South Dakota tribal leaders met with new Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Sunday but he warned not to expect quick solutions.
Alex White Plume, the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said poverty was one of the biggest issues facing Native people. He also called the Bureau of Indian Affairs a worthless organization that just siphons money from the tribes," the Associated Press reported.
Kempthorne said he plans to visit other parts of Indian Country. But with less than two years left in the Bush administration, he told tribal leaders not to expect "a quick solution because these [problems] took time to develop."
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