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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Iowa

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• Unemployment Down to 2.5%: The unemployment rate in Iowa has declined from 4.2% to 2.5% since 1993.
• 238,800 New Jobs: 238,800 new jobs have been created in Iowa since 1993 -- an average of 30,485 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 20,025 jobs per year during the previous administration.
• 216,900 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 216,900 new private sector jobs have been created in Iowa—an average of 27,689 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 17,825 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 29,400 New Manufacturing Jobs: 29,400 manufacturing jobs have been created in Iowa since 1993 -- an average of 3,753 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of only 425 manufacturing jobs were created each year during the previous administration.
• 21,600 New Construction Jobs: 21,600 construction jobs have been created in Iowa since 1993 -- an average of 2,787 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of only 1,800 construction jobs were created each year during the previous administration.
• 64,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 6,000 Iowa workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- October 1, 1996. They, along with about 58,000 more, received an additional raise—from $4.75 to $5.15 -- on Sept. 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.
• Business Failures Down 18.6% Per Year: Business failures in Iowa have dropped an average of 18.6% per year since 1993, after increasing 18% per year during the previous 12 years [Oct. 98 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 312,000 families in Iowa.
• 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 Iowa, the poverty rate has fallen to 8.3% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
• Homeownership Has Increased in Iowa: Homeownership in Iowa has increased from 68.6% to 73.9% since 1993.
• Iowa'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 Iowa 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.
• 4.5% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, Iowa has experienced a 4.5% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell by an annual average of 0.7% during the previous administration.

• Over 7,000 Children in Head Start: 7,010 Iowa children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Iowa will receive $39.7 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $19.5 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Iowa's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Iowa received $9.4 million in 1999 to hire about 243 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 Iowa $10.2 million in 2000 and $12.8 million in 2001.
• $7.3 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. Iowa will receive $7.3 million in school renovation grants.
• $2.6 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Iowa receives $2.6 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.
• $55.1 Million for Students Most in Need: Iowa will receive $55.1 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: Iowa will receive $1.5 million 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.
• $100.5 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Iowa will receive $100.5 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Iowa will receive $13.4 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Iowa students work their way through college.
• Over 1,000 Have Served in Iowa through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 1,023 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Iowa'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. 67,000 students in Iowa will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 82,000 students in Iowa will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Iowa's Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Iowa received $5.4 million in 1999 to help 3,200 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Iowa will receive nearly $5 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

• 683 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 683 new police officers to date in communities across Iowa. [through 1/01]
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Iowa, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Des Moines. The Administration had previously awarded a grant to the Iowa community of Council Bluffs. 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.
• $16.4 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Iowa has received approximately $16.4 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. [through 9/2000]
• Over $624,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Iowa received over $624,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $3.4 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Iowa's Schools: Iowa receives $3.4 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

• 43,587 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 43,587 fewer people on welfare in Iowa now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 43% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 94%: Child support collections have increased by $90 million—or 94% -- in Iowa since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Iowa: 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 16.2% in Iowa.
• $26.3 Million for Iowa Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Iowa received a total of $16.1 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $8.1 million in funding), helping Iowa welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, $2.1 million in competitive grants were awarded to Iowa 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. Des Moines, Waterloo, Sioux City, and Cedar Rapids have received a total of $996,800 this year to fund innovative transit projects.

• Health Care for Nearly 10,000 Uninsured Iowa 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 9,795 in Iowa. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
• Helping Over 64,000 Iowa 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, Iowa received $34.4 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 64,182 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 6,000 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 Iowa in 1998, 95% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 92% received the vaccine for polio; 92% received the vaccine for measles, and 94% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Iowa will receive $696,217 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, Iowa will receive $901,037 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 40% in Iowa: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 40% in Iowa by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 31,500 of Iowa's youth will be kept from smoking and 10,100 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
• 1,420,000 Americans in Iowa Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Iowa enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 1,420,000 people in Iowa 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, 700,000 Iowa 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 $408 Million in Iowa's Veterans: President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for Iowa's 291,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested nearly $408 million in Iowa in 1999 alone. In 1999, 26,938 Iowa veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, more than 3,292 went to college on the GI Bill, and 2,618 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.
• Providing Health Care for Iowa'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 Iowa, the VA operates major health-care facilities in Iowa City, Des Moines and Knoxville, and seven community-based outpatient clinics in Bettendorf, Waterloo, Dubuque, Quincy, Mason City, Fort Dodge and Galesburg, Ill. In 1999, 33,786 veterans received health care in Iowa's VA facilities.

• 8 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed 8 Superfund toxic waste cleanups in Iowa. The sites are located in Des Moines, Hospers, West Point, Fairfield, Mason City, Maurice, Kellogg, and Charles City. This is double the number of sites cleaned up during the previous two administrations combined. [through 3/1/00]
• $12.2 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Iowa will receive $12.2 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 Iowa: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to the Iowa communities of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Coralville 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 Iowa's Communities: Des Moines was designated an Enterprise Community in December, 1994 and was awarded $3 million to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for city residents.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,700 To 2,000 New Affordable Housing Units in Iowa 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 Iowa alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,700 - 2,000 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

• $359.1 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Iowa has received $359.1 million in disaster relief. This includes $41.3 million in assistance to those suffering from severe storms, flooding and tornadoes in 1999. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

• Over $1.2 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Iowa has received over $1.2 billion in federal highway aid, including $31.2 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $300,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 52,767 jobs. [through FY99]
• Over $135.1 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Iowa received over $135.1 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 $146.5 Million in Transit Funds: Iowa has received over $146.5 million in Federal Transit funds since 1993.
• Saving Lives and Property: In 1999, the United States Coast Guard saved 110 lives and $600,000 of property in Iowa.

January 2001

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