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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Missouri

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• Unemployment Down to 3.2%: The unemployment rate in Missouri has declined from 6.2% to 3.2% since 1993.
• 421,900 New Jobs: 421,900 new jobs have been created in Missouri since 1993 -- an average of 53,860 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 15,800 jobs per year under the previous administration.
• 363,200 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 363,200 new private sector jobs have been created—an average of 46,366 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 11,175 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 48,400 New Construction Jobs: 48,400 construction jobs have been created in Missouri since 1993 -- an average of 6,245 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 1,525 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• 215,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 111,000 Missouri workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 104,000 others 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.
• 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 Missouri, the poverty rate has fallen from 16.1% in 1993 to 10.7% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
• 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 523,000 families in Missouri.
• Business Failures Down 5.8%: Business failures have dropped 5.8% per year since 1993, after increasing 26.2% per year during the previous 12 years. [Oct. 98 data]
• Homeownership Has Increased in Missouri: Homeownership in Missouri has increased from 66.8% to 72.9% since 1993.
• Home Building Up 2.1%: Home building in Missouri has increased by an average of 2.1% per year since 1993, after falling by over 3.8% per year during the previous administration.
• Missouri'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 Missouri 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.
• 3.6% Growth in Total Bank Loans and Leases: Missouri has seen a 3.6% 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 0.6% during the previous administration.
• 2.8% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, Missouri has experienced a 2.8% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell by an annual average of 2.1% during the previous administration.

• Over 16,100 Children in Head Start: 16,191 Missouri children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Missouri will receive $88.3 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $41.9 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Missouri's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Missouri received $20.5 million in 1999 to hire about 529 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 Missouri $22.3 million in 2000 and $27.8 million in 2001.
• $18.5 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. Missouri will receive $18.5 million in school renovation grants.
• $7.4 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Missouri receives $7.4 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.
• $145.6 Million for Students Most in Need: Missouri receives $145.6 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: Missouri will receive $3.9 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.
• $166.5 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Missouri will receive $166.5 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Alabama will receive $19.9 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Missouri students work their way through college.
• Nearly 2,500 Have Served in Missouri through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 2,464 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Missouri'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. 124,000 students in Missouri will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 152,000 students in Missouri will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Missouri's Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Missouri received $12.8 million in 1999 to help 7,580 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Missouri will receive over $15.3 million to provide job training for dislocated workers.

• Violent Crime Falls 19% in Missouri: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, violent crime in Missouri has fallen 19% statewide. In Missouri's cities, serious crime, as indicated by the crime index, has fallen 10% in Kansas City, 2% in Springfield and 14% in St. Louis. Between 1992 and 1997, the murder rate in Kansas City has fallen 33% and 34% in Springfield. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
• 2,120 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 2,120 new police officers to date in communities across Missouri. [through 1/01]
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Missouri, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of Benton and St. Louis. The Administration had previously awarded grants to the Missouri communities of Kansas City and Jefferson City. 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.
• $22.4 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Missouri has received approximately $22.4 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. [through 9/2000]
• Nearly $1.2 million in Grants for Battered Women: In FY99, Missouri received nearly $1.2 million in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $7.8 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Missouri's Schools: Missouri receives $7.8 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

• 133,058 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 133,058 fewer people on welfare in Missouri now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 51% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 72%: Child support collections have increased by over $120 million—or 72% -- in Missouri since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Missouri: 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 20.2% in Missouri.
• $48 Million for Missouri Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Missouri received a total of $38.2 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Missouri welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In 1998 and 1999, a total of $9.8 million in competitive grants were awarded to Missouri 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. Statewide, Missouri has received $939,813 this year to fund innovative transit projects. In addition to this funding, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield have received a total of $1.56 million for these transportation projects.

• Health Care for Nearly 50,000 Uninsured Missouri 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 49,529 in Missouri. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
• Helping Nearly 126,500 Missouri 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, Missouri received $68.5 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 126,480 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 7,200 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 Missouri in 1998, 98% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 97% received the vaccine for polio; 93% received the vaccine for measles, and 97% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Missouri will receive $2.9 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, Missouri will receive over $5.9 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 45% in Missouri: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 45% in Missouri by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 78,200 of Missouri's youth will be kept from smoking and 25,000 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
• 2,360,000 Americans in Missouri Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Missouri enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 2,360,000 people in Missouri 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, 1,160,000 Missouri 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 More Than $918 Million in Missouri's Veterans: President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for Missouri's 586,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested more than $918 million in Missouri in 1999 alone. In 1999, 63,021 Missouri veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, more than 6,583 went to college on the GI Bill, and 8,636 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.
• Providing Health Care for Missouri'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 Missouri, the VA operates major medical centers in Columbia, Kansas City, Poplar Bluff, and St. Louis. In 1999, 72,417 veterans received health care in Missouri's VA facilities.

• 12 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed 12 Superfund toxic waste cleanups in Missouri. The sites are located in Malden, Ballwin, Imperial, Moscow Mills, Times Beach, Cape Girardeau, Liberty, Springfield, Sikeston, Republic, Verona, and Amazonia. This is six times the number of sites cleaned up during the previous twelve years combined. [through 3/1/00]
• $10.4 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Missouri will receive $10.4 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 Missouri: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to communities in Missouri—Kansas City, St. Louis, Wellston, and Bonne Terre—for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. These projects are intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use.
• Improving Missouri's Drinking Water: Missouri is receiving $66 million through the USDA's Conservation Resource Enhancement Program (CREP), as well as $17 million from State and non-federal sources, to reduce the amount of nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants from farms that enter the streams and reservoirs that supply water to more than 375,000 people. CREP is a new voluntary initiative where the Agriculture Department partners with State governments and local interests to address local environmental problems related to agriculture.

• Revitalizing Missouri's Communities: The Greater Kansas City area was designated an Enterprise Community in December 1994, and was awarded $3 million to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for city residents. It was later declared an Enhanced Enterprise Community and awarded an additional $25 million for similar efforts. Additionally, East Prairie and St. Louis were both designated Enterprise Communities, and were awarded $3 million each to create economic opportunity for area residents. In 1999, St. Louis was designated a New Urban Empowerment Zone and Kansas City was named a Strategic Planning Community.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 3,900 To 4,700 New Affordable Housing Units in Missouri 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 Missouri alone, this proposal would mean an additional 3,900 - 4,700 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

• $343.6 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Missouri has received $343.6 million in disaster relief. This includes $2.6 million in response to severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in 1999. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

• Over $2.1 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Missouri has received over $2.1 billion in federal highway aid, including $85 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters. These funds have helped generate 91,394 jobs. [through FY99]
• Nearly $270.2 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Missouri received nearly $270.2 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 $551.1 Million in Transit Funds: Missouri has received over $551.1 million in Federal Transit funds since 1993.

January 2001

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