american job creation so i want to read this statement quickly we exist to secure two fundamental principals first americans have a right to know that the money washington takes from them is well spent and second americans deserve an efficient effective government that works for them our duty in the oversight and government reform committee is to protect these rights our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to the taxpayers because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government we will work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the facts to the american people and bring genuine reform to the federal  the mission of the oversight and government reform committee i will make a quick opening statement just to be able to set up what we are trying to accomplish today the relationship between american indians and the federal government is a relationship that is entirely unique in america for over a century federal programs have worked hand in hand with tribal leaders to encourage economic development among native american populations a principal part of this hearing is to listen and to learn how and why unemployment remains high in native american populations and how the federal government affects economic development among the of indian affairs has promulgated regulations and established programs that oversee lands criminal justice education infrastructure specifically pertaining to tribal groups yet tribal groups continue to struggle to grow their economies provide jobs for their members and have access to fundamental building blocks of a prosperous society according to the most recent available data national unemployment rates for indians was as high as hpercent on some reservations unemployment rates reach as high as hpercent there is bipartisan agreement education students attend classes sometimes in condemned buildings that lack proper electrical and heating systems no fire detection systems no running water in some cases buildings crumble around children as they attend class the office of inspector general also found that school violence was rampant and students and staff were risking their safety and sometimes their lives attending some of these schools these conditions are clearly not conducive to learning the bureau of indian affairs has been accused of mismanaging taxpayer money by spending of tens of millions of dollars on failed programs such as  of the narrow band radio technology a bia program can hamstring access to economic development by regulations and a process that hinders land leasing for natural resources tribes are often at the mercy of the federal government's decisions and have little recourse for injecting their own opinions for selfdetermination of these processes in other instances private entities often pass up investment opportunity on indian land because of a complicated step process which includes nepa analysis required for development on federal trust land the native american community and especially in management issues with bia from education to waste fraud and abuse in the programs on the other hand i would hope that we would broaden our consideration to also look at the disinvestment in the native american community occurring in this congress if you look at h r h the continuing resolution that was passed on a party line vote a month and a half ago  have serious impacts in the native american community throughout the united states and so i will be interested in hearing testimony about what are those impacts and what other kinds of things do we need to avoid  course we are bound to do that that is going happen unfortunately i believe that we also ought to be looking at exploring opportunities for further collaboration between the federal government and native american communities clearly the bia could do more  promoting tourism clearly the bia and other elements of the federal government could be collaborating with a lot of native american communities on renewable energy resources wind power solar power and could actually take advantage of a natural resource we all share especially in many of those communities so i will be very interested in talking about job creation and in taking advantage of some resources and opportunities that exist in the community and where perhaps some of the decisions already made in this congress have perhaps unintentionally but nonetheless had a deleterious affect on the community thank you so much and thank you mister chairman mister lankford you are very welcome members will have hdays to submit opening statements any other materials for the record and other witnesses may submit items for the record to be able to be included within the next hdays mister lankford we are going to take a short recess and when we come back i want to be able to introduce our guests that are here and swear you in and begin the process for this we will have other members that will join us at that time we expect about four votes which that would mean probably around hminutes or so so if you need to be able to slip away and be able to come back you will have time to be able accomplish that and then our staff will be here and they will be able keep you up to date what is happening durin