[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 32 (Monday, August 10, 1998)]
[Pages 1576-1580]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the White House Conference on Building Economic Self-
Determination in Indian Communities

August 6, 1998

    The President. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful welcome. Thank 
you for the song. Thank you, Dominic, for giving us a picture of 
opportunity and hope for the future. I'm very glad that you're not only 
a good student but a good entrepreneur and a good promoter. Dominic was 
kind enough to give me one of his bracelets before I came out. 
[Laughter] So I'm his latest walking advertisement, and I'm glad to 
shill for him. [Laughter]
    I would like to thank the members of the administration, the 15 
agencies that have come together with the White House to sponsor this 
conference. I thank Secretary Daley, Secretary Riley, Secretary 
Glickman, Small Business Administrator Aida Alvarez, who are here. I'd 
like to thank Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Anderson, Kevin Gover, 
Mark Van Norman, Angela Hammond, and two young people on our staff, 
Julie Fernandes and Mary Smith, who work with Mickey Ibarra and Lynn 
Cutler; all of them worked very hard on this conference. I thank them. 
[Applause] Thank you.
    I'm proud to be here with Chief Marge Anderson, Governor Walter 
Dasheno; Chief Joyce Dugan, Chairman Frank Ettawageshik, Chairman Roland 
Harris, Chairwoman Kathryn Harrison, President Ivan Makil, Governor Mary 
Thomas, Chairman Brian Wallace, President John Yellow Bird Steele. I 
thank all of you.
    I have looked forward to this day for quite a long time. The 
Iroquois teach us that every decision we make, every action we take, 
must be judged not only on the impact it makes today but on the impact 
it makes on the next

[[Page 1577]]

seven generations. It is, therefore, fitting on the eve of a new century 
and a new millennium, that we come together today to determine what we 
must do to build a stronger future for our children, for our 
grandchildren, for future generations of Native Americans, and indeed, 
for all Americans.
    For too many Americans, our understanding of Native Americans is 
frozen in time, in sepia-toned photography of legendary chieftains, in 
the ancient names of rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges, in the chapters 
of old history books. But as we have all seen at this conference, the 
more than 2 million members of tribal nations in the United States, from 
energetic, young entrepreneurs like Dominic to innovative leaders like 
the ones sitting here with me today, are a vital part of today's America 
and must be an even more vital part of tomorrow's America.
    We are living in a time of great opportunity and hope, with our 
economy the strongest in a generation. Soon we will have the first 
balanced budget and surplus in 29 years, the lowest unemployment in 28 
years, the highest homeownership in history. Social problems are finally 
beginning to bend to our efforts as a Nation: the crime rate, the lowest 
in 25 years; the welfare rolls, the smallest percentage of our people in 
29 years. We are taking strong steps toward the America I dreamed of 
when I first ran for this office beginning in late 1991, an America 
where there is opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community 
of all our people.
    It is a time of unprecedented prosperity for some of our tribes as 
well. Gaming and a variety of innovative enterprises have enabled tribes 
to free their people from lives of poverty and dependence. The new 
wealth is sparking a cultural renaissance in parts of Indian country, as 
tribes build new community centers, museums, language schools, elder 
care centers.
    But we also know the hard truth, that on far too many reservations 
across America such glowing statistics and reports mean very little 
indeed. While some tribes have found new success in our new economy, too 
many more remain caught in a cycle of poverty, unemployment, and 
disease. The facts are all too familiar. More than a third of all Native 
Americans still live in poverty. With unemployment at a 28-year low, 
still, on some reservations more than 70 percent of all adults do not 
have regular work. Diabetes in Indian country has reached epidemic 
proportions. Other preventable diseases and alcoholism continue to 
diminish the quality of life for hundreds of thousands.
    At a time of such great prosperity, when we know we don't have a 
person to waste, this is an unacceptable condition. That's why we're 
here today, to find new ways to empower our people, especially our 
children, with the tools and the opportunity to build brighter futures 
for themselves and their families. Our Government alone cannot solve the 
problems of Indian country, nor can tribal governments be left to fend 
alone for themselves.
    Everyone must do his or her part, tribal and Federal governments, 
along with the private sector. We all have to work together to empower 
our people with the tools they need to succeed. Most of all, every 
individual must take responsibility to seize the opportunities of this 
new time and to break the cycle of poverty.
    As President, I have worked very hard to honor tribal sovereignty 
and to strengthen our government-to-government relationships. Long ago, 
many of your ancestors gave up land, water, and mineral rights in 
exchange for peace, security, health care, education from the Federal 
Government. It is a solemn pact. And while the United States Government 
did not live up to its side of the bargain in the past, we can and we 
must honor it today and into that new millennium.
    Four years ago, when I became the first President since James Monroe 
in the 1820's to invite the leaders of every tribe to the White House, I 
issued a memorandum directing all Federal agencies to consult with the 
Indian tribes before making decisions on matters affecting your people. 
This spring I strengthened that directive so that decisions made by the 
Federal Government regarding Indian country are always made in 
cooperation with the tribes.
    In the last 6 months, Jackie Johnson has joined the staff at HUD, 
Carrie Billy at Education, Rhonda Whiting at the Small Business 
Administration, to help coordinate and promote Native American 
initiatives at these

[[Page 1578]]

agencies. Raynell Morris will join the White House Office of 
Intergovernmental Affairs to help Mickey Ibarra and Lynn Cutler with 
Native American initiatives and outreach. I welcome all to my 
administration.
    We also, as all of you know, have been working very hard for more 
than a year now on a race initiative designed to address the opportunity 
gaps for all Americans, and I thank those of you who have had a role in 
that. The most recent public event we did with the race initiative was 
an hour-long conversation on Jim Lehrer's Public Broadcasting System 
show. The Native American community was represented by a delightful, 
energetic young man named Sherman Alexie, whose new movie, ``Smoke 
Signals,'' is receiving very good reviews around the country, and I had 
it brought to me at the White House and watched it. He's got a great 
talent, and I wish him well.
    Today I want to talk about opportunity and about three tools of 
opportunity every American needs to thrive in the 21st century, how we 
can bring these tools to every person in very corner of Indian country, 
from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, to Window Rock, Arizona, to Cherokee, 
North Carolina.

[At this point, an audience member cheered.]

    The President. That's okay. [Laughter]
    The first and most important tool of opportunity, of course, is 
education. Throughout history, in the United States, education has been 
the key to a better life for generations of Americans. This will clearly 
be even more true in a global, knowledge-based economy that will reward 
children, but only children who have the skills to succeed and to keep 
learning for a lifetime.
    Today fewer than two-thirds of our Native Americans over the age of 
25 hold high school degrees. Fewer than 10 percent go on to college. If 
the trend continues, then the future for Native American children will 
become even bleaker. The opportunity gap between them and their peers 
will widen to a dangerous chasm. In a few moments, therefore, I will 
sign an Executive order directing our administration to work together 
with tribal and State governments to improve Native American achievement 
in math and reading, to raise high school and post-secondary graduation 
rates, to reduce the influence of poverty and substance abuse on student 
performance, to create safe drug-free schools, to expand the use of 
science and technology. I believe in this. I have done what I could to 
support Native American higher education and will continue to do so.
    We have also tried to open the doors of college to all, with more 
Pell grants, tax credits which make the first 2 years of college now 
virtually free to all Americans, increased work-study slots, and 
AmeriCorps community service slots--other things we have tried to do to 
make college education more affordable. But we have to have more people 
who are able to take advantage of it.
    The second tool is high-quality health care. Native American 
communities will never reach their full potential if people continue to 
be hobbled by disease, diseases often preventable, easily treatable. 
Native Americans are 3 times as likely to suffer from diabetes as white 
people. Therefore, they should get 3 times the benefit of the remarkable 
advances that we made in the last year in the diabetes prevention 
effort.
    The American Diabetes Association said that what we did for diabetes 
not too long ago was the most important step forward since the discovery 
of insulin--in treatment, in prevention, in research. Every tribe should 
know what is in the law, what the benefits are, and should be in a 
position to take maximum advantage of it.
    Last summer, as I said when I signed this legislation, I wanted to 
make sure that it helped all Americans with diabetes but especially 
those in our Native American communities. Earlier this year, I launched 
an initiative to help eliminate health disparities between racial and 
ethnic minority groups by the year 2010. I want you to make sure 
Congress fully funds this initiative as well.
    Today I am pleased to announce that we're going to make an 
adjustment in our new children's health insurance program to ensure that 
Native American children get the health care they need. [Applause] Thank 
you. In the balanced budget bill which passed Congress last year, we had 
$24 billion over a 5-year period to extend health insurance to 5 million 
more children. The action I'm taking today

[[Page 1579]]

makes sure that the money is fairly allocated so that Native American 
children who are disproportionately without health insurance will now 
have their fair chance to be covered.
    I also want you to know that I am committed to working with Congress 
and Secretary Shalala to elevate the Director of the Indian Health 
Service, Dr. Michael Trujillo, who is here today, to the rank of 
Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services. By elevating the head 
of the Indian Health Service, we can ensure that the health needs of our 
Native Americans get the full consideration they deserve when it comes 
to setting health policy in our country.
    The third tool is economic opportunity, in the form of jobs, credit, 
small business. Very few grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and 
banks are doing business on reservations. As a result, money that could 
be used to build tribal economies and create jobs is spent too often off 
reservation.
    I've issued a new directive to boost economic development in Indian 
country. The directive will do three things. It will ask the Department 
of Commerce to work with the Interior Department and with the tribal 
governments to study and develop a plan to meet the technology 
infrastructure needs of Indian country. No tribe will be able to attract 
new business if it doesn't have the phone, fax, Internet, and other 
technology capabilities essential to the 21st century.
    The directive calls on several agencies to coordinate and strengthen 
our existing Native American economic development initiatives. And I 
might say in particular, I think micro-credit institutions have a 
terrific potential to do even more than some of you have already done 
for the last several years in Indian country. The community development 
financial institutions that we have established in this country in the 
last few years have played an important role in providing credit to 
people who otherwise could not get it to start small businesses or to 
expand small businesses. I have asked the Congress for a significant 
expansion in the Community Development Financial Institutions Act. I 
believe in microlending.
    The United States last year through our aid programs financed 2 
million small loans in developing nations around the world. Think how 
much good we could do if we could finance 2 million small loans in 
developing communities in the United States of America. We're also 
directing the Department of Treasury and HUD to work with tribal 
governments to create and improve one-stop mortgage shopping centers to 
help more Native Americans obtain loans more easily. And our first pilot 
will be in the Navajo nation.
    Last, I am proud to announce the plan by the United States 
Department of Agriculture to help seven tribes to get a foothold in our 
high-tech economy. The Department will help these tribes establish small 
technology companies to obtain Government contracts for software 
development and other services.
    I have asked HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo to visit several 
reservations to determine what more his department and our 
administration can do to boost economic development there. A few weeks 
ago he met with leaders of 60 Alaskan native villages; today he's 
visiting Pine Ridge and Lower Brule Indian reservations in South Dakota.
    The next millennium must be a time of great progress and prosperity 
for our Native American communities, and we can make it so. Today 
American Indian population is still very young. In the last census, 39 
percent of all Native Americans were under the age of 20. I kind of wish 
I were one of them. [Laughter]
    But this statistic is one that should bring us great hope, even as 
it poses your and my greatest challenge. We have a new large generation 
of young people who, if given the tools, the encouragement, and the 
opportunity, can work together to lead their families out of the 
stifling poverty and despair of the past.
    So let us work to bring this generation and the next seven 
generations a world of abundant hope and opportunity, where all tribes 
have vanquished poverty and disease and all people have the tools to 
achieve their greatest potential.
    I leave you with the words of the Lakota song we heard a few moments 
ago. ``Beneath the President's flag, the people stand, that they may 
grow for generations to come.'' Let us stand together under America's 
flag to

[[Page 1580]]

build that kind of future for generations to come.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:55 p.m. in the Independence Ballroom at 
the Grand Hyatt Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Dominic Ortiz, 
owner, Pottawatomie Traders; Marge Anderson, chief, Mille Lacs 
Reservation; Walter Dasheno, governor, Pueblo Santa Clara; Joyce Dugan, 
chief, Eastern Band of Cherokee; Frank Ettawageshik, president, Little 
Traverse Bay Band of Odawa; Roland Harris, chairman, Mohegan Indian 
Tribe; Kathryn Harrison, chairperson, Confederated Tribes of the Grand 
Ronde; Ivan Makil, president, Salt River Maricopa Indian Community; Mary 
Thomas, governor, Gila River Indian Community; Brian Wallace, chairman, 
Washoe Tribal Council; and John Yellow Bird Steele, president, Oglala 
Sioux.