Hillary Clinton's South Dakota Native American Agenda

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The Clinton campaign published "Hillary Clinton’s Native American Agenda for South Dakota: Provide Vital Services to Strengthen Tribal Economy, Health Care and Education, and to Combat Crime" on www.hillaryclinton.com.

The following are bullet points of her proposals:

• Provide "meaningful increases to the Indian Health Service (IHS) budget""Address the troubling health care disparities Native Americans experience by elevating the director of the Indian Health Service to the Assistant Secretary level"
• "Institute a new initiative to take on diabetes through an aggressive campaign to stop and reverse the increasing incidences among Native Americans nationwide."
• "Revive this nation's economy by investing $2.5 billion per year, which includes investments in tribes, in order to strengthen the nation's work force development efforts."
• "Prepare our workers for the high-wage, high-skill jobs of the future builds on her bold agenda to create good, high-wage jobs in America."
• "Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, and index to congressional salaries after that."
• Expand "the earned income tax credit, tripling the current benefit for single workers and making the benefit more generous for larger families."
• "Restore funding for the New Market Tax Credit and Empowerment Zones programs.
• Create "$50 billion Strategic Energy Fund (which) will invest in renewables and clean energy technologies that will help create at least 5 million green collar jobs" nationwide."
• Create and expand federal-tribal partnerships to promote the use of solar and wind power in Indian Country."
• "Fund the weatherization of all low-income homes in Indian Country."
• "Increase funding for the Native American Housing Block Grant and modernize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act."
• "Increase funding for the Indian Head Start Program"
• Support "Pre-K schooling programs that support a child’s native language."
• Encourage the teaching of these languages (Lakota and Dakota) in Tribal Head Start in South Dakota."
• "Ensure that tribally-sponsored pre-K programs in South Dakota receive federal matching dollars just as state programs do."
• Increase "funding for tribal colleges."
• Provide "resources for law enforcement in Indian Country, promoting state-tribal cooperative agreements where appropriate to reduce crime, and improving the collection of data on Indian Country crime and how those crimes are handled by authorities."

Source: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=7781