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Clinton-Gore Accomplishments: Supporting Women and Families

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Women's History Month

PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:

Supporting Women and Families
January, 2000

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES:

Tax Cuts for Working Families. 15 million working families receive additional tax relief through the President's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 1998, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people out of poverty - double the number lifted out of poverty by the EITC in 1993.This year the President proposed expanding the EITC to provide tax relief to an additional 6.4 million hard-pressed working families.

Helping Parents Balance Work and Family.The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for seriously ill family members, new born or adoptive children, or their own serious health problems without fear of losing their jobs. Nearly 91 million workers (71% of the labor force) are covered and millions of workers have benefited from FMLA since its enactment.

Narrowing the Wage Gap.The average woman who works full-time earns approximately 75 cents for each dollar that an average man earns --the narrowest wage gap ever. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen laws prohibiting wage discrimination. This year, the President has proposed a $27 million initiative to help the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and the Labor Department fight wage discrimination.

More Than Triple the Number of Small Business Loans to Women Entrepreneurs. Between 1993 and 1998, the Small Business Administration approved over 72,000 loans to women entrepreneurs. In 1998 alone, the SBA granted more than 11,000 loans, worth over $1.8 million, to women small business owners, more than triple the number of loans granted in 1992.

Lowest Unemployment in Nearly 50 Years.The unemployment rate for women was 4.2 percent in November 1999 -- staying around the lowest level since 1953.


INVESTING IN EDUCATION:

Providing Early Education to Nearly 900,000 Children with Head Start.The President and Vice President have expanded Head Start funding by 90 percent since 1993. Head Start will reach approximately 880,000 low-income children in FY 2000 and, with the President's proposed increase for the program, will be on the way to reaching the President's goal of serving 1 million children and their families by the year 2002.The Administration also created Early Head Start, bringing Head Start's successful comprehensive services to families with children ages zero to three, and set high quality standards for both programs.

Opening the Doors of College to All Americans.President Clinton and Vice President Gore proposed and passed the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship credits, making the first two years of college universally available for 6 million students, and the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, a 20 percent credit will help more than 7 million students offset tuition costs for college or lifetime learning. The Administration expanded theWork Study Program to allow 1 million students to work their way through college, and increased the maximum Pell Grant award to $3,300 -- a 43 percent increase since 1993. This year, the President proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study, and an increase in the maximum Pell Grantto $3,500.

Protecting Title IX.. The Clinton-Gore Administration firmly supports and enforces Title IX, which has enabled young women to participate fully in high school and college athletics. When Title IX was passed more than 25 years ago, only 300,000 girls participated in high school sports. Today, well over 2 million participate.


STRENGTHENING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES:

Increasing Access to Child Care.The Clinton-Gore Administration has increased child care funding by 80 percent since 1993, helping parents to pay for the care of about 1.5 million children in FY98. And President Clinton won $182 million to improve the quality of childcare for America's working families in FY99.

Increasing Child Support Collections. President Clinton signed into law the toughest child support crackdown in history. Federal and state child support programs broke new records in child support collections -- nearly doubling the amount collected in 1992. The number of child support cases with collections rose 59 percent, from 2.8 million 1992 to 4.5 million in1998.

New Tools in the Fight Against Domestic Violence. President Clinton championed and signed into law the Violence Against Women Act, bolstering local law enforcement, prosecution, and victims' services to better address these crimes. The Clinton-Gore Administration more than quadrupled funding to domestic violence shelters and signed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act, making it a Federal crime to cross state lines intending to injure or harass another person. And theAdministration established a nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides immediate crisis intervention, counseling and referrals for those in need.

Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets. In 1999, ahead of scheduleand under budget, the Clinton-Gore Administration met its commitment to fund an additional 100,000 police officers for our communities. As a part of the COPS Program, the President announced new grants to increase community policing in high-crime and underserved neighborhoods. To help keep crime at record lows, the President won funding in the FY 2000 budget for the first installment toward his goal to hire up to 50,000 more officers by 2005.

More than 470,000 Felons, Fugitives and Domestic Abusers Denied Guns.Since the President signed the Brady Bill into law, more than 470,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers have been prevented from purchasing guns through Brady background checks.


IMPROVING OUR NATION'S HEALTH:

Enacted Single Largest Investment in Health Care for Children since1965.The $24 billion Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will provide health care coverage for up to five million children. Two million children have already been enrolled, and in October 1999 President Clinton announced new outreach initiatives to enroll millions more uninsured, eligible children.

Promoting Reproductive Health. The Clinton-Gore Administration has taken strong steps to protect a woman's right to choose and to promote safe reproductive health services for women. The President signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act; provided contraceptive coverage to more than a million women covered by federal health plans; provided family planning services to low income women through the Medicaid program; stood up against attempts to prohibit the FDA from approving RU-486; and continues to fight restrictions on international family planning.

Expanding Family Planning Services. This year, the President's budget includes a $274 million investment -- a 15% increase -- to prevent unintended pregnancy and ensure access to safe, high quality family planning services. This investment will help fund clinics and community-based health services that reach more than 5 million women and families.

Signed Legislation to End Drive-Through Deliveries. President Clinton signed into law common sense legislation that requires health plans to allow new mothers to remain in the hospital for at least 48 hours following most normal deliveries and 96 hours after a Cesarean section.

Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research. Since 1993, funding for breast cancer research, prevention and treatment has doubled, from $283 million in FY93 to $550 million in FY98 (Health and Human Services'discretionary funding). Proposed new funding to learn more about environmental causes of diseases like breast and prostate cancer.

Expanding Coverage to Uninsured Americans. The President has proposes a10-year, $110 billion initiative that would dramatically improve the affordability of and access to health insurance. The proposal would expand coverage to at least 5 million uninsured Americans and expand access to millions more. If enacted, these policies would be the largest expansion of coverage since Medicare was created in 1965.

Strengthening and Modernizing Medicare. Nearly 60 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are women and this proportion rises with age - over 4 in 5 people over age 100 are women. The President has proposed a comprehensive plan to reform and modernize Medicare by making the program more efficient and competitive, extending the solvency of the Health Insurance trust fund, and modernizing benefits -- including adding a long overdue, voluntary prescription drug benefit.


WOMEN AS PARTNERS IN DECISION MAKING:

Appointed More Women Than Any Other President. Women make up 44 percent of Clinton Administration appointees, and 29 percent of the positions requiring Senate confirmation are held by women. Additionally, 30 percent of the President's judicial nominees are women, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.


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Supporting Women and Families