If a possible connection between Kennewick Man and the Ainu is substantiated, would the tribes really want to deprive the Ainu of news of their long-lost wandering relative?

"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.

The Society for American Archeology, while generally supportive of the change, objected to a similar effort last year because there was no hearing: The society said, " ... we are strongly opposed to the process through which this amendment is being put forward."

The battle over Kennewick Man and other ancient remains, found and yet to be found, is a battle between sincere intentions.

Many tribes believe Kennewick Man and other ancient remains are ancestors. It disturbs them because the remains are not buried in accordance with their beliefs.

The repatriation act is a righteous law that sought to put an end to desecration of Native American burial sites and to return ancestral remains and artifacts to descendants.

But the scientists are not grave robbers with ill intent. Their values are to preserve the bones and study them in the least intrusive way possible. Among them is Doug Owsley, curator and division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum, who has studied more recent remains to facilitate repatriation.

The repatriation law does not adequately address remains like Kennewick Man and others exceptional in their age and physically distinct from modern-day tribes that would claim them. U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, D-Pasco, previously introduced legislation to amend the repatriation act to ensure these ancient remains not linked to modern tribes could be studied.

He set the effort aside, pending the federal court case. But given this threat to scientific inquiry in the Senate, he should consider reintroducing it — and push this debate back into the open before the secrets of the earliest Americans are stifled.

Kate Riley's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is kriley@seattletimes.com