From you that we need to take steps to lessen the damage of the supreme courts hatch act so im pleased to announce my colleagues in Indian Affairs have issued a final rule to do just that. They issued it yesterday and that will help with Greater Transparency to make sure that lands will be taken into trust for housing schools and businesses that we want to continue to work with you to ask things like that. Next the Land Buyback Program and the historic cobell. We want to implement that in a smart and flexible way. We have been listening to you. You want predictability and transparency on the timing and implementation efforts and we announce we are expanding the implementimplement ation strategy so more tribes can participate. We know there is time sensitivity to this and we want to work with you to get that fully implemented because we no cobell is really important to write some of the wrongs of the past. The third is Indian Education. You know we have a generational transformation going on in this country and i know thats true in Indian Country as well. If our children are not welleducated and if they are not educated in a culturally appropriate way you are not going to achieve what your goals for your tribes and cultures are the goals of these young people to realize their dreams. While there has been over 2 billion invested in schools over the last 10 years we know a number of them are still an unfortunate shade. We have to fix them and Work Together with congress to get money to do that but i do know that there are opportunities to learn from others that do this really well. Arne duncan secretary of education has been a great partner in this process. He has detailed resources to us in Indian Education to understand how to do that and he has agreed to cochair a subgroup of the white House Counsel specifically on Indian Education. He and i share a vision as you do of both an academically rigorous education but also a culturally appropriate education. Whether your children are educated in Indian Schools are Public Schools how do we Work Together to make that happen . I know that he will be a huge resource as he brings his team in education together with the bureau of that Indian Education to make that happen. Fourth, in order to reform the knowledge that process we want to move forward to develop a fair efficient and transparent process and we will be issuing a draft rule for your comment from a Public Comment to make that easier in the future. Fifth, india or rights. You cant do anything if you dont have clean water. We have dropped circumstances all over the country. It impacts Indian Tribes in some regions for than anything else and its not Getting Better with Climate Change. Since secretary salazar and president obama were here in 2009 we have settled 10 indian water rights agreements the most recent one with the White Mountain apache tribe that i signed a few months ago. We remain committed to delivering clean Water Supplies to addressinaddressin g india or rights claims to strengthen your economies because we know that is critical. We will be working as alongside of you to make farmer progress than our predecessors made. Six then this is something i heard yesterday quite a bit as i held a listening session in my office. Energy development on tribal lands. You know we have work to do. Renewal Energy Conventional Energy unconventional Mineral Resource extraction are opportunities for Economic Development and for revenue on tribal lands and we are going to the standing of the Second Committee of the white House Counsel on native American Affairs this one chaired by dr. Moniz who is secretary of energy working closely with interior, with epa and aquaculture agriculture. We know we have a lot of opportunity to do that. I am very pleased we had our First Renewable Energy project on the trust lands in nevada. There is a lot of opportunity to do more of this alongside the downside of drought you have the upside of Solar Energy Wind Energy as well as other resources. So we are going to turn that into a reality by working across the various agencies of the federal government to make that happen. Next is a big issue for all of us and that is tackling Climate Change. If there is an area impacted by so many things Climate Change is one of them is American Indians and alaska natives. Coastal erosion, droughts impact on wildlife and habitat and subsistence. Its a huge issue. Im proud to work for a president who stood up in june of Climate Action plan instead we are going to stop arguing about whether this is a reality and start dealing with what we can do about it. He outlined a Climate Action plan and put out an executive order that created the mechanism for tribal and city governments to Work Together with state and local leaders. I want to thank karen who you will hear from later today chairwoman of the fond du lac Lake Superior chippewa and another state and local leaders who sit on the state and local and tribal region task force. They are saying how do we prepare lands to make it more resilient . How can we anticipate whats happening with Climate Change and prepare for that . We have a role at interior as well. Yes Renewable Energy conserving landscapes to understand actual defenses as the u. S. Geological service did bringing science to bear and understand what are those Natural Systems that you are so familiar with to help repair for storms and other weather events and how can we do more that . Last but certainly not least is selfgovernance and doing it in tight fiscal times. The house of representatives took a whack at the budget at interior and the budget of Indian Country in a significant way. Just for Indian Affairs it took 200 million out of the budget and thats not accounting for the other impacts and the other federal agencies that you were going to endure this budget goes anywhere. We need your support to make sure that their voices are heard and the importance of investing in Indian Country is the wellknown so that doesnt become our budget. We also want to work with you on standing up Economic Activities in your tribal lands just as i experienced as a banker so many years ago. So we are all collectively meeting our governments and challenging times. We are dealing with constrained budgets. We are dealing with a new emerging generation that is coming into tight economies in some cases challenging educational environments. We are dealing with Climate Change. Its not an easy time to be a leader which im so appreciative of you being here and working with you on the government to government basis to figure these things out. We want to consult with the first and that is why we held listening sessions yesterday and we will continue to do that this afternoon and over the course of time. We want to make sure we are operating as efficiently and effectively as we can so you can bank on me and my colleagues working together. The cabinet the 13 members participating today, the other folks that support them will be saying how can we coordinate in other areas as well. I know from growing up in this country the federal government does not have justice cannot be reversed overnight. Im proud of this president for stepping up and recognizing it exists and i pledge im going to work alongside you and the president and my colleagues to continue to make important progress as they think you can see happen over the course of the last five years. I wish you a successful and positive white house nations tribal conference and look forward to interacting with with you over the course the day into this evening and i want to thank you so much for your leadership of the nations you represent and helping lift all americans indians and alaska natives to make your world a better place in a better place for all americans. Thank you very much. [applause] good morning everyone. Secretary jewell thank you for your leadership of the white house american native Affairs White House but more importantly thank you for inviting me to participate today. Im honored to be here. I dont think is here yet but i would like to just express my appreciation for his leadership in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs when he had that post. I know there are other distinguished members of Congress Resident and greetings to you as well. Brian, president of the National Congress of American Indians and other distinguished guests and among them i include its great to see all of you. Ladies and gentlemen as is my custom, let me begin by greeting tribal elders and tribal leaders with deep respect. Its part of my culture as well and i extend that deference to all the veterans who are here this morning. I beg your indulgence. Let me invite those who are veterans to stand if you are able to and raise your hands if you cant stand and let us have this opportunity to acknowledge your service. [applause] thank you very much. American indians and alaska natives have a long history of service to country and courage in battle and that goes back to before there was recognition recognition of citizenship. 14,0005 in world war i and 44,000 served in world war ii. Some 10,000 served in korea among them former u. S. Senator and northern cheyenne and navy admiral clarke a cherokee who is a veteran of oath world wars so a three war veteran. Over 80,000 american served in vietnam and Operation Iraqi freedom Army Specialist was the first native American Woman to die in combat and the first American Woman to die in Operation Iraqi freedom but this Third Generation in her hopi family to serve in war. Today some 30,000 native american server around the world preserving the warrior ethic that is so much a part of your culture. Let me greet you in the tradition of where i grew up. In the middle of the pacific and we say aloha. Hello and welcome. I grew up under marshall law following the attack on pearl harbor. Men from my Community Like medal of honor recipient senator dan inouye went off to fight in world war ii with abdominal courage determination and sacrifice. And in doing so they were among the most highly decorated army units to not just in world war ii but the history of this country earning 21 medals of honor for a unit that only existed three and a half years. They fought and bled so young japanese americans like me would have the full privileges of citizenship. They remain heroes in our Community Today and that is true of your communities as well. You have your heroes. The war in korea quickly followed in vietnam came my turn to go to war the time in 1966. I never planned on being a career soldier for 38 years flash by pretty quick way. A lot of that has to do with falling in love with the american soldier. We focused on two things to come as the missions you are given and take the best care you could have your people, your soldiers and their families very at today as secretary of the va i have the privilege of continuing that care. Caring for those i went to war with in vietnam, caring for those that i sent to war as a surfing chief of staff of the army and then caring for those giants as i called them in the history of our country who saved the world during world war ii and saved the nation during the 1950s. Among them are heroes like tenet van thomas art let a child to do during world war ii outflanked and destroyed enemy machine gun nest forces there to surrender and destroyed a tiger tank singlehandedly and drove to other tanks off. Exhausted from this battle she still managed to evacuate two seriously wounded comrades to soldiers. Nearly a mile to get them to safety. For his actions as you would expect fan Thomas Bradford was presented the highest award for valor that medal of honor. He went on to serve in both korea and vietnam another three war veteran. Heroes like wearing corporal ira hamilton hayes known to you very well brought great honor to his tribe during world war ii when he helped his marine comrades raise the colors atop mt. Surabachi on iwo jima. After the war Corporal Hayes suffered mental issues and died from exposure. He was buried with full honors at Arlington National cemetery. That is the reason or at lease one of the reasons im here today. Not here in this Conference Room but here in this job. I cannot change the records of injustice in our histories and they are there and they are many. Or the lack of trust i may have about government or this department but i do intend to make things better and i need your help. Most know that the as a Large Integrated Health Care System with over 1300 points of care as access. 152 medical centers, 829 Outpatient Clinics, 300 readjustment counseling that centers and about 70 mobile and outreach vans out of the most remade areas of our country to find veterans where they live. Aca provides 10 million in educational benefits annually along with arne duncan. Second only to the department of education and most of you know about this as a post9 11 g. I. Bill or the montgomery g. I. Bill but 10 million in educational opportunities. We guarantee nearly 1. 8 billion homelands 20 down and city in the nation. The va is the ninth largest Life Insurance enterprise with 1. 3 chilean dollars of coverage and 6. 7 million clients and the operate the countrys Largest National cemetery system, 131 cemeteries. 337,000 good people come to work every day at ca and one third of us are veterans. We bring the same Determination Initiative and leadership we learned in uniform to our duties as we were taught. People dont care what you know until they know that you care. So we are we are pursuing and still pursuing better ways to serve. In 2010 va signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance collaboration and resource sharing between our agencies. Then in december of 2012 working with secretary sebelius and dr. Dr. Rubineaux we signed a reimbursement agreement. So far under that agreement over 2000 eligible native American Veterans have received va reimburse care from the Indian Health service and Tribal Health programs. As of today 106 Indian HealthService Facilities are reimbursement sites for us. We have also entered into reimbursement agreements with 35 tribes and tribal entities and we are working closely with 62 more. For fy2014 this coming year, president obama has pledged a 52 million specifically for va reimbursements for Indian Health service and Tribal Health programs. We can do much more this year. [applause] we are expanding the as homebased primary care program to Tribal Alliance but for locating resources and Indian HealthCare Hospitals clinics tribal clinics and va communitybased Outpatient Clinics that are adjacent to tribal lands. Over the past five years vas office of burr health has funded 101 initiatives located across Indian Country everything from Mental Health to transportation mobile clinics as i mentioned ptsd treatment homebased primary care Homeless Veterans and telehealth projects with increased native american access to Health Care Specialists while minimizing those long commutes especially for the chronically ill. Over the past three years the direct program va funded over 8 million to veterans living on trust lands. To honor your culture by ensuring nabe of American Veterans are laid to rest in the tradition of the