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>> young men and women from 53 tribal communities across the country in washington this week to talk about challenges facing their community. it's part of the national intertribal youth summit hosted by the department of justice, interior, health and hum services, and energy. >> okay, i'm going to begin to

introduce myself. i'm from the shringa nation, from the raven house in hanes, alaska, and my english name and executive director of the national commerce of american indians here to moderate the next session of this morning's panel. first of all, i'd like to be able to introduce and bring up ryan redcorn. he is from the buffalo nickel creative, the one who will help us do the psa this year, and ryan was -- is a pretty cool individual himself of those of you here last year remember ryan; right? how fun that was? [applause] he graduated from kansas university, and he created his own design company.

he also designs t-shirts, very fun politically acclaimed t-shirts and you can get them from mtv and urban outfitters, and the other thing that's neat to know about ryan is not only was he born and raised in the own reservation of the osage nation in oklahoma, but he actually worked very actively with and trains the indigenous languages in his reservation and participates in the language class in his own ceremonies within his own community. he's got his business going. he's in the media environment, messaging environment, and he really commits himself to a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. i'd like to welcome and bring up ryan redcorn. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> hello.[h we are all ryan redcorns. how are you guys doing? >> good. >> hey, we're on c-span. >> what's up? [laughter] >> like to say hello to the c-span back there, the ocho. we were told not to say bad words. >> no "s's" or "b's," and the community cater back there is turning five shades of red back there. i can tell. don't say anything to throw him off. how many of you guys were here last year?

>> remember all that fun back there making videos and stuff. last year, we were in new mexico, and we got all together, and all of these guys here, i don't know, most people don't know us as the ryan redcorns but as the 1491s which if you've seen us, you've seen us with less clothes on, which is embarrassing, but we'll get past that. >> it's a youth conference. >> yeah, youth conference. we're going to make a video tomorrow. these guys. >> what? >> we're going to make a video tomorrow, and -- or, actually today we're going to do the writing. is there anybody here signed up for our -- i don't know how this works. do you sign up for the class? there's like 30 or 40. yeah? raise your hands. anybody? bueller?

bueller? all right. cool. so we have a process we're going to go through to help write this piece, and we're beginning to teach you guys how to do the writing, compile it, and then do the filming too. after we're done, it's going on the internet. i think last year, they're going to show -- you want to show the one we did lastñr year? keep it rolling, keep it rolling. [laughter] >> that's my people! that's my people! that's my people! that's my people! >> we live in a world that adults created. these are the voices of the native youth.

you asked what we thought. >> i want to tell you about my people on the phone: we have a round house for ceremonies and traditions. >> my tribal council doesn't do a lot for the children. >> my mother is bringing back the language. >> that's my people! >> diabetes runs rampant in the community. >> lose loved ones at the faster rate. >> i love my mother. >> because the never quits. >> my father never graduated high school, but does best to ensure we have a bright future. >> does his best to ensure we don't go through the same thing. >> my grandmother didn't let it stop her from creating the language program and helping the community heal. >> that's my people. >> who's people? >> my people! >> i want to be free, hem, from substance abuse, treat each other with respect. >> they are my people! >> i care. >> never turn them away when you need help because it brings the community together. >> as one. >> that's my people!

>> it is known for being a prankster. >> my great grandmother grew a community garden to feed people when they were hungry and gave the jacket after her back to warm people when they were cold. >> who cares? >> i care. >> that's my people! >> she was a single mother, with eight kids, and traveled to the communities to provide them with health care. >> that's my people. >> my hero is any grandfather because he's basically my dad.ñr >> he took care of me and i can say -- >> he taught me what i know. >> treat yourself with respect. >> they are my people. >> and i care. >> that's my people! >> my dad shows me strong leadership qualities. >> taught me never to be scared. >> speak up. >> i lost him at a young age. >> but i'm trying to carry on what he taut me. >> that's my people! >> my sister showed me to get through hard times. if i just try.

>> i love the boys and girls club. >> gives us a place to chill. thing. >> i love it the way it is. >> my land. >> my communed. >> my village. >> my people. >> that's my people! >> that's my people! that's my people. >> whose people? >> my people! [applause] >> we had a lot of fun making those videos. i'm going to introduce these guys because they are kind of -- they don't want to be known as the ryan redcorns. he's a very famous filmmakers, three films at sundance. he got some stuff on netflix.

how many do you know that have stuff on netflix? >> c-span don't even got stuff on netflix. >> yeah. >> sorry. [laughter] >> oh, my god. [laughter] start bugging out. i thought it was a flash back to last year. the kids were pranking. i'm not that funny i have to have people cue up laughter. [laughter] this is bobby wilson. bobby wilson is a really good graphic designer -- [cheers and applause] yeah, bobby's got fans. >> one fan. thank you. [laughter] >> he's not even on netflix. >>s!ç bobby's a good grafetti artist, but we're not doing that workshop here so don't ask him oh. what about paper --

[laughter] maybe. if you behave, we'll get you some cia yons. [laughter] this is dallas. anybody know dallas? >> yeah. [laughter] >> yeah. obviously, bobby's the most popular one here. >> he used to date my cousin. [laughter] >> dallas is a member of the 1491s and a language advocate, really big -- is there any dakotas here? he's got a big head. he holds the birth weight record for the county he was born in. that's a true story. he was born at 12 poinds. [laughter] natural childbirth too. give his mother a round of applause. [applause] [laughter] later today, like i said,

whoever joins our crew right here, we're going to teach you how to right and do acting and videos, and so we need like people to do voiceovers, people to do acting, and we need people to do some writing. we need people to hold the camera. if you break it, i swear on everything i will find you. [laughter] no, seriously. [laughter] kind of. yes? >> [inaudible] >> it's the digital story telling session. if you look at the agenda, the story telling session, that's us. there's two concurrent ones. aren't you supposed to be watching my baby? we're in the digital story telling session so if you join us, we'll do something, not exactly like this, but we're going to do another video that will go along the same lines so

i'll ask you a lot of questions, and you'll fill out some answers, and we'll compile it, and we'll all come together to make something awesome, and sterling will edit away, and we'll feed him animal crackers until it's done. that's it. thank you.3w [applause] >> okay. now how many of you are going to go to the video session, raise your hand. okay. i thought they would do a great job recruiting you. back to the soft response, are you ready for the next speaker? all right. that's getting better. we're improving a lot. well, our next speaker was nominated by the president for the 40th united states attorney for the district of south dakota. he was confirmed unanimously by the u.s. senate on october 15th, 2009.ñsr

brendan johnson is the attorney serving as the key law enforcement officer supervising prosecution of all federal crimes and the legation of several matters in which the u.s. government has interest. brendan john johnson's the 5th generation south dakota native and graduate of the university of south dakota and university of virginia school of law. he and his wife, jana, are parents of four children and has a special role asmyñpi chairmaf theñor subcommittee for the attorney regime and serves on the attorney general's -- well, advisory committee as well. brendan is who you want to ask a lot of questions of when he finishes so pay attention to the talk, keep your questions in mind, and we're going to ask him some when he's finished with the speaking engagement this morning. please help me welcome u.s. attorney brendan johnson.

it's an honor to be here today, and today is actually a special day for me and my family because it was one year ago today that my wife and i, we had two little white kids at the time, and we flew to ethiopia, and we landed in ethiopia five years ago to this day, and we adopted an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, little boy and a little girl. we showed up at the orphanage, and the entire orphanage was

smaller than this room, and we show up on a monday, and on a friday, they have a going away party at the orphanage, and this orphanage had 30 kids in it, and, you know, going away party in an orphanage, i don't know if you experienced this, but a going away party is a pretty sad situation. our flight that day is leaving at five o'clock, and the going away party starts at 1:30. we're sitting around. we're having ethiopian coffee. they made a little cake. there's a knock at the door of the orphanage, and a tall woman shows up. she's dressed all inññr white. i asked the orphan average director, i said, who is that at the door? she said, that is your new son's mother,lpi] and so went over, ad

her first of all, the first question was, well, how did you get here? she lived three days away, and she told us she borrowed bus money and she slept in the basement of the churches for the last two nights to get here to say good-bye to her son. then my next question, well, how did you know that this day, of all days, two hours before we're leaving, to come and say good-bye to your son? she said, well, i had a vision of two little white boys kissing my son on the cheek, so i knew he must be going to america, and i had to come and say good-bye before he left. when i think about what we're trying to do at the justice department and in indian country over the course of the last

year, but i'll tell you, the only thing harder than taking somebody else's child away is what pep's mother went through in giving her child up. we can't have that happening in communities in the united states where our communities, where we have some communities that there is notw3 hope, where there's poverty. poverty of 70%-90%, where, and i've been there, where we're going and we have 14-year-old girls hanging themselves; right? where we have entire girls' basketball team where you say how many of you have been sexually assaulted, and everybody raises their hands, okay. we have too many communitiesçor like that in the united states, and we're better than that.

we're better than that. the justice department, what we've.çér trying to do is take a little bit of a different approach in indian country than we've done inñer the past. because in the past, when people talk about what does the u.s. attorney do, and what everybody says the u.s. attorney in indian country prosecu,ea come and take away the worst of the worst, people doing something really bad.

just as i say to my kids, as i tried to instill in my own children, look, you've got responsibility not only to yourself, which they do, but you also have a responsibility to the people back home, and each one of you has that same responsibility because, you know, you've heard it. there's no free lunch, all right? this conference? there is a responsibility that comes with this conference. you have been selected, and i'll tell you what. there's a lot of people that would like to be where you are sitting right now. they would love to come to washington, d.c. for several days. they would love to have the opportunity that you're having. you get to have those opportunities, but with that

opportunity comes responsibility, okay? you -- when you go back, you need to be leaders in your community, all right? from a law enforcement perspective, let me tell you what that means. too often when i go into schools in indian country in south dakota when i'm out on the rez, you know, one of the things i hear sometimes when people speak honestly, and it's good to speak honestly, sometimes people think, you know what? i hate the cops. i get that. how many of you heard that; right? right? all right. when you go back into your communities, you're going to continue to hear that. it's very easy to just kind of nod your head and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right? part of being at this conference, part of accepting this role and being a leader in coming out here is when you go back into your communities, there is an expectation that you're not just going to go

along to get along, okay? you're going to stand up, and when people are talking about, you know, all cops suck. you know, judges juke. prosecutors suck. no, at some point, stand up and say, look, there's a lot of people trying to make our communities better, okay? the only way we're going to make the communities better is by saying, you know, what law enforcement is all of our responsibilities, all right? cops are not all bad. that's crazy talk; right? we all have a role to play in keeping communities safe. now, what i want to do, part of the reason why i'm here is i want to get a sense of who you are, okay? i'll go back, and i meet with the attorney regime about indian country, meet with people in washington about indian country, and a lot of the things i like to talk about are what i hear from you.

i've got some questions. first, let me get of sense of who you are. i know who the south dakota ns are. how many of you can speak some of your native language? speak up if you can speak some of your native language. okay, all right, that's good. [applause] that's good. all right. all right. how many of you -- stand up if you know somebody -- no, let me ask this. stand up if you've participated in a sweat before. all right. i know not everybody does a sweat, but in south dakota, i did a sweat, all right. that's good. okay. lee many ask this. stand up if you know somebody that's involved in a gang.

okay. all right. so here's the next one. stand up if you know somebody that's been sexually assaulted. all right. that's just about everybody in the room; right? all right. please, have a seat. you know, one of the things that we hear in the statistic you'll here people talk about is that one out of three native american women are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, okay? fact of the matter is and in some of our communities, okay, that number's higher than one out of three. all right? this is what we've got to work together to change, okay? it's not only talking about the fact that native women are

sacred, which they are, but it's about everyone going back into your communities where in some communities, a sexual assault is almost like a right of passage, okay? we all have to go back to our communities and address this. it is not acceptable, all right? all of you, because i met with elders in the community who took me by the hand and said, you know what? it's too late for me, but it's not too late for my granddaughter. those of you who have younger sisters, have younger cousins, it may not be too late for them. we got to work together to try to change culture where it's all too often acceptable. so let's talk. end to hear your -- i want to hear your questions. let's talk. let's have a conversation about

public safety and what we can do to make communities in indian country safer because i would love to hear your thoughts. [inaudible conversations] [laughter] >> no, that's fine. >> hello? mr. johnson? >> yeah. >> i'm -- [inaudible] >> welcome. >> i know you're not really

well-liked, but because of your title, but i want to thank you for the program for juveniles. it is working. >> thank you very much. thank you. [applause] and let me tell you what we have at rose bud, and i really appreciate that, thank you. we've created a new program on the rose bud two tribe, and the reason we created it is that there's too many juveniles going into the federal system when they commit offenses. we want to keep more of the juveniles out of the federal system so we have a diversion program on the tribe where some juveniles for some offenses instead of going in the federal system, if they go into tribal court and take responsibility for what they did, and that's key, accept responsibility for your actions, but then we have a tribal judge who sentences the

juvenile up stead of a federal judge, okay? that's a good thing in a lot of cases for juveniles because the fact of the matter is a lot of the tribal judges know best what the native american youth needs, okay? so you can have more of a non-traditional sentence where a tribal judge says, owing, you have to go and work with your elders, or you have to take lakota language classes, non-traditional type things not available in the federal system. i really appreciate that. i'm glad to hear it's working on rose bud so thank you. >> hello? >> good morning. >> this is for everyone. can you hear me? >> yes. >> well, he just asked the question what i wanted to ask earlier when the people were up there, i wanted to ask let's be hoppest, how many people know people who drink and sell to

little kids and sell marijuana and drugs like that? raise your hand. see most of the people in -- most of the people in here who raised their hands won't even go and tell. they get scared, like, what are they going to do? that's the reason why our communities are getting destroyed. you guys need to stand up and tellhe people to protect your people in your communities, and when you guys do that, like, the criminal justice system, they can help, and, like, what he said, people say the police are bad, they're no good. i used to say that a lot, but now i think they are pretty cool. [laughter] you guys need to stand up and tell the police or tell someone, your leaders, and protect your community. thank you. >> thank you. i appreciate that. thank you. [applause] and i appreciate that.

that was a great statement. i got another question for y'all because one of the concerns that i have is about sip thetic drugs. how many of you heard of synthetic drugs? okay. how many of you have synthetic drugs or have seen them in your community? okay. all right. so -- yeah -- good. we're talking about synthetic drugs. we're talking about like bath salts, k2, and, okay here's the deal with the synthetic drugs, all right, this stuff, what they are doing is they are looking for people to essentially be ginnie pigs because what you have are these chemicals that have the same similar properties often to methamphetamine, all right? to ecstasy; right? they are made in labs where essentially they're selling this stuff and training on kids

oftentimes because they use the stuff oftentimes as ginnie pigs. it's dangerous. we have to work together on this as well to get synthetic drugs out of the communities. >> hello, i'm from the rose bud two tribe reservation. >> all right. >> i wanted to let you know, it's not the use's -- youth's fault, it comes from the families and what families they come from. >> you're right. >> actually, sometimes k like, on our reservation, our family is a real family, you know what i mean? our family's -- our family's apt perfect, and some of our families that come from the rose bud reservation, they are all of the families that are basically broken. the parents aren't there. there's nobody to support them. we have numerous high school dropouts. numerous teenage pregnancies, and numerous of, i don't know how you guys call it, but under

age people that drink. >> uh-huh. >> and what i see where you're coming from, but i just don't like the fact that our reservation is getting bad, like getting looked at bad, and just from the broken families and whatever, and it's really not our youth's fault. maybe if our reservation had families that were put together, maybe, the reservation wouldn't be like that. >> right. let me ask you a question. that was powerful and important. what can we do? what -- i mean, because i think you're right in a lot of ways. i mean, look, the answer's start with families. we can build up from there. >> [inaudible] >> yeah, absolutely. what can we do working together to help strengthen families in places like rose bud? >> well, i'd like to see at least families -- okay, we have youth summits on the reservation

and try to have the youth come together, but there is no way our youth comes together unless our youth is bribed. >> unless what? >> bribed. >> oh. >> if there's something going on or money involved or something. it's just not right. i want our youth to come together as a reservation to show them what we're about. if i could, i would at least try to help all the kids there and ask them, like, there's more out there than just the reservation. there's more out there than just where you are at. >> uh-huh. >> like, if there was like a million kids that wanted to come with us on this trip, but it was sad for us to say that they couldn't. >> uh-huh. >> that's what they think is because just because they can't come, there's nothing to do in their life. >> right. >> it would be nice if, like, some of the communities in which -- i ain't trying to say all the communities, but some of the communities on the reservation, how do we get the

people out of the community if they are not doing anything for our reservation communities? >> right. >> it's kind of hard to see, like, everybody suffer from, like, their community, like -- a community will be doing something, like going to the movies, cleaning up yards, cleaning up communities, and the other community chairman won't be doing anything. >> uh-huh. >> they just sit there. you know, like, they sit there and try to represent the community that they are from, and i want to let the, like, the tribe know if they want to run for a community, they got to be there for their people. >> right. >> because some of the community representatives don't do nothing. >> right. >> it's sad. >> right. >> thank you. >> no, thank you. you know, and here's my hope is that often times, you know, when i want to hear about what's going on on the reservation be it in rose bud or any other, the fact of the matter is i don't talk to tribal council to figure

that out anymore. i come and i talk to the high schools. i'll talk to the ed -- elders because that's how you get a sense of what's going on. i appreciate what you told me today, so thank you. [applause] >> i'm lauren, i'm from the eastern shoni tribe in wyoming. >> hi, welcome. >> my reservation was considered the highest rated for crimes in indian country, and we got a bad rep for that. i think that's not true -- well, it's because of we're federally, of course, on, you know, when people get prosecuted, they go to the federal prison, and i just had a question. i'd like to know more about the program you had for the sioux

tribe regarding their youth. >> right. >> not going into the federal system. >> right, right. >> regarding when they do commit crimes versus tribal courts. >> right. >> because honestly, truthfully, i have many relatives who have gone to federal penitentiary for killing someone to assaulting people and i have a lot of close family members that are felons. >> right, right. >> it's sad because you lose your right to vote. some people cannot get jobs. you know, you're doomed from the start basically when you're in the system. they, you know, basically, you stay in the system for life. >> right. great question. i'm going to talk about juveniles, but also with the adults because it goes hand-in-hand. everybody heard of the tribal law and order act?

right? okay. you'll hear a lot about that i would imagine this week. one thing the tribal law and order act does is allow tribal courts when they hire lawyers, okay, so i hope some of y'all decide you want to become lawyers because when the tribal court hires lawyers as the prosecutors, as a public defender, as their judges k -- judges, okay, then tribes can go from sentencing people only for one year to up to three years, okay so what that means is tribes will have greater sovereignty, all right? greater control over the law enforcement in their community, and so you will, in the long term then have fewer cases that go federal. you'd be able to have more cases that stay with the tribe, okay? it's the same principal that we have with the juvenile program in that there's some crimes that, you know, that can and should stay with the tribe

instead of going federal. we think that's good for the entire community, but one thing to take back is that you got to have lawyers. tribes got to have lawyers. as the judges as the prosecutors, and the public defenders, and what i know from my office is that -- because we've got three new tribally end rolled attorneys in my -- enrolled attorneys in my office, and they are awesome. some of the best young lawyers in this country are native american, and i hope we see some from this group. [applause] >> hi, i'm rhonda medicine crow. >> hi. >> i live in nevada and california on the california side, but enrolled in nevada, and my children are enrolled with the three affiliated tribes in north dakota. >> right. >> so i think one of the things that the young lady talked about

in the back is a lot of what the kids don't understand or you don't know about it or because our history's not taught in the traditional public school, and what i'm talking about is the historical trauma, the intergenerational trauma that your grandmothers and possibly your parents went through in the boarding school era, termination, assimilation, relocation, and whatnot, that's happened to the native american people, and what i see a lot on the communities on our reservations is that confusion and lack of understanding of what happened, why their parents maybe don't hug you or why, you know, as a child your parent was sitting outside the bar taking care of their younger siblings while their parents were in the bar drinking, and a lot of people don't understand what -- why those things are the way they are and why our community's suffer poverty and high rates of victimization and violence and

sexual assault and domestic violence and things like that, but as you guys are here, remember, you are learning about such things like the tribal law and order act, violence against women act, and how that pertains today and what you can do to change things, and by asking questions and inqiring about the things they call best practice programs for your community that you guys can directly take home, and it's what they always say. you guys are making the change. you guys are making the difference. a lot of you guys -- myself, i was 33 years -- i'm 33 years old. my parents went to the boarding school. my parents' parents were killed as they were marched to a place called churchill and instilled fear in their life not to speak their language. i know alcoholic elders who drink to forget the memories of being in the boarding school and who refuse to speak their language and refuse to even teach their children the language.

there's a lot of things that revolve around indian people, but i want to say we're still here through everything that public policy has enacted against our people. we here. that's something to be thankful for. that's something to remember. that's something to say. because my parents purr vived, i can -- survived, i can thrive today, and because i can thrive, my chirp can. that's statistic, one in three native american women will be raped in their lifetime. i have three girls, and that statistic tells me that -- not that they might get worked, but one in three will be raped in their lifetime. that means the majority of us wake up to think, am i -- is today, is it going to happen? am i going to get raped today? for the most of us, we have been raped. the thing to always remember is that we're still here. we're still here.

we love our communities. just by being here, you guys show such leadership and hope for tomorrow so i just want to applaud everybody that's here, and i'm thankful to be here and our people survived. i'm thankful i can speak my language. i'm thankful our culture's rich and deep and that we're doing what we can to preserve it. whatever the government can do to public policy through trying to make right the wrongs that have been done in the past, i think that's great, so i'm encouraged to be here today. >> thank you. [applause] >> i'm sherwin, and i had a question for you. >> yes, sir. >> recently, south dakota, obviously, has been in the media quite a bit, and, you know, i

feel for what the young lady here was saying and getting the first time per perspective of wt going on in the community. i watched the show on abc and on the o! network recently. it's hard to see the communities fall apart as they are. i want to know what's being done to help those people in those communities with the high unemployment rate, the high teen pregnancy rates, high suicide rates, and everything like that. you have 5 huge crisis on your hands right now, and i want to know what's being done about it. >> right, right. those from south dakota can tell you, you know, we had a crisis on our hands long before it started -- it was on tv. i mean, the fact of the matter is we do have in many of our communities, 70%-80% unemployment, drug use rates, alcoholic rates through the roof. you know, i wish that i had the silver bullet to be able to say,

hey, look, this is what we're doing to turn everything around. i think what we heard earlier, you know, the fact of the matter is oftentimes it's starting with families. i think that's critically important. also, when we're talking about, okay, unemployment, why do we have unemployment? reason why we have unemployment is because we don't have enough businesses in places like rose bud and pine ridge moving in. why don't we have businesses moving? private business feels, hey, my investment wouldn't be safe on a place like pine ridge or rose bud. what we need to do, in my mind, when we talk about public safety in the communities, it's about keeping people safe, but it's also about having the safe environment so businesses can start coming into our communities so that they start creating jobs in our communities. i think that's incredibly important. i mean, look. we've got -- we have done a lot in terms of investing money into

alcohol rehabilitation programs, reentry programs, but you're right. we need more businesses coming in so there's jobs for pome in the communities, and what we can do is to make communities safer so business feels more -- so they are more willing to come into the communities. the good news is in a place like south dakota, what we've said is -- because what i heard when i started the job three years ago is i had native americans throughout south dakota said to me, you know what? i feel i'm a second class citizen because i'm native american. i feel like i got a second class form of public service in our community. people said, hey, why don't you prosecute more cases? on pine ridge in the last year, we increased prosecutions by 40%, and rose bud increased prosecutions by 78% in the last year meaning people feel more

comfortable coming forward and say, hey, look the the person down the street is beating their wife or this person is using drugs in my community because they feel like they are starting, i hope to feel like they are starting to see results, and that's how we can keep communities safer, and that's how we get more businesses in the long run to hopefully come into the communities. good question. >> one more. >> all right. one more. i don't want to pick them though. somebody else pick. there's a lot of hands. >> i'm fidel, and my question is as -- what can we do as youth if the tribal council or tribal police don't hold the adults accountable for using or selling the drugs, and what can we do -- who can we go to for help? >> so are you in new mexico? >> no. >> where? >> washington. >> washington state.

okay. you know, that's a good question. i mean, what do you do if you feel the police aren't listening you know, let me -- let's talk afterwards to get you information, and i'll find somebody in washington state to get you in contact with who you can visit with about your concerns because, you know, hopefully, you know, that's a job of our police and of our tribal council, and if you feel they are not doing a good job in keeping your community safe, you know, we can visit about that, but i don't have good options for you i'm afraid if you feel like the police are not doing their job. good question. so, all right. thank you, guys, i appreciate it. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> okay. our next panel is -- right now, we have two lovely young women who are from indian country, and this panel is our indian country representatives working within the administration. we wanted to give you a chance to be able to talk to them and get words of advise from them also. the first presenter this morning is lillian sparks who is currently the commissioner of the administration of native americans and children and families. that program is so you know, she'll go in greater detail, but tribes across the country and organizations apply for grants that actually help us deal with promoting our language, promote our economic development, and she's very instrumental in running, in fact, runs that program that allows us to help,

to have roarses to be able to -- resources to be able to help within our community. let me tell you what i know about lillian, and i won't read the bio, but tell you because i i know her, and indian country has a washington, d.c. indian country group, and we're our own families because we're from our own communities, and this is how we survive in the urban setting like washington, d.c.. i met her at a pow wow when she graduated from law school, and she was the most dynamic, you know, beautiful, well-spoken young lady at this pow wow. she was ms. indian world, and she was so smart, i immediately recruited her. she came to ncai, and she worked on the culture protections program. she worked for sacred sites religious protection, and health care issues and youth related issues. from there, she continued to grow in her career, executive

direct director of national education indian association, and then the, you know, this administration, the obama administration recruited her to be the commissioner of the administration of native americans. just so you know, she's also one of the seven young native american leaders selected by "usa today," and so with that, i'd like to go ahead and let lillian give her presentation, and then we'll hear from yvette after her and then we'll open it up to questions. >> thanks, jackie. good morning, everyone. good morning to all of you. i greet you in my lakota los angeles. i'm a member of the rose bud tribe and ogallala -- [applause] >> feel free to clap.

and also african-american. i agree up in maryland, and my mom is from south dakota. i had interesting experiences getting to where i am to be the commissioner, and so i want to give you a little bit about my background and tell you how i got to this position and tell you more about what we're doing at ana because i find it more interesting and easy to relate and see yourself in another person's shoes when you know where they've come from. growing up in baltimore, maryland with my parents and younger sister and a rotating schedule of cousins that came from south dakota every year that lived with us for six months or 18 months or two years or some pretty much their entire lives, was really interesting growing up, and my mom made sure she kept us all grounded in our culture, that we know who we are, familiar with our traditions, that we knew who our relatives are in south dakota,

made trips annually back to visit the relatives and participate in ceremonies, that we got a chance to really understand how lucky we had it living where we were and what some of what we considered our challenges were really my noncompared to what some of the other barriers and challenges that other relatives of ours were facing on a daily basis. growing up in that environment, my parents made it very clear that we were expected to go to college. they both, my parents met in college. my mom worked for indian education in baltimore city public schools and then on to the federal government. my dad was a social worker in baltimore city. they made is very clear early on we were expected to go to college, but my senior year, i had different ideas. i thought that i would probably take a year off and maybe join the american indian dance theater, which was a really big deal back when i was in high school, and then i'd go to college. my parents pretty much handed me

the application saying sign here. you have a full scholarship to morgan state, which is my local school in baltimore. you start in three weeks. orientation is sunday. pack your bags. that's pretty much how i started going to school is because i had that family support that really encouraged me and pushed me and created high expectations for me. from there, i studied electrical engineering for three years before i really -- before i was frustrated enough to change it to political science even though i came in there on an germing degree, it was not my passion. i did not enjoy it. i spent many evenings in my dorm room upset, crying, not sure how i was going to make it to class or pass the next test or do the homework. my mom said, my family nickname, and she said, you just have to look into your heart and see what it is you want to do. all the opportunities have been provided for you, but it's

really up to you to take advantage of that. i changed my major to political science, and then from there, i graduated morgan and applied to a bunch of law schools on the east coast because i know i wanted to stay on the east coast, and i got accepted into georgetown law in washington, d.c., which is here, but 45 minutes to an hour away from baltimore. when i came to georgedown, it was a different environment from what i was used to. morgan state university is a historically black college and university, and it's a really small school. it was something that would be a tribal college university in your community, and going to georgetown where we had people not just from all the united states, but all over the world coming and attending this school, i had sons and daughters of united states' senators, governors, high politicians, business leaders, business

owners coming, and they were my classmates, and sitting in that room and looking around in classrooms just the same size as this auditorium with every seat filled to capacity, i wondered how did i end up in this room with these people that knew something about what it was like to be an indian person, knew nothing about my family, my background, that probably had a lot of this -- this -- their path predestined for them. i felt i was covering my own -- carving my own path. the more i sat there the more i realized i belonged there. i worked hard. i studied. i knew what i wanted to do in terms of helping my communities. i knew this was one avenue for me to be able to do that, and so over the next three years, i learned a lot from my peers, my professors, and i took advantage of every opportunity that came across my desk. if there was a internship or new

program or something that was extra at georgetown, i applied for that. i knew it was going to be more work, but i knew the payoff was going to help me in the end. as a result, i was selected to participate in georgetown's law clippic program, the number one law clinic program in the nation, and there i got to learn about federal legislation and policy, and participating in that clinic with -- there was gist 12 of us selected to participate each semester. participate in that with 12 of my peers, sitting with my professors who would actually vote large pieces of legislation including the american disabilities act, who have worked on appropriations committees as chiefs of staff, whose spouses sit on the supreme court. it was really eye-opening to me to learn about their particular struggles and where they come from and how they got to where they were as well. in the process, i fell in love

with policy and how to be able to do work for american indians, alaska natives, native hawaiians, native americans, underserved communities in washington, d.c.. taking that clinic opened my eyes to what i wanted to do, and as jackie mentioned, i was also ms. indian world at the same time during the last year of law school, and so i got a chance to travel every weekend to a different community, and i learned about tribes i had never even heard ever previously, and i learned about what some of their youth were going through and what i might be able to do to help them. i was coming upon the end of my last year of law school, coming upon the end of my reign as ms. indian world. i really found myself with not a job lined up, but a real idea of what i wanted to do. i remember being at the rose bud's pow wow, and various tribal leaders coming up, and there was an honors song and special, and speaking on my

behalf saying this young lady is going back to washington, d.c., and she'll be representing all of us, she'll be taking on our burdens. she'll be carrying our challenges with us, and she needs our help and prayers. he said this in lakota, which i don't unt fluently, and so my mom translated what was being said. my grandmother came up and got on the microphone, and she was speaking in lakota saying and inviting four elder women to come up to the arbor where we were, and while she was doing that, she was wiping their faces and handing them off stuff, and my mom, what is grandmother doing now? these four ladies carry your burdens for you. these four ladies are wiping their tears away for you, the tears you face and they carry that for you as you figure out what you're going to be doing while your in washington, d.c.. i said, mom, i don't have a job.

she said you'll figure it out, it happens for you. no sooner than that, i graduated from law school. i was studying for the bar. i was probably one of very few of my entire classmates of the graduating class that did not have a six figure job waiting for them as soon as they took the bar the very next day, but i was okay because i had faith. i had my support from my family. i had faith in our creator, and i knew i was going to be okay, and so i took the bar that wednesday, and that tuesday and wednesday, that thursday i slept all day because it's an exhausting and immensely draping experience. that friday, i went to innative american bar association meeting here in washington, d.c., and that was one of the great things is that jackie mentioned. ..

>> i introduced myself, and we exchanged contact information. that monday i called her and wednesday she interviewed me. on that friday she hired me.

that just tells you how things can turn around so quickly if you have a strong conviction and belief in what you're doing. but you also take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. if my mom told me about that meeting, i would've said, i'm tired come i don't want to -- but i knew that that was not until going to help me get where i wanted to be. i could've said oh, thank you, that's nice and just been bashful inside and not said anything. were i could've pointed out jackie ,-com,-com ma she could've given me her number and i never could've called. these are all things that could've happened because they were supposed to happen. also because i took advantage of the opportunity while i was there. i knew that some of these things that only happen once in a lifetime, and it was up to me and take it for all it's worth.

my experiences were priceless. i've had an opportunity to spend weeks at a time working on the u.n. declaration of the rights of indigenous people. i got a chance to go all over indian country again and meet with tribal leaders. i got a chance to write testimony for various important hearings on sacred tribes. special diabetes programs for indians. and i got to lobby on hell. i got to do education sessions and roundtables. i got my own portfolio right away while my counterparts in moscow on 10 law school -- so the experiences were invaluable. one of my coworkers at the time

said lillian, you know how it is. if someone asked you to do something, then you have to do it. and she said if you have someone asking you to apply for the job, you should submit your resume. that doesn't mean they don't see something in you. you know how it is in indian country. sometimes people see it before you see it yourself. i listened to what she said and i took advantage of that and got a chance to work with a really great organization, working with an important policy of indian education which led me to where i am now. which led me to where i am now, which is a commissioner for ama. we do a lot of human service worker health and human services. that is a derivative of my department of my college where she is the director of indian health services. sheets oversee all of the indian health activities for hhs.

together, we walked into the room and people don't always know whether to smile or cry because they're not sure if they should praise them order let them know. but they were able to make, i think, it make any change in policy that was effective on behalf of the indian country. when i saw all of you stand up, that shows that you know about your native language. that made my heart just sank. that is a lot of the work we do at the ama. our products are community driven. they have to derive from the community. they have to have support for the community. everyone here has important responsibilities to go home and organize your community and say, we want this type of program in our community. we want ana funding to do this and we want our types to apply for this.

these are the kind of projects that ana is able to fund. i am happy to visit with all of you and happy to share more information about how to get funding and your communities. i'm happy to know that all of you are here creating your own past. you are not letting what is happening determine what you're going to do next. i know that all of you are going to take this home and share it, because when you leave leave it here in washington dc, then it is useless for you. if you take this information home that you are learning and sharing, with your sisters and brothers and cousins, then you are really making an impact that we expect you to make when you come back and your communities. we will have a q&a after this.

>> thank you, lillian, for sharing your story. i would like to introduce another esteemed woman, doctor you bet. she is responsible for all of the indian health programs across the nation about a 4 billion-dollar nationwide health care delivery program to it is a huge responsibility. doctor yevette. i met yevette years ago when she was a professor and working out arizona avenue the arizona university. the university of arizona. she has led a group that was doing research around diseases. particularly diabetes programs. she spent a great deal of her time being very responsive to the particular diseases that are affecting us in our indian communities and trying to do something about that in her

role. she also became an advisor to us at the policy research center to help us move and to hell policies we can make longer-term positions around our life in indian country. she worked on recruiting students to go to work in medical areas. she has received her doctorate degree, her medical degree from harvard medical school. later on she went and received another master of public health from harvard school of public health. sushi carries a number of academic degrees and has been very involved in the academic society to be able to help promote natives to move in that direction. she also has written and published. at one of the books that she helped coedit was american indian health in the 21st

century. she was a business on 10% position in her place to read indian health. [applause] [applause] >> good morning, everybody. >> all right. >> it is so great to have a chance to spend time with you today. i saw the agenda and i'm really jealous. i wish i could stay here the whole time. it sounds like you're going to have a great week. i am doctor yevette. i am a member of the sioux tribe. i broke in south dakota. my father grew up on a reservation and he was in one of the first american indian lawyers in south dakota. all despite the this like it was a pleasure for me to be a

lawyer. my mother is part [inaudible name]. she's grown up on that reservation. by parents and us kids grew up. but mostly i grew up in rapid city, south dakota. is anyone from rapid city? >> i am the director of an indian health service. some of you have to know about that, right? who knows about the indian health service? all right. so how many of you have waited a long time that indian health services? >> how many of you have heard your relatives complained about the indian health service? yes. how many of you don't want to ever have to go there again? okay. so now you understand that i am

the director of the indian health service, and not everybody likes the indian health service. but today, i want to tell you what we're trying to do to improve it and how i ended up to be the director of the indian health service. i have to tell you a funny story. i was in tucson, arizona, teaching and all that. i got a phone call asking me, you know, the administration president was asking me to be the director of the indian health service. i thought, well, i don't know because i actually -- my mother was actually with me. if i were to move up from tucson, arizona, washington dc, because i helped take care of her, she would have to go along with me. i ran into the living room where my mother was sitting and i said mom, they just called, you know, they want me to be a part of the administration and want me to be

the director of the indian health service. what do you think? my mother looked up at me and said well, why would you want to do that? [laughter] so i had to kind of convinced her, but she finally agreed to go along. i have been the director for about three years. if you asked me if i'm sitting in your place i would be that director of indian health service, i would've laughed and i would've thought it was funny. but i had a grandmother who kept saying that you're going to go into the director of the indian health service. and i just thought that was crazy at the time. it was crazy because i wasn't even really interested in health at the time. when i was in high school, i was a nerd. how many of you will admit that you are a nerd? be proud. i was in the band, okay.

it gets worse. how many of you were in the band? how many of you were incubate? that is really for nerds. be proud, be proud. everyone thought i would be a lawyer because my dad was a lawyer and i was good at debate. i actually won a lot of awards. it was pretty good, i was pretty smart in high school. and then my grandmother got sick and i heard that she did not do the greatest care. i got to thinking that i didn't know any american indian doctors. i had never seen an american indian doctor. i had seen american indian nurses, but i have never seen an american indian doctor. so i got to thinking, you know, maybe we need more native

american health professionals, including doctors, working in the indian health service. that way we can change it to make it so it's better for our communities. and so i got to thinking, i'm pretty smart and i could probably be a doctor. there are other kids that don't have as good or great in my class, they are planning on being doctors. i actually was one of two native american students in my class. but i was also number one, the top of the class. there were people with grades less than minor were planning on being doctors. so i thought maybe i could be a doctor, too. why not. when i mentioned well, i think i want to be at doctor and my parents were like, what? and mentioned it to my grandmother and she was like oh, yeah, you need to be a doctors you can come back and fix this hospital here. and i'm like, yeah, whatever, sure. i just want to be a doctor. then i had to decide where to go to college.

and my mother said why don't you go one of those big schools out on the east coast or harvard or yale or whatever. and i said i didn't know about that. i was just thinking about local schools. but i had really good grades and i actually got in, which was a huge shock. i went to college at harvard. it is actually a lot of fun. there were a lot of kids like me there. people from all over. they tend to select a really diverse class. then i majored in biology. and i played the clarinet. i was in the harvard band. so i couldn't give that up. i was really glad i went to harvard. i decided to go into internal

medicine. we take your diabetes, heart disease, and things like that. my residency was for three years in boston. then it was time to pay off my scholarship. so the only way i was able to afford harvard was to have a scholarship, which will pay for medical school, and then you have to pay back four years working in the indian health service. i did not go back to south dakota because her family is kind of well-known and i just didn't want to be ramon or cecilia's daughter. when i was just for starting out to be a doctor. i ended up going to arizona. i worked for the apache tribe, but in three years, i worked with the healing river indian reservation. [applause] all right. i was there for about a year. i really enjoyed being a doctor,

working in indian communities, taking care of indian traditions. i really felt like i needed to do more. the problem with the indian health service is that we don't have a lot of money to pay for all the health care. our budget, even though it is $4.3 billion, it is still not enough we only have $4.3 billion. that is why it is hard to get your referrals taken care of. rather than being a doctor in the clinic, i could try to do something more than i got more training and realized that i wanted to be researcher. to help find all of the data and prove what need was. how many of you know someone with diabetes? it is a huge problem for american indian indians. we have some of the highest

rates in the world. diabetes is the problem of high blood sugar. but you can prevent it. i worked on some programs trying to avoid being overweight or obese, also trying to eat healthy and not eat so much. the portion sizes that people eat these days are way bigger than they need to be. trying to teach people in our communities, actually, when we were more traditional, we used to be a lot more healthy. if you think about it, our ancestors used to be moving around a lot more. they used to eat smaller portions of food. they used the more healthy food like roots and vegetables and grains. we did not have diabetes and an american indian communities hardly at all 100 years ago and

passed. by now you can see that everybody has that. so we need to get back to some of our healthier ways of living in our culture. to try to understand how to take care of our bodies. but a lot of work on diabetes prevention programs and research related to quality diabetes care, and i was actually at the university of arizona in tucson for 11 years. i also recruited students into health professions. then i got the call to come and be the director of the indian health service. and so what we are trying to do with the indian health service for the last two years, we admit that we have a problem. they say the first step is to admit they have a problem. well, we need to admit that we have a problem and we need to change and improve. we have been working on trying to have a better relationship with a try. the thing is, you have probably seen this, if you are a doctor, you can do all the right things in the exam room. examine the patient, diagnose what is going on, give them the

right care. but the minute that patient walks out the door, all things can go wrong. a patient lives within a family and a family lives within a community. and if the family is sick or the community is sick, and that patient has a really hard time being well. i really feel like the indian health services is one piece of our community, if we are healthy -- we also have to partner with our tribes. because they make a lot of choices about things that affect the health of our community. so actually spent a lot of my time talking with tribes in hearing your input and working on solutions for some of the hardest problems. because we really need to have our communities and partnerships. how can a person with diabetes eat healthy if you go to the local grocery store and there is no vegetables or fruits?

where they are all rotted? it is easier to buy potato chips or, you know, greasy food. it is really important to partner with them. i do a lot of works with tribes. the other thing we are trying to do is improve the business of the indian health service and make it so you don't have to wait so long. to make sure that we are spending the money and we are, you know, rewarding good employees and disciplining those who are not doing so well. we are also trying to improve the quality of care. that is related to making sure our doctors have the most up-to-date information, that we are using technology. i see you out there with your iphone's and your cameras and stuff like that. we didn't have those back when i was a doctor. i actually wrote on paper records back then.

finally i'm trying to communicate more about what we are doing in the indian health services is the changing improves. how many of you have seen the ihs directors block? anybody? you will see my picture on the website, and click on the blog, you will see pictures of who were meeting with, information about what we're doing. you can also go on and there and find health center. and you can see where our facilities are located. we are located in 35 states. there are over 600 hospitals and

clinics. i think we are on the right track and we are starting on a good footing. and it leaves people are admitting that we need to change and improve and people are starting to help us do that. so i ended up being the director of the indian health service. but i think it is actually good time. we have a lot of support, president obama has actually said to me and to others that the indian health service is a priority. we have increases in our budgets last for years. when nobody else has. the department of health and human services has also been very helpful.

i hope that many of you will think about health career if you think about what you're going to do in the future. maybe some of you will be doctors in the future or nurses and pharmacists and x-ray techs were working in the clinics. or maybe you will be a tribal leader that works really closely with the indian health service and help us improve health in our communities. thank you very much. >> thank you. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> i heard both of these women speak many times come and i think this has been one of the most interesting because we actually heard your personal story. i want to thank you for opening up that and sharing it with us. now is your time asked questions. i'm sure they will take any questions from you. raise your hand. we have microphones ready to go and the question out there in the front. and as is anyone else ready for the next question?

>> go had come over here. >> hello, i'm from an indian reservation, too. my question is about suicide prevention in our community. growing up, my freshman year of high school, i remember my peers. there was a suicide every six to eight weeks. people my age or older than me, people that might brother was friends with, it was very dramatic a a lot of the students. suicide rates haven't really changed that much. for a lot of us, it is easy for me to talk about suicide now. because i am so used to it. it is sad, but i think a lot of the youth in our communities need to talk about it. when you hear about someone committing suicide, you feel

like it's normal and it should not be that way. my question is there are a lot of preventative attempts, but many do not account for those differences. many find it difficult to partner with the psychological aspects of it. is there anything that i sat for the department of health and human services does to help combat these things and do more preventative measures to help partner this with the cultural community side of it? >> that's a great question. thank you for your question. certainly, suicide is such an unbelievably sad and tragic thing that is happening in our communities. the worst part of it as it is completely preventable. but there are so many forces that are working against us in this area, that is why it is a big challenge. i do know that there is a lot of programs that are being put in

place that do look at medical and spiritual and community type of activities that need to happen. if you look at federal agencies, we take this very seriously and try to partner together to work on what some of these solutions are. last year, the department of interior and the department of health and human services, including the substance abuse and mental health services administration and that mental health service, did 11 service sessions around the country. we talked with communities about when something that we can do to prevent that. and that included sessions with a group of youth. it is important for us to this youth voices. and we have an action summer. but we realized is a lot of programs in the country or are doing a great job of partnering with the help from the community

and the tribes. it is just a matter of making sure that we get that information out to people so that they know about it and they know it's happening. indian health service also has a funding program called the methamphetamine suicide prevention of them. him. we had over 100 programs underfunded. their job is to try to find some innovative ways to address this problem of suicide. a lot of times we hear about things later, you know, the places to intervene are in schools and communities and a lot of other places where kids

go, you know, nobody wants to go to the indian health service. there a lot of things we need to do, different types or two. some of our programs are doing a great job. certainly one part of that response when suicide happens, and the ihs is a partner there. we take very seriously and we know it is a top priority of tribes. we really have been trying to put resources and effort behind it trying to deal with some of these issues. >> before i take the next question, one of the two choices between a bunch of sessions this afternoon. one is called stable life and that is dealing with what you can do to be able to help

suicide and for mention in your the question back here, and then i will take the lady in the red. >> we have a lot of cancer. we know that there is no money to help with radiation. our people are just kind of dying of cancer. but i would like to know if it is in the water? ..

but actually now the more important are the more common causes of cancer or the things that we see every single day. smoking. smoking is definitely a big cause of cancer and it's preventable, so please, if you don't ever smoke and if you smoke now, do what you can to not smoke because it causes cancer and people do die from it. the other thing that people don't really realize cancer is overweight and obesity obese is more common causes of cancer and

so important to keep active and to try to eat healthy because cancer can be caused by that. it's always important to think about what the causes of cancer can be. if you're worried about an environmental exposure any testing in the water and that sort of thing and encourage people to learn about all the causes of cancer and putting things like obesity and smoking and those sorts of things because those are preventable, and now's the number of people with overweight and obesity goes up we are going to see increased rates of cancer in our communities as well to have the water tested and that sort of thing i encourage everybody. you can go to the national cancer institute. nci is what it's called. if you just put in risk factors

you can see what all of the risk factors or for cancer. and then that can help you know what you've can do to protect yourselves and to prevent cancer in the future so think you. semidey want to speak about any of the wellness programs that he might have found it in that program? >> we actually provide funding for the tribes to do this type of testing to do that type of monitoring package to the treatment of the community to the regulatory enhancement grants and it's been very successful the especially in a lot of the more rural and remote types of communities. then we also fund under the social development strategies projects a lot of health-related activities to be designed, developed and driven by the community. but some of them have to do with patient advocates -- navigators or patient advocates that will

help elders have experience working with in-house systems to get testing to and do work on preventive care in terms of healthy eating let's move initiative obesity prevention under the social development strategy switch on the quite a few traditional forms and gardens as well as health community is designed nutritional health plans for the members. >> thank you. next question. i am a middle school teacher at the reservation and that is also where i come from. my question is for the doctor here brought up about suicide on our reservation and we do also have a high suicide rate among our adolescence which are right

here, this age group. a part of being a teacher is also part of being a parent that my students come to when they are having problems. so in this past year we've had quite a few students that have suicide attempts thank god they were not that successful. they go to the local behavioral house and mentioned is truly not enough funding and reach out to our youth. they come to us and we've got to take them to our dhs and refer them to the idea chess and they meet with a psychologist or the role of people and and send them off to the behavioral and they are there for a day and then they send them back home to the

point to take their own lives but really we are truly not helping them. thank you for the question. i know that it's frustrating sometimes when you see kids that may be told through the cracks or don't get the care they need to be a suicide relate to a lot of different things and sometimes of a solution is that maybe a kid is depressed or maybe a kid has a behavioral health or psychological or psychiatric issue that needs to be addressed and so what the health service has to offer in

that case is working with a psychologist for counseling may be getting medication for some of those things and have the feelings that they have. i think also it's important to understand the school also has a great role to help with kids on a day-to-day basis. the local community centers have a great role to help kids also local clubs that are available there and so we really feel like the solution to this problem and the community doesn't fly with just one agency, it lies with partnerships, and so i would definitely encourage -- it means the whole community is going to have to come together and so if you are having trouble with the local health program or seeing

things you don't like i would encourage you to go and talk with the program directors and see if there's a way to make some improvements. they tried to help that way. but i think it is granted the everybody in the community working together to try to develop a network of support for the students so that they can find someone to go to whether it they are in need of the hospital or the tribes and the community and that sort of thing and we'll have to work better together to write i would encourage you to go and say i saw the doctor in a conference. we don't have enough funds to do everything but we try to do as much as we can and i think there's some caring people i

would encourage you to go and talk with them. it's going to take all of us and all of our efforts together to try to help the students feel safe and secure and mothers someone they can get to talk to when they have a problem or an issue when and whether it is the health service or the local schools were the local tribe or local clubs and i think students can help us also by giving us feedback again if you are having a problem or a friend has a problem how can we help you that would help a lot has also i would encourage you to talk with the local and see how they can be more helpful. >> my name is ramona in montana i work with our hrs director on a daily basis. but the greenback to with this

lady had to say but cancer to see if any testing was done but i guess my question is how come -- i know we are underfunded through on dhs but how come they can't be in the process to help our government haulier an epidemiologist to come out and do investigation on why it is so rampant in the communities. >> we have in the health service we fund 12 tribal epidemiology centers one in each of dhs area so you are in the billings area so they could request an epidemiologist to come out and do the investigation. the health service also has environmental programs with a return to the source of investigations. you're from an interesting tried because kortright has taken over the management of the entire

health program in the community. the with those agreements work is there a cure to help but we lead the discussions to the tried but we are available for technical assistance and support. but you might want to ask about the montana wyoming tribal leaders committee i believe also is associated with an epidemiology center of their. >> i was just saying that because i hold it do to my heart about cancer because i'm a cancer survivor myself. [applause] >> we have a young gentleman not here and then there's another question up their. then i'm also going to ask mollyann to get an advanced notice to talk yesterday they talked about the language and the language programs even though they found it a lot of those that are highlight the

examples. >> i guess i was just going to follow up will click on a couple of the women's suicide epidemic. we have an organization on the tribe we have a suicide epidemic starting in 1987 and there was a really gruesome time and was very sad. a group of leaders around my age can together and we are now known as the unity council. there's a lot of people here. from that time 1987 to now there has never been a suicide under the age of 18 and so we have for conferences every year on the reservation and we always push toward suicide prevention for

the underage like my age. right now we are working on a lot of our own, you know, issues right now, but i really like to get out to you guys and work out with you guys and organizing something. sorry. it's broken. [laughter] >> especially with pierce your same age getting out together, you know, lots of really great prevention with pierre mentorship is great and we are also working on a project this upcoming year is a great project. the funding that you do for the language. we are not under the try but our program organization.

i was talking earlier to those other people. we are working on getting our 501c3 because that is the ability to get funding. you can only be under the tribe. in order to be available for the funds you have to be a federally recognized tribes come a state recognized strive that your board of directors has to be majority needed american, nikolai iain, from the island. so, we have a really broad range for eligibility for the programs which is great. so yes. if you for your 501c3 and the majority of your board members which a government your

organization on native american and from your community, then we would be able to find you. about the ways we own ourselves and believe that we own our history. we make decisions that our history is phenomenal and vital and special. >> the former president of the college

this segment is 50 minutes. polis congressional reporter for the washington post. thanks for being here this morning. >> congress has just this week to get work done before they head out for the august recess. we often see a big drama unfold right before they get ready to leave town. are you expecting that this time around? >> i don't think it will be as dramatic as the years passed. in 2009 there was a rush to get the health care bill out of the energy and commerce committee that went downhill very last day right into the night.

last of this time we were dealing with the debt ceiling height and all sorts of trauma. this time around they are -- it's an election year said they have really dialed back their expectations what they are trying to pass and they've gotten a few of the must pass things already done this summer so looking ahead you have a couple things that they are trying to get done on the house side on the tax plans. the democratic plan is to extend the busheir tax cuts for every one except those making under $2,050,000 the senate has already approved that for a couple vote margin. the house is going to reject it and approve the republican plan to extend the tax cuts for everyone including the most wealthy. that is going to be there sort of major task of the week. the senate is taking up the bill for the improved nation's labor security from computer hackers

and it's unclear whether they are going to be able to get through all of the key amendments and the drought in the midwest and the country is basically wreak havoc out there on their economy, and there has been a farm bill that has been sort of languishing in the house for quite some time but there's now talk about a one-year extension. a short-term extension of that bill. that's probably the other must pass item, and there's still coastal reform that is working out there. a couple of potential faults set in by the postal service one, starting on wednesday if nothing is done but it's unclear whether there is a momentum in the house to get that done. >> host: if you would like to talk about these issues the numbers to call ortiz. 202-737-0001 democrats,

republicans, 202-737-0002, and independent calls, independent phone co. about how many days left working in washington as the contras have before the election? >> we are looking at i think 18 days left this week and then they go on a five week break that's meant to be worked period back, for the maffei deily could democratic national conventions and then they are back in about mid september because of a couple of different issues including jewish holidays and other breaks there was just 13 days inns of timber and early october, and at that point the only thing left that they will be trying to do most likely is a six month extension of government funding when they come back but mostly from here to election day for just 50 to

60 house races they're going to determine that a majority of eight to ten senate races they are going to determine who has majority next year. it's been a recent story in the national journal daily looked at a senate proposal by republicans on an energy legislation and senate republicans aren't even pretending that new energy legislation the introduced last thursday is meant for passage in this congress. instead of gop senators with the bill represents a sort of legislation they push if they were in control of the senate in the next congress. how much of the work is being done right now before they hit on the august recess when they can go campaign is about laying the groundwork for the messaging back home? >> i would say just about all of it. everything they are working on right now is about either messaging to try to give the people a clear choice of what they would do if given full control of washington next year. or the other strategy that is

they are positioning themselves for what could be an amazingly importantly lame-duck session in which you're going to have so many issues being decided in terms of taxes, the of minnick spending cuts -- automatic spending cuts, the sequestration. i hate saying that word. it's very confusing to people, but so there has been a lot of positioning for that. right now there's not a lot other than a short checklist that i've brought offer earlier. there's not a lot that they are even attempting to do. >> congressional reporter with the washington post. let's go to massachusetts where christina is an independent scholar. >> caller: the reason i'm calling is all i hear any more on tv is how does the government and the news and everybody trying to divide the american people. it's like is all so divided that

pleading with each other that the democrats dingell carrots in front of you promising the world and then they barely give you the care it. the republicans, they say they fight for our rights but then they keep their mouths shut and it's all just to get reelected. nobody cares of us. reporters want to be our newest so we will listen only to them but in the and all they are doing is trying to destroy america. >> host: what's your solution? what would you do to change things? >> caller: get all people term limits. you want to make a lot, live with it. because none of these people live with any of the laws. you know, nobody sites to make sure our education is the best in the world. it's one of the worst now. we sit back and make things better for the teacher. what about our kids cracks the kids are our future, but wait,

wait until the next election. wait until after the election. what about now? >> christina has a lot of anger and concern what is happening to the are you seeing the congress wrestle with that? >> it's really fascinating because we are in a state i think national journal and others have i actually quantified this statistically about the most conservative, the most conservative lawmakers and most liberal our liberal than the in a long time, so there is here in the capitol there is an amazing amount of people called polarization, and i think that goes to christina's point about the way she feels like people are trying to divide them. that same time, the country itself has never been more narrowly divided. there is a really good chance that the senate is going to end up in a 50/50 deadlock with, you know, whoever ends up having the

white house winning the tiebreaker vote and in this we're played in which the closure of the margins, the more narrowly divided the country is, we are almost more -- people feel more polarized by it. i think if you see the senate still retained control by democrats in the house, still run by republicans this is an issue i think they are going to have to try to tackle the next congress i think they are going to have to risk a newly elected president with it is the second term for obama, i think there is free to have to be some sort of coming to grips with this and reaching some compromises on some big deals. >> mcclatchy did a poll on a story that went with a couple days ago. david reporting is uncle sam helping or hurting the economy and is as nearly three out of four americans want a representative to compromise and find solutions to economic problems and they quote some people that say things like

congress needs to work together. the need to work for compromise. but the fed reports of a local minority of 25% including 40% republicans want to stand on principle regardless of the gridlock that could lead to higher taxes and government shut down or higher federal debt. >> well, that goes to -- you were talking earlier about the texas senate race on the primary is on tuesday three there you have a sort of old-fashioned establishment conservative and a lieutenant governor dewhurst and ted cruce is part of this up-and-coming new dynamic winning of the conservative wing and the republican party. back in late may they had their first round of primary balloting and about one print 5 million people voted in that race and he came out on top. he wouldn't have 50% so under the texas law we have a run off system, and now we are expecting

about 350,000 people. those 350,000 people are a part of what you just referred to as stand on principle. and that's why a lot of people think that cruce is the favorite right now. and what you get as sort of a primary to become more decided by just the narrow swath of the 350,000 texans who are going to vote tuesday i think you get a more hardened principal ticker but people on the right and the left and it makes the sort of bridging the divide a heck of a lot more difficult than it would be if you had more participation from all corners especially independent voters. >> host: let's get another call right here in washington. hello. go ahead.

>> caller: the point i'm trying to make is the democrats do not know how to spend the tax cut. the tax cut is for to hundred $50,000 of your income. two injured $50,000 of your income. [inaudible] they're trying to say it's not for everybody, it's for people under to 50. can this be spent correctly? [inaudible] >> guest: with the caller is referring to this in shorthand we sometimes say that the tax cuts that the democrats are trying to keep the tax cuts for those looking to entered 50,000 under and it makes it sound as if lebanon james is making about 25 to 30 million a year is not

going to get a tax cut. in reality, he gets a tax cut on the first $250,000 that he would be making. the rest of his income would go up to 39 per cent as it was back in the 90's. so my colleague has written about this extensively, and i think the average millionaire would see something like any 11,000 to 12,000-dollar benefit under the democratic proposal. under the republican proposal the average millionaire sees as 70,000-dollar benefit. so it is an argument over how big of a tax cut to give the millionaires and a buff. >> host: democratic tax plan making a vote in the house. you mentioned we may see these on for the next week. what we expect to happen? >> the senate democrats have said give us a vote on the democratic bill, and john

boehner said sure. we will give you a road and we are going to beat it. they've to enter the 42 republicans, very few republicans are expected to support the democratic plan. they haven't officially determined it, but they expect to among the series of options that they will vote on probably thursday will be the democratic bill and we will see a very with the caller cristina doesn't like we will see a very polarized vote, almost all the democrats voting for it, republicans voting against it and then mark that down before the move on to the passing the republican bill. >> host: paul kaine congressional reporter with the washington post. michael was in tucson arizona republican collar. good morning. >> caller: hello. >> host: what do you have to say? >> guest: >> caller: my question is what does the obama administration or the romney had fenestration do with the gas taxes that are

soaring through across america because every article in china they are doing some program where they find a way to reduce the gas prices would swing to happen with the gas prices everywhere? >> guest: the caller raises a good point the average person out there seized 350 or so a gallon and thinks that it's too high. the reality is up here they were embracing for four, 450, $5 even to be there is a price spike back in january and february which was very unusual because usually you have this price hit that comes in the summer driving. that came early and has a lot of fears that you'd see gas prices soaring. the reality is that there has been an increase in output and slowly but surely the price has sort of come down and now flat and not enough mid 3-dollar

range. it has taken some of the wind out of the sales for republicans that really wanted to make this a central issue. you don't hear them talking as much about the keystone pipeline which was a focus for them last fall and early winter building that pipeline. i think by the convention we will return to that because it is what they consider a really good issue that independent voters are sort of framing their votes in the fall. we will see how the prices go up or down in the final few weeks and whether it really resonates with voters. >> this mollyann brodie for the "washington post" has this had land the house is ready to take up drought relief. legislation to revise the disaster assistance would extend the bill. this is the house under pressure to extend release the drought had farmers and ranchers before congress began the summer recess is expected to take up legislation to revise several expired disaster assistance

programs. what are the chances these are going to go anywhere cracks >> this is the one piece of legislation that has moved from the back burner right up to the front burner because of drought relief. initially, the senate passed a bill that was going to save between 23 to $30 billion. and the house is just going to move their bill through committee and this is part of the idea they were trying to get positioning for the fall when they have a lame-duck session after but the election and they was all about sort of bidding whose bill would save more and be able to have that in reserve as we go through these talks on taxes and automatic spending cuts. but instead this drought has just hit the midwest and both for economic reasons that are really genuinely trying to help the farmers and political reasons because the midwest has become such a key battleground in both senate races, house

races and the presidential i think that they have basically sided that they have to do something rather than waiting for the fall, and i think you are going to see action on this this week, and the senate could improve it and you would at least have that issue lifted for about a year or so and you get some sort of relief to the farmers in the midwest right away. >> the cost of the legislation which also includes disaster assistance for the former east fish and trees was put at $621 million over ten years. there would be paid for by reductions rather in conservation programs and deduct payments to farmers. house republican leaders have been reluctant to bring a farm bill to the floor because the concerns it could go down as an embarrassing defeat from gop conservatives object to the cost nearly $100 million a year with 80% of that going to the food stamp program that helps feed some 46 million people so other

issues coming into play as well. >> guest: as often has happened in the last 18 months, you have a hard line group of republican conservatives who really do not want to see any deficit growth and the fight on these issues often become how do you pay for it and have an offsetting cut to finance this legislation and the food stamp issue has always been one that sort of the public a lot so much of the usda and what the usda does in the food stamp program and it's an automatic program that you see when the economy is hard hit and there's a lot of unemployment the spending on food stamps and that has angered a lot of fiscally conservative members of the caucus.

>> host: yet to cut on our independent line. >> caller: good morning thanks for taking my call. i wonder if any action was taken for the white house said on that. >> that bill passed on thursday afternoon a colleague of mine from cnn plan to freeze the doctor finally got a guess. it did pass the house buy fairly partisan vote and don't know the number of the top of my head. his son, the senator from kentucky is pushing the bill in the senate. but as of now, it is sort of an out liar issue for the senate

and it's probably not going to receive a vote unless some interpol has been pretty tough in his fight so far. >> host: from fox news the final vote was 327 to 98. lost in a bipartisan revelry with the fact eight co-sponsors, democrats actually voted against it. >> i stand corrected. there was a big win for dr. paul. it was probably one of his most important legislative victories so far. will it become law? probably not. but the issue about the fed and its handling of the bailout and its role in the bailout for years ago continues to resonate with a very intense group of voters and i think the you will

see this issue won't die, and of ron paul is retiring but rand paul will be here to carry the flag. >> host: republican, welcome. >> caller: yes. i'm just curious why you don't do anything but the keystone pipeline. it's been up five or six times find president obama fees' to think it's a big joke he does nothing about just wondering why, sir. >> caller: i think what you are going to see is that is granted dna issue that will be decided by the presidential campaign. i think if mitt romney wins, that's going to be flipped over. the senate will then likely change hands and i think he will basically see that there will get implemented. it's something there will be completely determined by the presidential campaign. you are just in a deadlock situation in which the senate doesn't want to pass or approve that plan. there are plenty of votes in the house and not in the senate and

if romney runs the presidential i think you'll see the pipeline will be built. >> host: in dependent copper atlanta georgia. good morning. >> caller: how are you doing this morning? >> host: we are good, thanks. you are on. >> caller: wanted to bring about the second anniversary beat up at the hall in st. louis has been done about that and the democratic sastre how you pick them out of the crowd they would beat him to death but also the black leader looked the other direction. we are we to see that this time i would like to have your comment. thank you. >> guest: i am not entirely familiar with the issue then you brought up, biting what you'll see brought lee in terms of these racial issues this has

been something that obama and senate democrats have pushed. you definitely see the movement in terms of civil rights issues, a gay-rights issues. i think that you are going to -- i did that is another issue there will be cited largely by the presidential campaign. >> host: when you look to the presidential election and things that are being delayed until after the senate and house elections as well, refresh what else is being put to the back burner until we see who wins control of the white house as well as the bodies of congress. >> guest: you have the bush tax cuts the we talked about that were first enacted in 2001 and in 2003. they expired to december 31st. there is the automatic spending cuts, the sequestration, which the first hit with take effect in early next year. in addition there is a whole

slew of tax benefits for all sorts of various entities of alternative energy tax breaks, tax breaks for everything from bow and arrow makers to research and development. all of this stuff is coming in line on december 31st, and because of the deadlock last summer and the inability to strike any big grant bargain, the of basically decided that they would take it to the people. that is where barack obama said to eric cantor sort of famously in the middle of last summer in a big standoff with the white house obama was tired of what he was saying and pushed back from his chair and said we can't take these people and i think that is generally for the most part what we are going to see happen, and the break down here in the capitol and whoever holds the presidency is going to have a

real advantage over sort of determining the outcome. >> host: are you seeing behind the scenes negotiations and talks going on when it comes to decisions about the fiscal cliff, when it comes to decisions about raising the debt limit were dealing with spending issues? >> caller: >> guest: you know, what you're seeing on the hill right now is the initial talks, some committee chairmen and the subcommittee chairman are talking a little bit, putting out of ideas. they are floating ideas. right now, starting today, john mccain, lindsey graham and the three senate republicans are going to do a little barnstorming of the key swing states. florida, north carolina, virginia, and finishing up in new hampshire tomorrow and try to raise attention to the whole issue of potential cuts to the military. people are doing these things, but we are not at a point where they are really sitting down in the room the way we would normally see some really deep

see these negotiations. i think they are generally waiting on that for november, november and december. >> host: paul kaine congressional reporter for the washington post. prior to that he worked for roll call covering senate leadership, that was from 2000 through 2005 and in 2006 for local he covered the ethical scandals he's also worked for the record of hackensack new jersey covering the capitol hill, and among his stories then was covering the fbi and the justice department investigations and senator robert come the democratic new jersey debts for cash scandal. he also covered the gingrich revolution for the states news service and early in his career was an editor for china daily in english newspaper in beijing. james come reva aubuchon and mason arizona. good morning. >> caller: yes, good morning. how are you? yes, my question is what do you see as the economy moving like that is going to be in the next

four years, 48 years to you see it growing, getting worse than it is right now because it is pretty bad right now. >> host: what you think how does that relate to what the congress is doing? >> caller: i just don't think the congress is looking out for the best interest of the middle class people and the lower class people. i just think -- how do i put this? they care to much about themselves but that is just my opinion. i'm interested to see what mr. kane has to say. >> host: thanks, james. >> guest: in terms of where they see the long-term economic growth right now friday they came out with a number that showed 1.5% growth in gdp. the reality is that most economists see a fairly middling recovery continuing for several more years hasn't been -- there aren't that many people

predicting a big jolt of new hiring. one thing some people say could really change that would be some sort of grand bargain that would allow some entitlement reform, tax reform, to change in the corporate tax structure, and would create what they would say is sort of long-term confidence in and just sort of where everything is going in terms of the government, government debt, and that they think might spur a lot of the money that corporations from a lot of corporations have been profitable, they are uncertain. they don't know whether we are headed towards a major debt crisis like greek or spain, greece or spain but if there is confidence where we're going to be the next year's some money might come off the sidelines. and i think what we will also

have to see is, you know, as a part of any sort of big grand bargain to avoid this cliff, i think democrats would probably want to push some sort of extra stimulus money to try to come been to the economy for the short term that might help. that might help answer some of the concerns. >> there is a question of funding the government into the next year. talk about this. >> guest: the continuing resolution. basically the fiscal year once october 1st through september september 30th and usually we get into the end of september and they only have a couple of the 12 appropriation bills done that on the the federal government, and you have to keep the government open on the previous year's levels. this year as a part of a sort of an overall lack of fat mission, we are seeing that the date

taking shape in july, which one veteran of the senate said to me sort of liked the second down as opposed to the fourth down, there's been some sort of agreement that it's not finalized yet but they are trying to agree that they would do a six month extension of the government funding at the levels that they agreed to in last year's debt ceiling wall and that is a little bit more than most conservatives wanted to spend. but they seem to have signed off on this in the house so that they would put the issue off into next year and the new deadline would be march 35th. their hope is that they would have president romney to negotiate with and republican controlled senate then they would be all to enact some

spending cuts. if they get a hold of this dennett, then they've probably made a bad bargain on their behalf. >> do we really even need to pass a budget? here is a story in the national journal influence top senate and house leaders confirmed thursday by the discussions that are under way concerning the continual resolution that would fund the government into next year eliminating the threat of the government shut down. >> host: well, we had representative sarah yesterday on the newspapers -- newsmakers on the ways and means if he thought they would vote. here is what he had to say. >> would you favor or do you favor a six month to just carry the funding for that period? >> we can't have another potential meltdown.

we would have to extend thus er and if it takes six months, that might be the wise thing to do. >> host: what does it mean to hear the congressman on the news makers saying that if it's necessary we might have to do it and it might be one of these temporary measures cox >> guest: he basically said we can't have another meltdown and that is the key right now there is a lot of exhaustion and what the congress went through last year and the idea that they pushed it so close to the end of the debt limit and almost went over the cliff and use of the market's actually started reacting at this time a year ago and i think there was still just sort of crisis exhaustion, and they know that in november and december you have all these other things. they don't want to add anything else on top of that to make the cliff any steeper.

so to push off the government funding until, you know, the middle of march next year they want to try to do that to avoid anything that creates any more drama to what it's already going to be. >> host: huntsville alabama enjoying both on our independent line. hi, cathy. >> caller: thanks to c-span. i would like to offer some consolation to the american people. we were calling in to shows like this because we are very frustrated and very -- almost we feel pulverized by the whole situation that we are now faced with. we have two candidates and everyone thinks they are going to one of them or any positive outlook for the future. now, i would suggest to everyone

that this is contrived and this purpose to get us to a place where we would look at the fact that these are our representatives. the people that we select and send to represent us and for the rest of the world, these people represent the american people, and this is what we need to be concerned about how we appear to the rest of the world and see how we are going to put forward in what is supposed to be a system of government that is governed by the people. our representatives and is very obvious are not representing us as a people. people are frustrated so we need to ask ourselves how did we get here and how do we get out of this? there is a very good article but i would suggest that everyone

would go to. >> guest: she is something that a lot of the information you've heard from several different colors and several parts of the country this morning. there is just this feeling of divide between people and their representatives. and how you bridge that has become such a critical issue. i don't know the answer right now. i think their needs to be more engagement by the voters and part of that means get engaged in the primary process voting in primary elections. the state of california is trying this new thing in which they have everybody thrown into one primary to get the republicans and democrats. anybody can vote for anybody they want at the top two people come out.

that gives independent say lot of voice if they want to express themselves and push for people they think are going to be more representative of them. it's an experiment they are trying for a first time ever this year. we will see that and how it plays out and whether other states are willing to adopt that. >> league rights effectively they shot on the government with cr. it's a patch and symbol of congress and of looking at another comment coming in, no one says give us the real story. converses grant make any progress on energy reducing cost new technology this year he talks about energy already. paul kane tell us about that and also the cybersecurity bill that you mentioned. >> guest: sure. the energy issue has sort of shifted to the background at this point. i think that's going to be something that's really decided by the elections and who holds

power. if they can run the control of the senate, it gives them a very strong hand in pressing this whether it is obama or romney in the white house. if mitt romney wins the presidency by executive order, he will probably implement most of the pipeline and you will see that become the hallmark issue. in terms of technology, the cybersecurity bill they are debating in the senate this week is a big piece of legislation and this administration has been pushing ever since day one and the fear is there could be some sort of the other terrorists or criminals, a cyberattack on government computer systems and also in the private sector and the initial hope is that they were going to have the department of homeland security

administer this early program would force businesses and to maintaining standards. by the chamber of commerce and other businesses fought back and now watering program. some say it is the best you could hope for at this point to get that going to be up for debate of this week. i think they will have a lot of different amendments and votes and there is a lot of issues at stake. i am unclear whether they are granted able to pass this by thursday or friday, but i think the administration is hoping to at least get it out of the senate by the end of the week. >> present obama ruth day will street journal taking the attack seriously in a torture complex might seek to exclude those vulnerabilities here at home. author by dhaka, president of the united states. beverley, the democrat.

thank you for c-span. it's really great. i wanted to. a kind of set up a red flag. the first thing he mentioned was he was going to build up the on forces and the navy and he was going to get a stimulus package going to build the five new jets. i couldn't understand why we need to build up the military to such a great. that's been the interesting issue because a lot of the freshmen republicans who were standing in the capitol in january, 2011, a lot of them hold.

they don't see the sacred cow all but a lot of people have an past. ellen west of florida, former member of the army and the air force reserve he led the fight to try to kill off a new pilot suit. people don't want to spend more on the pentagon, so i think president romney if he were to be elected might not get as much support as that as he would think on the hill. the traditional conservative rival concern have been around a long time like the armed services chairman would probably be supportive but i think there would be some push back on the republican party.

>> caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to comment in regards to the several comments. first of all in regards to paul and the federal reserve. i certainly would ask the gentleman to do little research on the federal reserve. a group of bankers responsible for know what it's very serious since 7076 our forefathers resisted the reserve and then in 1913 and was instituted by a gentleman by the name of paul. but anyway, we don't have time to go into all of the details but i would ask you to do a little background on that because i think that is dangerous for our country. and this is something that just lately after digging into life come to maybe agree with ron paul.

>> host: we have congressman ron paul how there's a growing interest he feels since the crisis of the banks of two years ago he feels like that propelled his issue from the fourth not looking into the reserve and he's finding more support for his plan in the fed. there's definitely been a shroud of secrecy over the reserve and what it does and that is why you see a vote of more than 300. the fed to some degree has tried to react to this. he's done things that no federal chairman had never even dreamed of doing including holding a press conference. he gave 60 minutes a sort of expos a which they could come in and look at their faults. they are trying to meet some of the concerns that are out there from maryland to arizona. it's probably not enough to

appease some of the fed critics, certainly not on call. it's really just an issue that is there's a really intense amount of support for it among a small group of voters and until it gets bumped up higher among the broad electorate. >> host: c-span junkie tweets and are there ramifications for the majority leader not presenting a budget in the senate for a vote? how can they plan without a budget? >> guest: this has been one of the points of discussions that has irritated senator reid more than just about any other. they didn't pass the full annual budget this year. about what was enacted last year august 2nd of the year-ago in addition to giving elevating the

debt ceiling said the government could keep bargaining and instituting the process for saving more than $2 trillion senator reid and senator mcconnell came up with a framework for the total top dollar amount of money that would be appropriate each year by congress for last year it was 1.043 trillion, which is an incredible amount of money i realize. and this year it was $1.04 trillion. senator reid the top line figure is to spend it is not just on dividing the top and usually 12 different appropriation bills get past. the house republicans then this year implemented a budget of their own bills about $20 billion less than they had agreed upon last ye