The District of Columbia

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PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The District of Columbia PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE’S

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The District of Columbia

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Unemployment Down to 5.7 %: The unemployment rate in the District of Columbia has declined from 8.9% to 5.7% since 1993.

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 the District of Columbia, the poverty rate has fallen from 26.4% in 1993 to 18.6% in 1999. [Census Bureau]

Business Failures Down 15.8%: Business failures have dropped 15.8% per year since 1993, after increasing 40.7% per year during the previous four 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 43,000 families in the District of Columbia.

Homeownership Has Increased in the District: Homeownership in the District of Columbia increased from 36.4% to 40.0% since 1993.

The District’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 the District of Columbia 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 3,200 Children in Head Start: 3,279 District of Columbia children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, District of Columbia will receive $20.6 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $9.2 million over 1993.

More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for the District of Columbia’s Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, the District of Columbia received $5.6 million in 1999 to hire about 145 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 the District of Columbia $6.1 million in 2000 and $7.6 million in 2001.

$5.4 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. The District of Columbia will receive $5.4 million in school renovation grants.

Over $2.2 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY01], the District of Columbia receives $2.2 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.

Nearly $29 Million for Students Most in Need: The District of Columbia will receive nearly $29 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: The District of Columbia will receive $787,046 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.

$27.5 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY01], the District of Columbia will receive $27.5 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college.

Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The District of Columbia will receive $14 million in Work-Study funding in 2001 to help D.C. students work their way through college.

Over 4,500 Have Served in the District of Columbia through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 4,528 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in the District of Columbia’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. 31,000 students in the District of Columbia will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 38,000 students in the District of Columbia will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]

Expanded Job Training to The District of Columbia’s Dislocated Workers: President Clinton's FY 2001 budget would triple funding for the dislocated workers program over 1992 levels. The District of Columbia received $5.9 million in 1999 to help 3,520 dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. In FY 2000, the District of Columbia will receive nearly $10.2 million to provide job training services for dislocated workers.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

Crime Falls 23% in the District of Columbia: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Since 1992, serious crime in the District of Columbia has fallen 23%. Violent crime and property crime have also declined 36% and 18% respectively. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Report]

754 More Police: The President’s 1994 Crime Bill has funded 754 new police officers to date in neighborhoods across the District of Columbia. [through 1/01]

Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in the District of Columbia, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Washington, D.C. 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.

$12.8 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, the District of Columbia has received approximately $12.8 million in federal funds since FY95 to establish more women’s shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution, and victims’ services. And in October 1999, Howard University was awarded $466,487 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through 9/2000]

$400,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, the District of Columbia received $400,000 in HHS’s Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

$2.1 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of District of Columbia Schools: The District of Columbia receives approximately $2.1 million in FY01 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

19,020 Fewer People on Welfare: In 1996, President Clinton signed a landmark welfare reform bill which promises to move thousands of DC residents from welfare to work. Since 1993, there are 19,020 fewer people on welfare in the District of Columbia - a 29% decrease. [through 6/99]

Child Support Collections Up 71%: Child support collections have increased by $14 million—or 71% -- in the District of Columbia since FY92. [through FY98]

Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in The District of Columbia: 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. Nationally, teen births have fallen seven years in a row, by 18 percent from 1991 to 1998 -- the lowest level since 1987. And between 1991 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 20.5% in The District of Columbia.

$16.8 Million for District of Columbia Welfare-to-Work: In 1998 and 1999, the District of Columbia received a total of $8.9 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants, helping welfare recipients in the District get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $7.9 million in competitive grants were awarded to D.C. 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. Washington, DC has received a total of $1 million this year to fund an innovative transit project.

INVESTING IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA’S HEALTH

Health Care for Over 3,000 Uninsured Children in the District of Columbia: 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 3,029 in the District of Columbia. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]

Helping Over 16,000 District of Columbia 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, the District of Columbia received $10.2 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 16,383 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 District of Columbia in 1998, 92% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 88% received the vaccine for polio; 93% 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, the District of Columbia will receive over $3.5 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, the District of Columbia will receive over $8.7 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 34% in the District of Columbia: The Clinton Administration’s tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 34% in the District of Columbia. by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 2,500 of the District of Columbia’s youth will be kept from smoking and 800 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99]

160,000 Americans in the District of Columbia Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if the District of Columbia enacted all the protections in the Patients’ Bill of Rights, 160,000 people in the District of Columbia 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, 80,000 the District of Columbia 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

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

$7.7 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, District of Columbia will receive $7.7 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.

SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS

Helping to Revitalize the District of Columbia: In December 1994, the District was designated an Enterprise Community, and was awarded $3 million to create jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for its residents.

Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,100 To 1,300 New Affordable Housing Units in District of Columbia 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 the District of Columbia alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,100 - 1,300 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

$4.6 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received $4.6 million in disaster relief. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

$354 Million in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received $354 million in federal highway aid, including $300,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 15,058 jobs. [through FY99]

Over $831 Thousand in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY99 the District of Columbia received over $831 thousand 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 $635 Million in Transit Funds: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received over $635 million in Federal Transit Funding to support public transportation.