Kentucky

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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Kentucky PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Kentucky

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Unemployment Down to 3.9%: The unemployment rate in Kentucky has declined from 6.3% to 3.9% since 1993.

307,100 New Jobs: 307,100 new jobs have been created in Kentucky since 1993 -- an average of 39,204 per year, compared to average of 30,575 jobs each year during the previous administration.

273,000 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 273,000 new private sector jobs have been created—an average of 34,851 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 22,850 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.

24,500 New Manufacturing Jobs: 24,500 manufacturing jobs have been created in Kentucky since 1993 -- an average of 3,128 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of only 1,900 manufacturing jobs were created each year during the previous administration.

19,000 New Construction Jobs: 19,000 construction jobs have been created in Kentucky since 1993 -- an average of 2,452 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of only 950 construction jobs were created each year during the previous administration.

160,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 91,000 Kentucky workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 69,000 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.

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 Kentucky, the poverty rate has fallen from 20.4% in 1993 to 12.8% 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 423,000 families in Kentucky.

Business Failures Down 22.6%: Business failures have dropped 22.6% per year since 1993, after increasing 11.7% per year during the previous 12 years [Oct 98 data].

Homeownership Has Increased in Kentucky: Homeownership in Kentucky has increased from 69.0% to 73.9% since 1993.

Home Building Up 2.6%: Home building in Kentucky has increased by an average of 2.6% per year since 1993, after increasing only 2.4% per year during the previous administration.

Kentucky'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 Kentucky 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.

1.9% Growth in Commercial and Industrial Loans and Leases: Since 1993, Kentucky has experienced a 1.9% annual growth rate in commercial and industrial loans and leases. In contrast, commercial and industrial loans and leases fell by an annual average of 6.9% during the previous administration.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION

Over 15,200 Children in Head Start: 15,281 Kentucky children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Kentucky will receive $84.9 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $39.3 million over 1993.

More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Kentucky’s Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Kentucky received $19.6 million in 1999 to hire about 505 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 Kentucky $21.3 million in 2000 and $26.5 million in 2001.

$17.5 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. Kentucky will receive $17.5 million in school renovation grants.

$6.9 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Kentucky receives $6.9 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.

$132.5 Million for Students Most in Need: Kentucky receives $132.5 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: Kentucky will receive $3.6 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.

$147 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Kentucky will receive $147 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.

Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Kentucky will receive $13.3 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Kentucky students work their way through college.

Over 1,700 Have Served in Kentucky through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 1,756 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Kentucky’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. 58,000 students in Kentucky will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 70,000 students in Kentucky will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]

Expanded Job Training to Kentucky’s Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Kentucky received $17.1 million in 1999 to help 10,150 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Kentucky will receive $11.4 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

Violent Crime Falls 38% in Kentucky: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, Kentucky’s violent crime has fallen 38%.

Juvenile Arrests Down in Kentucky: Kentucky’s juvenile crime arrests have decreased 63% between 1992 and 1997, (as measured by the crime index). [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]

1,248 More Police: The President’s 1994 Crime Bill has funded 1,248 new police officers to date in communities across Kentucky. [through 1/01]

Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Kentucky, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Bowling Green. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of Kentucky communities including: Covington, Elizabethtown, Newport, Owensboro, Paris, Shelbyville, Louisville, Frankfurt, Fulton, Hickman and Winchester. 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.

$24 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Kentucky has received approximately $24 million in federal funds to establish more women’s shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims’ services. And in October 1999, the University of Louisville was awarded nearly $500,000 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]

Nearly $850,000 in Grants for Battered Women: In FY99, Kentucky received nearly $850,000 in HHS’s Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

$6.2 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Kentucky’s Schools: Kentucky receives $6.2 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING KENTUCKY RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

134,435 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 134,435 fewer people on welfare in Kentucky now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 59% decrease. [through 6/99]

Child Support Collections Up 99%: Child support collections have increased by $93 million—or 99% -- in Kentucky since FY92. [through FY98]

Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Kentucky: 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 13.5% in Kentucky.

$41 Million for Kentucky Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Kentucky received a total of $33.2 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Kentucky welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, $7.8 million in competitive grants were awarded to Kentucky 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. Kentucky received $1.033 million this year to fund an innovative transit project.

INVESTING IN KENTUCKY’S HEALTH

Health Care for Over 18,500 Uninsured Kentucky 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 18,579 in Kentucky. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]

Helping Nearly 122,000 Kentucky 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, Kentucky received $64.8 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 121,847 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 7,600 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 Kentucky in 1998, 94% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 92% received the vaccine for polio; 92% 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, Kentucky will receive over $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, Kansas will receive over $2.6 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 50% in Kentucky: The Clinton Administration’s tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 50% in Kentucky by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 62,700 of Kentucky’s youth will be kept from smoking and 20,100 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]

1,730,000 Americans in Kentucky Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Kentucky enacted all the protections in the Patients’ Bill of Rights, 1,730,000 people in Kentucky 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, 860,000 Kentucky 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

11 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed 11 Superfund toxic waste cleanups in Kentucky. The sites are located in Calvert City (2), Auburn, Dayhoit, Island, Sheperdsville, Olaton, West Point, Mayfield, Howe Valley and Brooks. This is nearly three times the number of sites cleaned up in Kentucky during the previous twelve years combined. [through 3/1/00]

$11.8 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Kentucky will receive $11.8 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.

Revitalizing Brownfields in Louisville: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration’s efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to Louisville, Kentucky 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.

SPEARHEADING RURAL RENEWAL EFFORTS

Revitalizing Kentucky’s Communities: The Kentucky Highlands were designated a Rural Empowerment Zone in December, 1994 and were awarded $40 million to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for area residents. In addition, Louisville was designated an Enterprise Community and was awarded $3 million for similar efforts. McCreary was also designated an Enterprise Community and was awarded $1.6 million. In 1999, Louisville was designated a Strategic Planning Community and Bowling Green was named a Rural Enterprise Community.

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 2,700 To 3,200 New Affordable Housing Units in Kentucky 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 Kentucky alone, this proposal would mean an additional 2,700 - 3,200 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

$208.7 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Kentucky has received $208.7 million in disaster relief. This includes $27 million in assistance for victims of severe winter storms, severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in 1998. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

Over $1.2 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Kentucky has received over $1.2 billion in federal highway aid, including $5 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters. These funds have helped generate 54,197 jobs. [through FY99]

Over $294.3 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Kentucky received over $294.3 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.