Oregon

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

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Oregon

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Unemployment Down to 4.2%: The unemployment rate in Oregon has declined from 8.1% to 4.2% since 1993.

319,400 New Jobs: 319,400 new jobs have been created in Oregon since 1993 -- an average of 40,774 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 23,200 jobs per year under the previous administration.

288,800 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 288,800 new private sector jobs have been created—an average of 36,868 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 18,550 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.

31,300 New Manufacturing Jobs: 31,300 manufacturing jobs have been created in Oregon since 1993 -- an average of 3,996 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 1,850 manufacturing jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.

39,900 New Construction Jobs: 39,900 construction jobs have been created in Oregon since 1993 -- an average of 5,148 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of just 1,525 construction jobs were created each year during the previous administration.

107,000 Have Received a Raise: 107,000 Oregon workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have called on Congress to raise the minimum wage by an additional $1.00 over two years.

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 340,000 families in Oregon.

Oregon’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 Oregon 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 5,400 Children in Head Start: 5,480 Oregon children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Oregon will receive $45.3 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $23.7 million over 1993.

More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Oregon’s Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Oregon received $11.5 million in 1999 to hire about 297 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 Oklahoma $12.5 million in 2000 and $15.6 million in 2001.

$9.4 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. Oregon will receive $9.4 million in school renovation grants.

$3.6 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], Oregon receives $3.6 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.

$71.8 Million for Students Most in Need: Oregon receives $71.8 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: Oregon will receive $1.9 million in Title I Accountability Grants. 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.

$86.6 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], Oregon will receive $86.6 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.

Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: Oregon will receive $13.4 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help Oregon students work their way through college.

Over 2,300 Have Served in Oregon through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 2,352 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Oregon’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. 82,000 students in Oregon will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 101,000 students in Oregon will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]

Expanded Job Training to Oregon’s Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. Oregon received $15.7 million in 1999 to help 9,310 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, Oregon will receive over $30.4 million to provide job training services to dislocated workers.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

Violent Crime Has Fallen 5%: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, violent crime in Oregon has fallen by 5%. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Reports]

Juvenile Arrests Down in Oregon: Oregon’s juvenile arrests have decreased 18% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]

1,270 More Police: The President’s 1994 Crime Bill has funded 1,270 new police officers to date in communities across Oregon. [through 1/01]

Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Oregon, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Prineville. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of Oregon communities including: Grants Pass, Portland, Roseburg, Unatilla, Eugene and Oregon 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.

$26.4 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Oregon has received approximately $26.4 million in federal funds to establish more women’s shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims’ services. [through 9/2000]

Over $700,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Oregon received over $700,000 in HHS’s Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

$4.2 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Oregon’s Schools: Oregon receives $4.2 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING OREGON RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

73,091 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 73,091 fewer people on welfare in Oregon now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 62% decrease. [through 6/99]

Child Support Collections Up 95%: Child support collections have increased by $102 million—or 95% -- in Oregon since FY92. [through FY98]

Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Oregon: 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 14.6% in Oregon.

Nearly $17 Million for Oregon Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, Oregon received a total of $16.7 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping Oregon welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, Native American tribes in Oregon received $181,000 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. Portland and Salem have received a total of $1.2 million this year to fund innovative transit projects.

INVESTING IN OREGON’S HEALTH

Health Care for Over 27,200 Uninsured Oregon 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 27,285 in Oregon. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]

Helping 93,500 Oregon 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, Oregon received $49.1 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 93,500 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 18,800 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 Oregon in 1998, 88% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 86% received the vaccine for polio; 90% received the vaccine for measles, and 92% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.

Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Oregon will receive over $1.6 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, Oregon will receive over $3.1 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 44% in Oregon: The Clinton Administration’s tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 44% in Oregon by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 19,400 of Oregon’s youth will be kept from smoking and 12,700 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]

1,520,000 Americans in Oregon Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Oregon enacted all the protections in the Patients’ Bill of Rights, 1,520,000 people in Oregon 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, 750,000 Oregon 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

$11.5 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Oregon will receive $11.5 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.

Three Superfund Sites Cleaned Up: Since the President took office in 1993, the EPA has completed three toxic waste site clean-ups in Portland, Joseph, and the Dalles, Oregon. Only one site was cleaned up in the previous 12 years combined. [through 3/1/00]

Revitalizing Brownfields Projects in Oregon: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration’s efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to Oregon communities Portland and Oregon Mills, as well as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District 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 Oregon's Waterways: Oregon is receiving $200 million from the USDA's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), as well as $50 million from State and non-Federal sources, to protect Oregon streams that are home to endangered species of salmon and trout. Up to 100,000 acres of environmentally-sensitive land along 4,000 miles of salmon and trout streams will be restored, protecting the habitats of eight different endangered salmon species and two endangered trout species. 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.

SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS

Revitalizing Oregon’s Communities: Portland and Josephine County were designated Enterprise Communities in December 1994 and were awarded $3 million each to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for area residents.

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,400 To 1,700 New Affordable Housing Units in Oregon 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 Oregon alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,400 - 1,700 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

$141.5 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Oregon has received $141.5 million in disaster relief. This includes $2 million in assistance for flooding in 1998, and $84 million to recover from severe flooding that occurred in February of 1996. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

$1.2 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Oregon has received $1.2 billion in federal highway aid, including $115.7 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $100,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 48,810 jobs. [through FY99]

Over $114.4 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 Oregon received over $114.4 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 $930.2 Million in Transit Funds: The Federal Transit Administration has provided over $930.2 million since 1993 to support mass transportation in Oregon.