esteemed hon honorable, and representative tom cole, assistant secretary, larry ekelhawk, and loretta toole, and yvette rubido from ihs and aaron klein from treasury. we also have our native organizations partners, ernie stephens, chairman, rick west, from the housing council, finally, native voice one and many tribal and public radio stations across the country for airing today's address and bringing the state of indian nations to hundreds of thousand of people in indian country and beyond. this year we have asked an american indian service member to begin the event. it is my honor to introduce and welcome lieutenant colonel t.j. huntinghorse of the marine corps, a u.s. navy judge advocate at the pentagon. lieutenant colonel huntinghorse has participated in deployments in iraq and afghanistan. please join me in thanking him for his continued service and welcoming him here today. lieutenant colonel huntinghorse. >> thank you. good morning. and it is my pleasure to introduce the president of the national congress of american indians, president jefferson keel, lieutenant-governor of the natio