our tribes have a total population of over 189,000 people second only to the navajo nation. although we're not adequately funded. no unit of government can or should ever be asked to operate essential services on competitive grants. these grants are short term funding solutions to long term problems. and now have requirements that some tribes aren't able to meet and this results in limited services. we therefore call upon congress to maintain the b.i.e. and ihs funding levels. the only way to achieve sustainable gains in education and public safety is to direct federal agencies to streamline their programming to indian country especially for large land base tribes. with high unemployment rates and poverty rates. we like to see funding streams consolidated, reporting requirements simplified and streamlined. federal agencies, especially the bia and ihs should be directed to stop creation of mass subagencies and cities and to start returning funding and decision-making authority to the regional and reservation level. i would like to remind you today until the united states retu

every indian nation in the west -- >> [unintelligible] >> your navajo? good for you. >> do you think anyone else is going to shout, "las vegas!" [laughter] >> i went to visit this very -- i went to the reservation -- you know whether it is. i went to visit to highlight this very problem you talking about in my last term as president, where a young 13- year-old student who had won this great contest and her prize was her very own personal computer. except, in her home, she did not have an electrical outlet to plug in the computer. so, my first subject -- suggestion is right now on solar panels are the cheapest in have ever been because this is actually what caused the failure of the famous solyndra co. -- they needed -- they were designing a solar panel that was actually cylindrical like this and had a higher efficiency conversion rate but cost more than twice as much as the average. like all the electrical products, they go down in price as the volume sold goes up. so they knew they would lose money for four of five years so they needed this loan, and th

within this initiative, we plan to advance nation to nation relationships by seeking $12.3 million in programatiy increases in continued work on the navajo gallop water project. we also plan to continue protecting indian country by seeking an additional $11 million in public safety funding. with that increase, $3.5 million will go towards hiring additional tribal and bureau of indian affairs law enforcement personnel and $6. 5 million will pay for staff increases at newly constructed tribal and bureau detention centers. this request also supports the expansion of a highly successful pilot program launched in 2010 that saw a 35% reduction in violent crime for four reservations with high violent crime rates. the department also seeks an increase of $5.2 million for our education activities. 2 million for tribal grant support costs at 125 tribally controlled schools and residential facilities. to continue with the new energy frontier initiative, the 2013 budget request provides a total of $8.5 million to support development on tribal lands, and $6.2 million is provided for renewable energy projects. and the remaining $2.5 million is intende