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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Hawaii
EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
- 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 111,000 families in Hawaii.
- 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 Hawaii, the poverty rate has fallen to 10.9% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
- Hawaii'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 Hawaii 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.
- Homeownership Has Increased in Hawaii:
Homeownership in Hawaii increased from 53.2% to 56.6% since 1993.
EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
- Nearly 2,800 Children in Head Start:
2,799 Hawaii children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Hawaii will receive $17.4 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $7.5 million over 1993.
- More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Hawaii's Schools:
Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Hawaii 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 Hawaii $6.1 million in 2000 and $7.6 million in 2001.
- Turning Around Failing Schools:
Hawaii will receive $5.5 million in Title I Accountability Grants. 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.
- Over $2.2 Million for Technology Literacy:
This year [FY01], Hawaii receives $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 21st century.
- $22 Million for Students Most in Need:
Hawaii will receive $22 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:
Hawaii will receive $598,268 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.
- $25.6 Million in Pell Grants:
This year [FY01], Hawaii will receive $25.6 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
- Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College:
Hawaii will receive nearly $2.4 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Hawaii students work their way through college.
- Over 600 Have Served in Hawaii through AmeriCorps:
Since the National Service program began in 1993, 610 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Hawaii'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. 26,000 students in Hawaii will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 32,000 students in Hawaii will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
- Expanded Job Training to Hawaii's Dislocated Workers:
President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Hawaii received $7.4 million in 1999 to help 4,390 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Hawaii will receive nearly $13 million to provide job training for dislocated workers.
FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE
- Juvenile Arrests Down in Hawaii:
Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Hawaii's juvenile murder arrests have decreased 100% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
- 471 More Police:
The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 471 new police officers to date in communities across Hawaii. [through 1/01]
- Reducing Crime with Drug Courts:
Working to reduce drug-related crime in Hawaii, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Honolulu. 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.
- $11.08 Million to Combat Domestic Violence:
Through the Violence Against Women Act, Hawaii has received approximately $11.08 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, Hawaii 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 Hawaii's Schools:
Hawaii receives $2.1 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.
MOVING HAWAII RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK
- 10,282 Fewer People on Welfare:
There are 10,282 fewer people on welfare in Hawaii now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 19% decrease. [through 6/99]
- Child Support Collections Up 75%:
Child support collections have increased by $26 million—or 75% -- in Hawaii since FY92. [through FY98]
- Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Hawaii:
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. Nationally, teen births have fallen seven years in a row, by 18 percent from 1991 to 1998 -- the lowest level since 1987. And between 1991 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 25.4% in Hawaii.
- $17.3 Million for Hawaii Welfare-to-Work:
In 1998 and 1999, Hawaii received a total of $9.8 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Hawaii welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $7.5 million in competitive grants were awarded to Hawaii 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.
INVESTING IN HAWAII'S HEALTH
- Helping Over 34,000 Hawaii 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, Hawaii received $27.7 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 34,205 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 9,200 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 Hawaii in 1998, 93% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 92% received the vaccine for polio; 95% received the vaccine for measles, and 93% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
- Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs:
In FY 2000, Hawaii will receive nearly $1.2 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, Hawaii will receive over $1.5 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 39% in Hawaii:
The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 39% in Hawaii by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 11,700 of Hawaii's youth will be kept from smoking and 3,700 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
- 500,000 Americans in Hawaii Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections:
Even if Hawaii enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 500,000 people in Hawaii 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, 250,000 Hawaii 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.
CARING FOR OUR VETERANS
- Invested More Than $212 Million in Hawaii's Veterans:
President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for Hawaii's 116,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested more than $212 million in Hawaii in 1999 alone. In 1999, 13,771 Hawaii veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, more than 2,779 went to college on the GI Bill, and 935 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.
- Providing Health Care for Hawaii'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 1999, 10,181 veterans received health care in Hawaii's VA facilities.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
- Superfund Clean-Up Site in Wahiawa:
Since 1993, the EPA has completed a Superfund toxic waste cleanup in Wahiawa, Hawaii. Not one site was cleaned up during the previous two administrations. [through 3/1/00]
- $7.7 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding:
This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Hawaii 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.
SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS
- Revitalizing Hawaii's Communities:
Helping to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for Hawaii's residents, Kaunakakai has been designated a Rural Enterprise Community.
PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF
- $7.4 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance:
Since 1993, Hawaii has received $7.4 million in disaster relief. This includes $504,000 in assistance to those suffering from fires in 1998. [FEMA, 2/29/00]
EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
- Over $750 Million in Federal Highway Aid:
Since 1993, Hawaii has received over $750 million in federal highway aid, including $4.4 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $200,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 30,118 jobs. [through FY99]
- Over $139.4 Million in Airport Improvement Program Funds:
From FY93-FY99 Hawaii received over $139.4 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.
- Over $178.4 Million in Transit Funds:
Since 1993, Hawaii has received over $178.4 million in Federal Transit Funding.
- Saving Lives and Property:
In 1999, the United States Coast Guard saved 55 lives and over $4.7 million of property in Hawaii.
January 2001
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