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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Washington

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• Unemployment Down to 5.0%: The unemployment rate in Washington has declined from 8.3% to 5.0% since 1993.
• 482,100 New Jobs: 482,100 new jobs have been created in Washington since 1993 -- an average of 61,545 jobs per year.
• 428,600 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 428,600 private sector jobs have been created—an average of 54,715 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 45,600 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 4,800 New Manufacturing Jobs: 4,800 new manufacturing jobs have been created in Washington since 1993 -- an average of 613 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 1,500 jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• 50,000 New Construction Jobs: Since 1993, 50,000 new construction jobs have been created in Washington, an average of 6,452 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 3,650 new construction jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 61,000 to Receive a Raise: 61,000 Washington workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—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 Washington, the poverty rate has fallen from 12.1% in 1993 to 9.2% in 1999. [Census Bureau]
• Home Building Up .4%: Home building in Washington has increased by an average of .4% per year since 1993, after falling by over 3.1% per year during the previous administration.
• 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 586,000 families in Washington.
• Washington'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 Washington 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.

• Nearly 9,900 Children in Head Start: 9,896 Washington children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Washington will receive $78 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $40.1 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Washington's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Washington received $19.6 million in 1999 to hire about 504 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 Washington $21.2 million in 2000 and $26.5 million in 2001.

• $14.9 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. Washington will receive $14.9 million in school renovation grants.

• $5.6 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Washington receives $5.6 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.
• $112.4 Million for Students Most in Need: Washington receives $112.4 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: Washington will receive over $3 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.
• $155.9 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Washington will receive $155.9 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Washington will receive $17.8 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Washington students work their way through college.
• Over 7,700 Have Served in Washington through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 7,747 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Washington'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. 109,000 students in Washington will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 133,000 students in Washington will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Washington's Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Washington received $25.7 million in 1999 to help 15,240 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Washington will receive over $28.2 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

• Violent Crime Has Fallen 10%: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, violent crime in Washington has fallen 10% statewide. In Seattle, between 1992 and 1997, serious crime, as indicated by the crime index, has fallen 13%, with an 18% decrease in the murder rate and a 19% drop in robbery. In addition, murders and rapes have both declined 32% and 43% respectively in Tacoma. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]
• Juvenile Arrests Down in Washington: Washington's juvenile violent crime arrests have decreased 18% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
• 1,783 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 1,783 new police officers to date in communities across Washington. [through 1/01]
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Washington, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of Olympia and Port Angeles. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of Washington communities including: Clallam, Mt. Vernon, Macaw, Bellingham, Everett, Neah Bay, Port Orchard, Spokane, Tacoma and Yakima. 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.
• $39.6 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Washington has received approximately $39.6 million in federal funds to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. And in October 1999, Western Washington University was awarded nearly $500,000 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]
• Over $1.2 Million in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Washington received over $1.2 million in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• $7.1 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Washington's Schools: Washington receives $7.1 million in FY01 for the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

• 121,935 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 121,935 fewer people on welfare in Washington now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 43% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 77%: Child support collections have increased by $207 million—or 77% -- in Washington since FY92. [through FY98]
• Encouraging Responsible Decisions—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Washington: 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 20.9% in Washington.
• $56.6 Million for Washington Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Washington received a total of $43.8 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Washington welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $12.8 million in competitive grants were awarded to Washington localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies and Native American tribes in Washington received $926,000 in Federal funding. 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. Seattle has received a total of $1.9 million this year to fund an innovative transit project.

• Helping Over 141,000 Washington 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, Washington received $82.7 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 141,239 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 41,000 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 Washington in 1998, 94% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 92% received the vaccine for polio; 90% received the vaccine for measles, and 95% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Washington will receive over $3 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, Washington will receive $6 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 30% in Washington: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 30% in Washington by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 48,300 of Washington's youth will be kept from smoking and 15,500 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]
• 2,550,000 Americans in Washington Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Washington enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 2,550,000 people in Washington 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, 1,240,000 Washington 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 Over $1 Billion in Washington's Veterans: President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for Washington's 631,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested over $1 billion in Washington in 1999 alone. In 1999, 86,836 Washington veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, nearly 8,173 went to college on the GI Bill, and 19,753 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.

• Providing Health Care for Washington'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, 59,807 veterans received health care in Washington's VA facilities.

• $20.8 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Washington will receive $20.8 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.
• 28 Superfund Sites Cleaned Up: Since the President took office in 1993, the EPA has completed 28 toxic waste site clean-ups in Washington. This is more than four and a half times the number of sites cleaned up during the previous two administrations combined. [through 3/1/00]
• Brownfields—Revitalizing Communities in Washington: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to communities in Washington—King County/Seattle, Bellingham, Puyallup Tribe of Tacoma, Duwamish Coalition, Tacoma, Everett and Port of Seattle—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.
• Protecting the Habitat of Endangered Salmon: Washington is receiving $199 million from the USDA's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), as well as $42 million from State and non-Federal sources, to protect streams that are home to endangered species of salmon. Up to 100,000 acres of environmentally-sensitive land along 3,000 miles of salmon streams will be restored. 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 Washington's Communities: Lower Yakima, Tacoma and Seattle were all designated Enterprise Communities in December 1994 and were awarded $3 million each to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for area residents. In 1999, Tacoma/Lakewood was designated a Strategic Planning Community and Collie was named a Rural Enterprise Community.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 2,300 To 2,800 New Affordable Housing Units in Washington 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 Washington alone, this proposal would mean an additional 2,300 - 2,800 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

• $332.2 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Washington has received $332.2 million in disaster relief. This includes $107 million in assistance to recover from severe floods that occurred in January of 1996, and $30 million in assistance to recover from severe floods that occurred in 1997. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

• Over $1.7 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Washington has received over $1.7 billion in federal highway aid, including $203.2 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $3.9 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 72,292 jobs. [through FY99]
• Over $249.1 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Washington received over $249.1 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 $606.4 Million in Transit Funds: Washington has received over $606.4 million in Federal Transit Administration funds since 1993.
• Saving Lives and Property: In 1999 the United States Coast Guard saved 134 lives and over $210.6 million of property in Washington.

January 2001

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