[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 27 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Page 1298]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

July 7, 1999

    Q. Mr. President, what did you learn from the Igloo neighborhood 
this morning?
    The President. Well, the woman who was speaking with me, Geraldine--
some of you had to leave before she talked--there are 11 people living 
in her house and 17 members of her family living in the trailer next 
door connected to her house, 28 people there with five bedrooms between 
them.
    And she talked about how hard it was with no jobs to make ends meet, 
and how she had to buy all the children's school clothes on installment, 
on layaway. And what she did was she had to find money for the children 
who were on the cross-country team--just to be able to do the most basic 
things in life.
    And she said, yes, they did need new housing, but the most important 
thing they needed was a way to make a living. Keep in mind--this is 
unbelievable--this country has had an unemployment rate of under 5 
percent for 2 years; the unemployment rate here is almost 75 percent. We 
have to find a way not only to fix this, the very difficult housing 
circumstances, but to get them jobs.
    We'll talk more about it.

Note: The exchange began at approximately 10:30 a.m. at a new 
reservation housing complex. In his remarks, the President referred to 
Geraldine Blue Bird, resident, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of this exchange.