Remarks to the community at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 12, 1999

So what are we going to do? Private lenders, like Bank of America, Norwest, Bank One, Washington Mutual, are going to work with the Mortgage Bankers Association and HUD, to more than double the number of government-insured or guaranteed home mortgages in Indian country in each of the next 3 years.

Right here in Pine Ridge, Fannie Mae, under Frank Raines' leadership, has set aside millions of dollars to help you buy those homes at below market rates. And they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars all across this country to help people just like you become homeowners for the first time. And Secretary Cuomo's Partnership for Housing is giving financial incentives and counseling to help families figure out how to actually get this done, how to buy their own homes and pay for them.

But, as I heard over and over today, even if we went in and tried to repair or rebuild or build new homes for every family here, and in every Indian community throughout the United States, we must have jobs if we want these communities to work. Adults need to have something to look forward to every morning when they get up. And if they want their kids to stay in school, and stay out of trouble, and look to tomorrow, their lives have to be evidence that looking to tomorrow pays off. It is appalling that we have the highest growth rate in peacetime in our history, that we have an unemployment rate below 5 percent for 2 years, and the unemployment rate on this hallowed reservation is almost 75 percent. That is appalling, and we can do better.

No community in America can grow, however, without basic blocks. No community in America should be without safe running water and sewer systems. So the Department of Agriculture will put nearly $16 million in water projects throughout Indian country, including two right here in Pine Ridge, that will also help you get jobs, as well as improve the quality of life.

As you can see, in this Big Sky country, it is rather warm and it gets windy from time to time, as the natives will attest. The Department of Energy will help you harness the power and profits of wind and solar energy, to save money and make money. Owens Corning and North American Steel Framing Alliance will provide skills training and the promise of quality jobs. And Citibank and Gateway Computer Company will work with Oglala Lakota College and other schools to help Native American students get the computer skills that will allow them to get 21st century jobs. And our Federal Communications Commission will work with you to improve telephone service throughout Indian country, an absolute prerequisite for getting any new business in here.

And let me just say that one of the things that we have learned is that the computer and the Internet make it possible for many people to do many kinds of work in any community, anywhere in the United States, indeed, increasingly, anywhere in the word. The fact that this reservation is a long way from an urban center would have been an absolute prohibitive barrier to a lot of economic development just 10 or 15 years ago.