I think the crisis above all else is a clarion call for changing our relationship with one another and the planet earth. Why is the extinction crisis in the clarion call . Because it is loud and clear, as all clearing call clarion calls must be. For those willing to listen, it is almost deafening. With each passing there is a celestial bell that rings endlessly in the heavens marking the passage of the another miracle. It is certainly clear it provides clear evidence, unequivocal evidence, that something is amiss. Sweep,ful, over the long billions of years of multicellular life, there been five events that rivaled the extinction crisis that we are in today. If that is not evidence that something is amiss, i dont know what amiss means. We understand the cause of the extinction crisis. It is humaninduced habitat degradation, modification, invasion of species, overexploitation, and over the last few decades, Climate Change. Now for a portion of the the American Noble EnergyInstitute Summit in aspen, colorado. You can see the entire event at 8 00 eastern on cspan. Here are some of our future programs you can find this weekend on cspan networks. Saturday night on cspan, Supreme CourtJustice Elena kagan at princeton university. Lerday on q a, glenn kess on his end of the year biggest pinocchios of 2014 awards. Reason words, Magazine Editor damon root on Supreme Court activism and judicial restraint. And jonathan yardley, who retired after over 30 years at the washington post. Saturday at six 4 p. M. Eastern, historians discuss president lincolns reelection campaign. Sunday at 5 00 on real america, a film that chronicles the 84th Infantry Division during the battle of the bulge. Get our entire schedule on cspan. Org and let us know what you think of the programs were watching. Ments cspan. Org. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. The white house recently hosted its annual tribal nations conference here in washington. The event provides leaders from the 566 federally recognized tribes to meet with the president and members of the White House Council on native American Affairs. We heard remarks from Vice President biden and secretary Sylvia Burwell and sally jewell. This is about an hour. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the special assistant to the president for native American Affairs. [applause] good morning, everyone. Welcome to the white house tribal nations conference. Today is a very special day for all of us as we reflect on the sixth conference. It is just as important today as it was in 2009 in building the administrations policy agenda and setting the direction for the next year. Year after year we have them together to renew, and is president obama says, polish the covenant chain. Our chain of friendship has become brighter and stronger during this administration through each of these gatherings. I want to make note of one invaluable change this year in the program decides the venue here at the capital hilton. We are excited to have the white house generation Indigenous Youth ambassadors join us from 36 different native nations. Where are the native youth ambassadors . [applause] they bring brightness and an important voice and we cannot be more blessed by their resolve and very presence here today. Before coming to the white house, i worked on native child and family issues. From that experience, i agree with a lot of what the tribal leaders have said. That is that historical trauma israel and is that critical levels among our people. Is real and is at critical levels among our people. That is one of the values of these kinds of gatherings, that people, and very specific recommendations and also big picture visions. We have incredible discussions with you yesterday and are looking forward to a packed agenda today with 10 cabinet members, the chair of the native American Affairs council, the Vice President , and the president. And of course, the whole reason we are here today is for all of you. As leaders, you are confronted with so many issues that are key , and you carry the responsibility of your people on your shoulders. We are always thankful for what you do as leaders of your nation. Without further delay, lets get started with the program. [applause] please rise for the presentation of the colors by the native american women warriors and to sing the flag members of the lakota renation. [applause] [applause] please remain standing for the vacation invocation by nancy james. [speaking native langugage] it in english. Our heavenly father, we thank you for today as a privilege to in your name for our president obama and our nation. We ask you for your continued wisdom for the United States. Maybe built upon your name and the foundation of your father. I pray that all may be led by the spirit of truth, that might people may be blessed by your name. We thank you for the freedom to worship, that we may enjoy the freedom to honor and worship thy name and to continue to bless our nation, the United States of america, and our people and all walks of life. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome secretary of the interior sally jewell. [applause] well, thank you. What a beautiful room. Dont you just love having the flags of all your nations here . It is not just the department of the entir interior. We love posting you in our building lisa down. Sorry. You stand for the other guy but not for me. We are doing renovations in our building so we hope in a couple of years we will welcome you back, and you can freeze the death turns the water and freezes the air and not worry about your health. It is good drink the water and breathe the air and not worry about your health. It is good to see you from near and far, mostly far. We are so blessed to have your presence with us today. Thank you. This conference is a true reflection on the spirit and the strength of the Obama Administrations commitment to the opportunity for all 566 federally recognized tribes to come together to have a facetoface meeting with members of the president s cabinet, president and Vice President , and i will tell you that there is a lot of work that goes into preparing for this. Before i say a few more thoughts, what i would like to do is recognize a few people that have been amazing. From the white house, special assistant to the president for native American Affairs you heard from her at the front end. [applause] jody does incredible work, and her partner of the white house, associate director for intergovernmental affairs, reyna fields. Lets give them a round of applause. [applause] i want to quickly acknowledge my colleagues from the department of the interior, who worked alongside a white house in putting this together. There are many people pulling nighters,rs all making sure this conference is great for you. Could we give them a round of applause . Thank you, all of you. [applause] kick off thisto conference than the young men we heard from sharing with us the flag song, because this has been a special focus this year, and that is supporting native youth and the next generation of tribal leaders. Menow that our two young did a beautiful job should could we give them a round of applause . Well done, you guys. [applause] it is clear that language and culture is alive and well in those two young men. Afterk to listen to you last year and we changed at this conference. More importantly, our Work Together has helped us all understand that this not just about working to support your good work and listen to you today. It is working to support you. Very single day i was asked to chair the White House Council on native American Affairs and it is a daunting task. It is clear to me that the silos of the federal government dont always coordinate well together. In fact, i would say that coordination is more rare than normal and you helped me understand that, too. But this cabinet and this administration does care and we are knocking down those silos and working together like never before. You will see 10 of my cabinet colleagues today. Ernie moniz he had flight he wass last night and supposed to be in brussels and instead he will be here with you. We had the White House Council on American Affairs meeting me at 80 a few on the phone and you give us your thoughts and insights and we have been weaving those into our meeting agendas and will continue to do that. This cabinet is fully engaged, and we share our commitment in Indian Country and you will see more cabinet members than usc in the past, although many of them then you have seen in the past. Ibeen the privilege of had a privilege of over 20 visits, from alaska to south florida and many points in between. I want to thank you for sharing with me not only your needs and your thoughts but also your rich cultures, your languages, your traditions, that help me understand my job what is at stake. Duncan, secretary of education, and i had an opportunity to be together and visit Indian Schools in wyoming and maine and he and i independently have made visits to many schools across the country trying to understand what we can do so that we have more young men like those that we just heard from this morning who embraced and are proud of the conditions and cultures and yet you do well in academic and can bring support to their reservations and the people for many, many years to come. With a lot about Indian Education but there is more that needs to be done. We have schools that are falling. Part i am well aware of this, i have seen it. We are working with congress and omb to address those challenges that we are aware exist out there. One of the Biggest Challenges we face as a worlds Climate Change no there is there are people more affected by Climate Change in the United States and then native people. Why . Lots of reasons. As i have got to alaska, ive seen cultural sites wash away. You have seen changes in the cycles impacting the systems. As you go along the coast, the Ocean Acidification is impacting shellfish. As you are reliant on fish stocks, you see those change with changing temperatures of the water and the droughts we have in areas like california and nevada and that region of the southwest. In florida we have saltwater encroaching on traditional aquifers. In the great lakes, we have impacts on wild rice and to many of the cultural traditions that have been going on for time immemorial. These things and you will hear from the Cabinet Panel today on Climate Change and on energy because that also is very important. How do we work with you to stand up Energy Projects not only support tribes but also provide a source of Economic Opportunity . Or your people that means economic growth. Restoring tribal homelands and all of these things that i know are important to you and important to us. I was with the Navajo Nation as we signed the largest 81settlement agreements this administration has said if you read that report given by the white house, you will see there is an englishman of that, but we want to move an acknowledgment of that, but we want to move forward for the young people, for the future, not looking at the past and all the wrongs that may happen between u. S. Government and your people but looking to the future on how we can Work Together on a Brighter Future. Those 81 settlements say that what is in the past is in the past, lets look forward. I was with one tribe and they are very committed to taking land into trust, leveraging the settlement as many of you have been able to do and bringing lands back into trust so you can make good, smart decisions for Economic Development. In oklahoma, they are working with us on reforms that allow you to take control of your assets, to lease your land without playing mother, may i, which we are not very good at. This administration is committed to selfgovernance and selfdetermination. We are committed to working with the tools we have in our toolbox to help you achieve your objectives. I want you to know that the time ive spent with you has made an enormous difference in deepening my commitment to Indian Country and to supporting your vision for a stronger and prosperous , something i share with the rest of the administration. I am so appreciative that our president now understands what you all understand, which is what is at stake for your people, and how important it is that we Work Together, because the issue is complex. The actions we are taking now, whether they are on education, reform,change, are all with an eye to the prosperity of the next generation. Thank you, young people, for being here. Thank you for picking up the mental shift of leadership, following in the footsteps of your elders. We have Wounded Warriors who carried the flags in come Indian Country. So powerful in our military and armed forces reinforcing what we all depend on for freedom. , every day in this job has deepened my respect and admiration for you, leaders of our first americans. Thank you for what you do for the next and ration and thank you for the support of what we need to do in support of you. I appreciate this and i look forward to spending the day with you and i hope you have a fantastic conference. Thank you. [applause] , isadies and gentlemen welcome secretary of health and Human ServicesSylvia Burwell. [applause] good morning, and thank you all for being here. Big, big good morning to everyone. We have a very strong contingent from hhs. We have williams sparks, who is for us and is commissioner the administration native americans. We have stacy, who many of you , as well as liz, from our office of intergovernmental affairs. We are here in full force today from hhs as a reflection of the importance of our relationship, broad range, many of issues we all work on together. For those of you i meeting for the first time, i think that this is a few of you have had the opportunity to meet i want to take this opportunity to tell you how much i do look over to working with you, to help the folks within Indian Country obtain the Building Blocks of healthy and productive lives. I had the opportunity to work for these goals when i was leading the Walmart Foundation and the work we did with the tribes and their. During my time at the bill and Melinda Gates foundation, i had a chance to work on these issues, too, as we tried to increase conductivity to chapter houses in the Navajo Nation. I also most recently, as some of you may know, was at the office of management and budget, where i had the chance to work on budget issues and the funding of Indian Health services, which also recognized the importance of these health services. I had the chance in other forums, very excited about the breath of what we get to do at hhs and work with you on these issues. A strongitted to governmenttwogovernment relationship with the tribes. It is important to me that you continue to be our full partners during the design and of the policies, programs, and initiatives that we find an advance of the department of health and Human Services. Knowing that actions often speak louder than words, shortly after i became secretary, i visited the tribe near seattle. Chairman sullivan and his staff did a great job of showing me how health and Human Services programs are delivered at the tribal level. Learn aboutt visit, a lot of things, and had the opportunity to meet with the group who is working on a very promising foster care effort which is helping with friends find childrenlp safe and supportive homes within the community. I had a chance to see firsthand how we are able to deliver impact when we Work Together. On this trip the issue came up of whether or not individuals who are eligible to receive health care at the Indian Health service, tribal or urban health care provider, will be able to claim an exemption from the shared responsible payment to their cash through the tax filings through their tax filings with the irs. We worked through it so that those who are eligible for ihs can claim the exemption through the irs. That is like going and listening and hearing the issues, these are things we can try and work on together. I know i am going to count on our departments secretarial tribal advisory committee, what hhs, furtherat input. Im meeting with stac on friday and will continue to seek guidance and leadership as we work on programmatic and Critical Issues. This week, based on a request from the tribe, we are releasing a proposed rule that would allow Indian Health facilities to pay lower, medicarelike