|
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Idaho
EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
- Unemployment Down to 4.9%:
The unemployment rate in Idaho declined from 6.5% to 4.9% since 1993.
- 139,900 New Jobs:
139,900 new jobs have been created in Idaho since 1993 -- an average of 17,860 per year.
- 120,600 New Private Sector Jobs:
Since 1993, 120,600 new private sector jobs have been created in Idaho—an average of 15,396 jobs per year.
- 15,000 New Construction Jobs:
15,000 construction jobs have been created in Idaho since 1993 -- an average of 1,935 jobs per year. In contrast, only 8,300 construction jobs were created during the previous administration.
- 59,000 Have Received a Raise:
Approximately 22,000 Idaho workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 37,000 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.
- 251,300 Protected By Family & Medical Leave:
Approximately 251,300 Idaho workers are covered by the Family & Medical Leave Law, which allows workers to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a new baby or ailing relative. [1995 data]
- 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 116,000 families in Idaho.
- Idaho'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 Idaho 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.
EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
- Over 2,200 Children in Head Start:
2,266 Idaho children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Idaho will receive $16 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $7.4 million over 1993.
- More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Idaho's Schools:
Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Idaho 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 Idaho $6.1 million in 2000 and $7.6 million in 2001.
- $5.5 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. Idaho will receive $5.5 million in school renovation grants.
- Over $2.2 Million for Technology Literacy:
This year [FY01], Idaho 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.
- $25.4 Million for Students Most in Need:
Idaho will receive $25.4 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:
Idaho will receive $689,887 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.
- $50.9 Million in Pell Grants:
This year [FY01], Idaho will receive $50.9 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
- Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College:
Idaho will receive $2.9 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Idaho students work their way through college.
- Over 600 Have Served in Idaho through AmeriCorps:
Since the National Service program began in 1993, 606 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Idaho'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. 23,000 students in Idaho will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 28,000 students in Idaho will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
- Expanded Job Training to Idaho's Dislocated Workers:
President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Idaho received $4.4 million in 1999 to help 2,600 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Idaho will receive over $6 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.
FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE
- Violent Crime Falls in Boise:
Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, murder has fallen 20% in Boise, with a 25% drop in rape and 8% drop in robbery. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
- Juvenile Arrests Down in Idaho:
Idaho's juvenile violent crime arrests have decreased 12% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
- 306 More Police:
The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 306 new police officers to date in communities across Idaho. [through 1/01]
- Reducing Crime with Drug Courts:
Working to reduce drug-related crime in Idaho, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Fort Hall. The Administration had previously awarded a grant to the Idaho community of Boise. 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.
- $13 Million to Combat Domestic Violence:
Through the Violence Against Women Act, Idaho has received approximately $13 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. And in October 1999, Idaho State University was awarded over $280,000 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]
- $400,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children:
In FY99, Idaho 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 Idaho's Schools:
Idaho receives $2.1 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.
MOVING IDAHO RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK
- 16,751 Fewer People on Welfare:
There are 16,751 fewer people on welfare in Idaho now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 79% decrease. [through 6/99]
- Child Support Collections Up 93%:
Child support collections have increased by $26 million—or 93% -- in Idaho since FY92. [through FY98]
- Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Idaho:
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 19.7% in Idaho.
INVESTING IN IDAHO'S HEALTH
- Health Care for Nearly 8,500 Uninsured Idaho 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 8,482 in Idaho. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
- Helping Over 31,500 Idaho 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, Idaho received $17.6 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 31,543 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 Idaho in 1998, 91% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 91% received the vaccine for polio; 91% 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, Idaho will receive $278,034 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, Idaho will receive $359,828 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 41% in Idaho:
The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 41% in Idaho by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 14,600 of Idaho's youth will be kept from smoking and 4,700 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
- 500,000 Americans in Idaho Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections:
Even if Idaho enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 500,000 people in Idaho 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, 240,000 Idaho 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.
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
- $7.7 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding:
This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Idaho 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.
- 3 Superfund Clean-up Sites:
Since 1993, the EPA has completed three toxic waste site cleanups in Idaho -- two sites in Pocatello and one in Mountain Home. Only one site was cleaned up during the previous two administrations.
- Revitalizing Brownfields in the Panhandle Health District:
As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to the Panhandle Health District in Idaho 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.
PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF
- $63.3 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance:
Since 1993, Idaho has received $63.3 million in disaster relief. This includes $36.6 million in assistance in disaster assistance in response to severe storms, flooding, land and mud slides in 1997. [FEMA, 2/29/00]
EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
- Over $550 Million in Federal Highway Aid:
Since 1993, Idaho has received over $550 million in federal highway aid, including $62.9 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $1.6 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 22,634 jobs. [through FY99]
- Over $89.3 Million in Aviation Funds:
From FY93-FY99 Idaho received over $89.3 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 $34.1 Million in Transit Funds:
Since 1993, Idaho received over $34.1 million in Federal Transit Funding.
January 2001
|
