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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Alaska

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• Unemployment Down to 6.0%: The unemployment rate in Alaska has declined from 8.0% to 6.0% since 1993.
• 32,500 New Private Sector Jobs: 32,500 new private sector jobs have been created in Alaska since 1993 -- an average of 4,149 jobs per year.
• 9,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 7,000 Alaska workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 2,000 more received an additional raise—from $4.75 to $5.15 -- 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.
• 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 87,000 families in Alaska.
• Homeownership Has Increased in Alaska: Homeownership in Alaska has increased from 56% to 66.4% since 1993.
• 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 Alaska, the poverty rate fell to 8.5% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
• Alaska'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 -- an Alaskan family 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.
• 3.4% Growth in Total Bank Loans and Leases: Alaska has seen a 3.4% average growth rate in total bank loans and leases per year since 1993. In contrast total bank loans and leases fell by an annual average of 3.9% during the previous administration.
• 1.3% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, Alaska has experienced a 1.3% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell by an annual average of 4.7% during the previous administration.

• Over 1,200 Children in Head Start: 1,281 Alaska children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Alaska will receive $9.9 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $4.5 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Alaska's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Alaska received $5.6 million in 1999 to hire about 145 new, well-prepared public school teachers and reduce class size in the early grades. President Clinton secured funding for a second and third installment of the plan, giving Alaska $6.1 million in 2000 and $7.6 million in 2001.
• Over $5.4 Million for School Repairs: President Clinton fought for and won a new initiative to repair America's schools, providing $1.2 billion in the FY 2001 budget for urgent school renovation. Alaska will receive over $5.4 million in school renovation grants.
• Over $2.2 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Alaska receives over $2.2 million 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.
• $20.8 Million for Students Most in Need: Alaska will receive $20.8 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 [FY01].
• Turning Around Failing Schools: Alaska will receive $565,878 in Title I Accountability Grants in 2001. President Clinton created the accountability fund to help turn around the worst performing schools through such measures as overhauling curriculum, improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening them as charter schools.
• $10.1 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Alaska will receive $10.1 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Alaska will receive $915,950 in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Alaska students work their way through college.
• Over 1,400 Have Served in Alaska through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 1,445 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Alaska's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 2/00]
• 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. 16,000 students in Alaska will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 20,000 students in Alaska will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Alaska's Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Alaska received $5.8 million in 1999 to help 3,430 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. And in FY 2000, Alaska will receive another $6.7 million to provide job training for dislocated workers.

• Crime Falls in Anchorage: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, serious crime has fallen 5% in Anchorage. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
• Juvenile Arrests Down in Alaska: Alaska's juvenile crime arrests have decreased 54% between 1992 and 1997, (as measured by the crime index) , with Alaska's juvenile property arrests dropping 58%. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
• 299 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 299 new police officers to date in communities across Alaska. [through 1/01]
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Alaska, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of: Anchorage, Chevak, Gambell, Juneau, and Kwethluk. 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.
• $14.2 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Alaska has received approximately $14.2 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. [through 9/2000]
• $400,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Alaska received $400,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $2.1 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Alaska's Schools: Alaska receives $2.1 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

• 9,558 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 9,558 fewer people on welfare in Alaska now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 27% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 86%: Child support collections have increased by $31 million—or 86% -- in Alaska since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Alaska: 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 31.8% in Alaska.
• Over $7 Million for Alaska Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Alaska received a total of $5.6 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants to help Alaska welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 over $1.4 million in competitive grants were awarded to Alaskan 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.

• Health Care for Over 8,000 Uninsured Alaskan 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 8,033 in Alaska. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]

• Helping 26,043 of Alaska's 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, Alaska received $18.2 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 26,043 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, over 10,000 more than in 1994. [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 Alaska in 1998, 94% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 92% received the vaccine for polio; 91% received the vaccine for measles, and 92% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Alaska will receive $280,996 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, Alaska will receive $363,662 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 47% in Alaska: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 47% in Alaska by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 12,400 of Alaska's youth will be kept from smoking and 4,000 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]

• 210,000 Americans in Alaska Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Alaska enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 210,000 people in Alaska 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, 100,000 Alaska 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.

• 3 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up in Alaska: Since March 1993, the EPA has completed 3 toxic waste site clean-ups in Alaska. Not one site was cleaned up in Alaska during the previous two administrations. [through 3/1/00]
• $7.8 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00] thanks to President Clinton, Alaska will receive $7.8 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 Ketchikan Gateway Borough: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough in Alaska—a Brownfields pilot project for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. This project is intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use.

• Revitalizing Alaska's Communities: Helping to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for Alaska's residents, in 1999 Anchorage was designated as a Strategic Planning Community and Juneau was named a Rural Enterprise Community.

• $102.3 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Alaska has received $102.3 million in disaster relief. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

• $852 Million in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Alaska has received $852 million in federal highway aid. This includes $25.3 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $3 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 35,023 jobs. [through FY99]
• Nearly $500 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Alaska received nearly $500 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. The FAA through the Airport Improvement Program has continued its efforts to improve access to Alaska's rural communities. In 1998 the FAA funded 45 new projects. Several of these projects will result in rehabilitated or new airports in rural locations that have never received Airport Improvement Program funds in the past.
• Over $42 Million in Transit Funds: Since 1993, Alaska has received over $42 million in Federal Transit Funding.
• Saving Lives and Property: In 1999, the United States Coast Guard saved 253 lives and over $26.8 million of property in Alaska.

January 2001

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