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Connecticut

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• Unemployment Down to 2.5%: The unemployment rate in Connecticut has declined from 6.6% to 2.5% since 1993. In contrast, unemployment increased 113% under the previous administration.
• 161,200 New Jobs: 161,200 new jobs have been created in Connecticut since 1993 -- an average of 21,257 per year, compared to an average loss of 34,875 jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 128,500 New Private Sector Jobs: 128,500 new private-sector jobs have been created in Connecticut since 1993 -- an average of 16,945 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 34,775 private sector jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• 12,200 New Construction Jobs: 12,200 construction jobs have been created in Connecticut since 1993 -- an average of 1,609 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 7,075 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• Poverty Has Fallen: Nationally, the poverty rate has fallen from 15.1% in 1993 to 11.8% in 1999, the lowest level since 1979. In Connecticut, the poverty rate has fallen to 8.3% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
• 59,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 18,000 Connecticut workers have benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 41,000 more, received an additional raise on September 1, 1997. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have called on Congress to raise the minimum wage by an additional $1.00 over two years.
• Homeownership Has Increased in Connecticut: Homeownership in Connecticut has increased from 65% to 69.1% since 1993.
• Home Building Up 2.5%: Home building in Connecticut has increased by an average of 2.5% per year since 1993, after falling over 19.3% per year during the previous administration.
• A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton the balanced budget delivers a child tax credit to 362,000 families in Connecticut.
• Business Failures Down 12%: Business failures in Connecticut have dropped 12% per year since 1993, after increasing 68.5% per year during the previous four years [Oct. 98 data].
• Connecticut's Families Reap Benefits of Deficit Reduction: Public debt is on track to be $2.4 trillion lower in 2000 than was projected in 1993. Debt reduction brings real benefits for the American people -- a family in Connecticut with a home mortgage of $100,000 might expect to save roughly $2,000 per year in mortgage payments. Reduced debt also means lower interest rates and reduced payments on car loans and student loans.

• Over 6,800 Children in Head Start: 6,825 Connecticut children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Connecticut will receive $42.1 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $20.2 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Connecticut's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Connecticut received $11.3 million in 1999 to hire about 292 new, well-prepared public school teachers and reduce class size in the early grades. President Clinton secured funding for a second installment of the plan, giving Connecticut an additional $12.3 million in 2000.
• $4.7 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY00], Connecticut receives $4.7 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. [Education Department, 12/3/99]
• $3.7 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY00], Connecticut receives $3.7 million—more than doubling its funding over FY97 -- for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21^st century.
• $71.8 Million for Students Most in Need: Connecticut will receive $71.5 million in Title I Grants (to Local Educational Agencies) providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY00]. This includes $1.2 million in accountability grants, to help states and school districts turn around the worst performing schools and hold them accountable for results.
• Nearly 2,700 Have Served in Connecticut through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 2,694 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Connecticut's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 2/00]
• $45.1 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY00], Connecticut will receive $45.1 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, benefiting 24,356 Connecticut students.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY00 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. Connecticut will receive more than $11 million in Work-Study funding in 2000 to help Connecticut students work their way through college.
• Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 56,000 students in Connecticut will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 69,000 students in Connecticut will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Connecticut's Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Connecticut received $14.5 million in 1999 to help 8,610 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Connecticut will receive nearly $8.5 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

• Crime Falls 21% in Connecticut: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, serious crime in Connecticut has fallen 21%. Violent crime and property crime have also both declined by 21%. In Hartford, between 1992 and 1997, serious crime, as indicated by the crime index, has declined 43%, with a 62% drop in rape and 42% drop in robbery. In addition, serious crime has also declined 20% in New Haven and 23% in Waterbury.
• Juvenile Arrests Down in Connecticut: Connecticut's juvenile murder arrests have decreased 37% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
• 1,206 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 1,206 new police officers to date in communities across Connecticut. [through 7/00]
• Hartford Will Receive Targeted Funding to Hire More Community Police: Hartford was selected as a pilot city for the President's new effort to target high crime neighborhoods. The pilot program will provide full funding for new officers by waiving the usual matching requirements. Hartford will deploy new officers to help meet the unique needs of its community, such as combating gangs or targeting drug "hot spots."
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Connecticut, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Bridgeport. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of Connecticut communities including: Waterbury, Hartford, New Haven, and Wilmington. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes.
• $22.02 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Connecticut has received approximately $22.02 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. And in October 1999, the University of Connecticut was awarded nearly $250,000 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]
• Over $715,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Connecticut received over $715,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $4.3 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Connecticut's Schools: Connecticut received $4.3 million in FY00 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

• 76,644 Fewer People on Welfare: Since 1993, there are 76,644 fewer people on welfare in Connecticut - a 48% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 84%: Child support collections have been increased by $70.7 million—or 84% -- in Connecticut since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Connecticut: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1991 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 10.6% in Connecticut.
• $33.8 Million for Connecticut Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Connecticut received a total of $23.1 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Connecticut welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $10.7 million in competitive grants were awarded to Connecticut localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
• Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Statewide, Connecticut has received $3 million to fund innovative transit projects.

• Health Care For Nearly 10,000 Uninsured Connecticut Children: In 1997, President Clinton passed the largest single investment in health care for children since 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits that children need to grow up strong and healthy. Two million children nationwide have health care coverage thanks to the President's plan, including 9,912 in Connecticut. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
• Helping Over 58,000 Connecticut Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY99, Connecticut received $33.2 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 58,355 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance. [through 8/99]
• More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines in 1996, 1997, and again in 1998 —surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In Connecticut in 1998, 98% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 94% received the vaccine for polio; 97% received the vaccine for measles, and 98% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Connecticut will receive nearly $3.8 million in Ryan White Title II formula grants. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services. Also through the Ryan White Act, Connecticut will receive nearly $8.7 million for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which help those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. There has been a tenfold increase in ADAP funding in the last four years, up from $52 million in 1996 to $528 million in 2000. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 4/7/00]
• Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 37% in Connecticut: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 37% in Connecticut by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 30,600 of Connecticut's youth will be kept from smoking and 9,800 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
• 1,740,000 Americans in Connecticut Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Connecticut enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 1,740,000 people in Connecticut cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 910,000 Connecticut women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights.

• Invested Nearly $400 Million in Connecticut's Veterans: President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for Connecticut's 310,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested nearly $400 million in Connecticut in 1999 alone. In 1999, 26,660 Connecticut veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, more than 2,520 went to college on the GI Bill, and 2,233 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.

• Providing Health Care for Connecticut's Veterans: Since 1993, the VA health system has increased the number of patients treated every year by over 29 percent; treated 83 percent more homeless patients; organized approximately 1,300 sites of care delivery under 22 Veterans Integrated Service Networks; and established more than 250 new community-based outpatient clinics. In Connecticut, VA operates major medical centers in West Haven and Newington, as well as community-based, primary care clinics in New London, Stamford, Waterbury, Windham and Winsted. An additional clinic in Danbury is expected to open in 2000. In 1999, 30,548 veterans received health care in Connecticut's VA facilities.

• 5 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed 5 Superfund toxic waste cleanups in Connecticut. The sites are located in Beacon Falls, Naugatuck, Norwalk, Plainfield and Cheshire. This is five times the number of sites cleaned up in Connecticut during the previous two administrations. [through 3/1/00]
• $7.7 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Connecticut will receive $7.7 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems.
• Revitalizing Brownfields in Connecticut: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to ten communities in Connecticut—Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Middletown, New Britain, Norwich, Griswold and the Naugatuck Valley—for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. These projects are intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use.

• Revitalizing Connecticut's Communities: Bridgeport and New Haven were designated as Enterprise Communities in December, 1994 and were awarded $3 million each to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for area residents. In 1999, New Haven was named a New Urban Empowerment Zone.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,300 To 1,500 New Affordable Housing Units in Connecticut Over the Next 5 Years: Last year, the President and Vice President pushed for a 40-percent expansion in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This year, the President and Vice President will try again to enact tax incentives to develop affordable housing. In Connecticut alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,300 - 1,500 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

• $21.2 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Connecticut has received $21.2 million in disaster relief. This includes $4.7 million in 1999 to assist with recovery from Hurricane Floyd. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

• Nearly $1.5 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Connecticut has received nearly $1.5 billion in federal highway aid. This includes $4.5 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $1.6 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 61,891 jobs. [through FY99]
• Over $33.8 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99, Connecticut received over $33.8 million in Airport Improvement Program funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports.
• Transit Funding: Since 1993, Connecticut has received over $496 million in Federal Transit Funding.
• Saving Lives and Property: In 1999, the United States Coast Guard saved 63 lives and more than $2 million of property in Connecticut.

October 2000

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