South Carolina

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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: South Carolina PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: South Carolina

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Unemployment Down to 4.2%: The unemployment rate in South Carolina declined from 7% to 2.8% since 1993.

346,400 New Jobs: 346,400 new jobs have been created in South Carolina since 1993 --an average of 44,221 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 16,650 jobs per year during the previous administration.

315,900 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 315,900 new private sector jobs have been created in South Carolina—an average of 40,328 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 9,775 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.

41,500 New Construction Jobs: 41,500 construction jobs have been created in South Carolina since 1993 -- an average of 5,355 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 3,125 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.

Business Failures Down 3.5% Per Year: Business failures in South Carolina have dropped an average of 3.5% per year since 1993, after increasing 25.1% per year during the previous 12 years. [Oct 98 data]

145,000 Have Received a Raise: 56,000 South Carolina workers benefited from the increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 89,000 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 South Carolina, the poverty rate has fallen from 18.7% in 1993 to 12.7% 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 402,000 families in South Carolina.

Homeownership Has Increased in South Carolina: Homeownership in South Carolina has increased from 71.4% to 77.1% since 1993.

Home Building Up 6.0% Per Year: Home building in South Carolina has increased 6.0% per year since 1993, after falling by an average of 3.3% per year during the previous administration.

South Carolina'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 South Carolina 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 11,200 Children in Head Start: 11,207 South Carolina children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, South Carolina will receive $63.5 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $29.7 million over 1993.

More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for South Carolina’s Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, South Carolina received $14.5 million in 1999 to hire about 373 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 South Carolina $15.7 million in 2000 and $19.6 million in 2001.

$13.8 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. South Carolina will receive $13.8 million in school renovation grants.

$5.8 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], South Carolina receives $5.8 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.

$111.3 Million for Students Most in Need: South Carolina receives $111.3 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: South Carolina will receive $3 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.

$121.1 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], South Carolina will receive $121.1 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.

Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: South Carolina will receive $12.7million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help South Carolina students work their way through college.

Over 2,500 Have Served in South Carolina through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 2,569 AmeriCorps participants, working in 108 different programs, have earned money for college while working in South Carolina’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. 69,000 students in South Carolina will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 83,000 students in South Carolina will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]

Expanded Job Training to South Carolina’s Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. South Carolina received $17.4 million in 1999 to help 10,310 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, South Carolina will receive nearly $10 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

Crime Has Fallen in Columbia: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. In Columbia, between 1992 and 1997, murder has fallen 20%. In addition, rape and robbery have also declined 39% and 15% respectively. [92&97 UCR]

1,002 More Police: The President’s 1994 Crime Bill has funded 1,002 new police officers to date in communities across South Carolina. [through 1/01]

Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in South Carolina, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Charleston. The Administration had previously awarded grants to the South Carolina communities of Lexington and Manning. 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.

$19.4 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, South Carolina has received approximately $19.4 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 South Carolina was awarded $278,360 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]

Nearly $810,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, South Carolina received nearly $810,000 in HHS’s Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

$5.6 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of South Carolina’s Schools: South Carolina receives $5.6 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING SOUTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

110,733 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 110,733 fewer people on welfare in South Carolina now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 73% decrease. [through 6/99]

Child Support Collections Up 125%: Child support collections have increased by $86 million—or 125% -- in South Carolina since FY92. [through FY98]

Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in South Carolina: 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 15.8% in South Carolina.

$31.4 Million for South Carolina Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, South Carolina received $23.1 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $11.6 million in funding), helping South Carolina welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In 1999, $6.7 million in competitive grants were awarded to South Carolina 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, South Carolina has received a total of $1.8 million to fund innovative transit projects.

INVESTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA’S HEALTH

Health Care for Over 45,700 Uninsured Children in South Carolina: 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 45,737 in South Carolina. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]

Helping Over 111,000 South Carolina 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, South Carolina received $58.6 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 111,038 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance. [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 South Carolina in 1998, 97% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 96% received the vaccine for polio; 94% received the vaccine for measles, and 98% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.

Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, South Carolina will receive over $5.7 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, South Carolina will receive over $7.4 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 48% in South Carolina: The Clinton Administration’s tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 48% in South Carolina by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 45,600 of South Carolina’s youth will be kept from smoking and 14,600 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]

1,690,000 Americans in South Carolina Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if South Carolina enacted all the protections in the Patients’ Bill of Rights, 1,690,000 people in South Carolina 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, 840,000 South Carolina 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.

CARING FOR OUR VETERANS

Invested $822 Million in South Carolina's Veterans: President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to caring for South Carolina's 380,000 veterans. The Veterans Administration invested $822 million in South Carolina in 1999 alone. In 1999, 47,428 South Carolina veterans received disability compensation or pension payments, more than 5,300 went to college on the GI Bill, and 6,623 bought a home using VA loan guarantees.

Providing Health Care for South Carolina'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 South Carolina, the VA operates major medical centers in Charleston and Columbia, and four outpatient clinics in Savannah, Myrtle Beach, Florence and Rock Hill. In 1999, 61,000 veterans received health care in South Carolina’s VA facilities.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

$8.3 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, South Carolina will receive $8.3 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.

16 Superfund Sites Cleaned Up: Since the President took office in 1993, the EPA has completed 16 toxic waste site clean-ups in South Carolina. This is eight times the number of site clean-ups that were completed in the previous 12 years combined. [through 3/1/00]

Revitalizing Brownfields in Communities in South Carolina: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration’s efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded the South Carolina communities of Cowpens, Columbia, and Charleston pilot projects to spur 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.

SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS

Revitalizing South Carolina’s Communities: Charleston and Williamsburg 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. In 1999, Columbia/Sumter was designated a New Urban Empowerment Zone, Charleston/North Charleston was named a Strategic Planning Community, and Hallandale was declared a Rural Enterprise Community.

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 2,600 To 3,100 New Affordable Housing Units in South Carolina 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 South Carolina alone, this proposal would mean an additional 2,600 - 3,100 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

$58.2 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, South Carolina has received $58.2 million in disaster relief. This includes over $48.7 million for Hurricane Floyd in 1999; over $1 million for Hurricane Bonnie in 1998; and assistance to recover from Hurricane Fran which occurred in 1996. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

Over $1 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, South Carolina has received over $1 billion in federal highway aid, including $5.2 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $900,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 47,043 jobs. [through FY99]

Over $159.8 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 South Carolina received over $159.8 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.