BILLINGS – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she would repair damaged relations with Indian tribes if elected president and seek more money for reservation health care, housing and other programs.
The New York Democrat, who faces a June 3 primary in Montana, says the country had been “on the right track” with American Indians in the 1990s, when her husband was in the White House. But she says President Bush has since neglected tribes, exacerbating their high rates of poverty and disease including diabetes.
Clinton outlined her agenda for Indian country in a Friday conference call with reporters. The call came four days after her rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, visited the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana to deliver a similar message.