THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of Communications

PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:

Supporting Women and Families

EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES:

• Protecting Families. The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) enables workers to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a new baby or ailing family member without jeopardizing their job. Millions of workers have already benefited from FMLA since its enactment. The President also proposed expanding the Family & Medical Leave Act to allow workers up to 24 hours per year of unpaid leave for parent-teacher conferences or routine medical care for a child.
• Cutting Taxes for 15 Million Working Families by extending the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In 1997, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people, including 2.2 million children, out of poverty -- double the number of people lifted out of poverty by the EITC in 1993.
• Increasing the Minimum Wage from $4.25 to $5.15, giving six million women a raise.
• Narrowing the Wage Gap. Last year, the median earnings of women working full-time increased 3 percent. In 1997, the median earnings of women represented 74 percent of the median earnings for men, remaining the narrowest gap ever.
• Fighting for Paycheck Equity. Called on Congress to pass legislation to strengthen laws prohibiting wage discrimination.
• Highest Homeownership Rate in History. There are more than 68 million American families who own homes, more than six million new homeowners since the President took office. Women's homeownership is increasing at a faster rate than the rest of the country -- up five percent since the first quarter of 1994.
• Increasing Pension Security. Fought for legislation that has expanded pension coverage, made pensions more secure for 40 million American workers and retirees, and simplified pension plan administration. Promoting new efforts to encourage retirement savings.
• Saving Social Security First. In 1999, nearly 60 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries will be women. Social Security will be the major source of retirement income for a majority of these women. President Clinton is committed to saving Social Security for the 21st Century and has urged that budget surpluses be reserved for a bipartisan plan to strengthen Social Security.

CARING FOR OUR CHILDREN:

• Extending Health Care to Millions of Children with the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This is the single largest investment in Health Care for children since 1965. The President fought to ensure that the Balanced Budget included $24 billion to provide real health care coverage to millions of uninsured children.
• Fought for and Won $500 Child Tax Credit for 26 Million Families with Over 40 Million Children under Age 17. Twelve million children from families with income below $30,000 will receive the child tax credit as a result of the President's efforts.
• Largest Four-Year Drop in Child Poverty Since 1960s. Under President Clinton, the child poverty rate has declined from 22.7 percent to 19.9 percent -- the biggest four-year drop in nearly 30 years (1965-1969). While this marks significant progress, President Clinton will continue to fight for policies that help to raise incomes and reduce poverty.
• Ensuring Safe Food for America's Families, making food safety a priority. Issued new standards to reduce and prevent contamination of meat, poultry, and seafood; signed the Food Quality Protection Act with special safeguards for kids; issued new regulations that improve the safety of fruit and vegetable juices; and created a President's Council on Food Safety which will develop a comprehensive food safety strategic plan for federal agencies.
• Held First-Ever White House Conference on Child Care and White House Conference on Early Child Development and Learning. In April 1997, the President and First Lady held the White House Conference on Early Child Development and Learning to highlight the benefits of early nurturing by parents. And in October 1997, the White House Conference on Child Care began a dialogue on the child care challenges facing parents today -- availability, affordability, and assuring safety and quality.
• Proposed the Largest Single Investment in Child Care in the Nation's History. Between FY93 and FY97, federal funding for child care increased by nearly 79 percent, providing child care services for over one million children. If enacted, the President's $21 billion child care proposal will give child care subsidies to millions of children and increase tax credits for three million working families to help them pay for child care.
• Signed Landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act. This law will help thousands of children waiting in foster care move more quickly into safe and permanent homes.
• Signed the Comprehensive Childhood Immunization Initiative. Thanks to President Clinton, immunization rates among two-year-olds have reached historic highs.
• Took Steps to Ensure Children Have Safe Medications. Unveiled an FDA regulation that protects children by requiring manufacturers to study appropriate dosage levels of drugs for pediatric populations.
• Launched New Strategies to Reduce the High Rate of Teen Pregnancies. Teen (aged 15 to 19 years) births have fallen six years in a row, by 12 percent from 1991 to 1996.
• Increased Child Support Collections by Nearly 70%. Signed into law the toughest child support crackdown in history.
• Imposed Strict Measures to Keep Cigarettes out of the Hands of Our Children by restricting youth-targeted advertising; and the FDA made 18 the minimum age to purchase tobacco products nationwide, requiring photo I.D.s for anyone under the age of 27. And the President is fighting to enact comprehensive tobacco legislation.

INVESTING IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

• Largest Investment in Education in 30 Years. Maintaining his longtime commitment to education, the President enacted the largest investment in education in 30 years -- and the largest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill -- by signing the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
• Providing Early Education to More than 830,000 Children with Head Start. 200,000 more children are enrolled in Head Start today than in 1992.
• Teaching Every Child to Read by the 3rd Grade. More than 1000 colleges have committed work-study students to tutor children in reading, and thousands of AmeriCorps members and senior volunteers are organizing volunteer reading campaigns. In addition, the President is working to enact an early literacy bill such as the America Reads Initiative that will provide more tutors after school, improve the teaching of reading in our schools, and help parents help their children learn to read.
• Fighting for Critical Education Investments. The President has called on Congress to pass critical education priorities included in his FY99 Budget that include initiatives to recruit quality teachers, rebuild crumbling schools and reduce class size.
• Striving for Excellence with National Education Standards. Seeking high national standards for all students, the President has proposed a first-ever national test in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math.
• Expanding Choice and Accountability in Public Schools. Supported increase of public charter schools, from only one charter school in the nation in 1993 to more than 1,000 charter schools this year.
• Promoting National Service and educational opportunities through AmeriCorps.
• Fought for Passage of Education Tax Breaks to Promote Lifelong Learning.
• Representing the largest single increase in higher education since the G.I. Bill, the Balanced Budget includes a $1,500 Hope Scholarship to make the first two years of college universally available, and a 20-percent tuition tax credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students, and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning.
• Largest Increase in Pell Grants in 20 Years. Nearly 4 million students will receive a Pell Grant of up to $3,000, 30% larger than when the President took office.

IMPROVING OUR NATION'S HEALTH:

• Protected and Strengthened Medicare, Benefiting the 22 Million American Women Enrolled in Medicare. The Balanced Budget Act extended the life of the Medicare Trust Fund for at least a decade; expanded choices in health plans; and provided beneficiaries new preventive benefits, including more affordable annual mammograms for all beneficiaries, cervical cancer screening, and tests to help detect osteoporosis. The President has also put forth a new proposal that will provide greater access to health insurance for Americans ages 55 to 65, including an option to buy into Medicare.
• Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research. Since the President took office, funding for breast cancer research, prevention and treatment has doubled, from about $275 million in FY 1993 to $577 million in the President's FY 1999 budget. In addition, the President has implemented the Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure the quality of mammograms. Women can now find a certified mammography facility by calling 1-800-4-CANCER.
• Providing Protection with the Patients' Bill of Rights. The President is calling on Congress to pass Federally enforceable consumer health care protections that include: guaranteed access to needed health care specialists including direct access to an OB-GYN; access to emergency room services when and where the need arises; continuity of care protections to ensure that patients' care will not abruptly change if their provider is dropped; access to a timely internal and independent external appeals process for consumers to resolve their differences with their health plans; a limit on financial incentives to doctors to limit care and assurances that doctors and patients can openly discuss treatment options. Women are particularly vulnerable without these health care 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 that are directly addressed by a patients' bill of rights.
• Preventing Discrimination Based on Genetic Information Both by Health Plans and Employers. Urging Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to prohibit health plans from inappropriately using genetic screening information to deny coverage, set premiums, or to distribute confidential information. The President also has supported legislation that ensures that employers do not use genetic information to discriminate against employees.
• Fought for Greater Health Security for America's Families. The President signed into law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which helps millions of Americans who move from one job to another, who are self-employed, or who have pre-existing medical conditions keep their health insurance.
• Endorsed Legislation That Would Ban Drive-thru Mastectomies, allowing women to stay in the hospital at least 48 hours following a mastectomy.
• Ended Drive-Thru Deliveries. Proposed and signed into law legislation requiring insurers to cover at least 48 hours of a post-natal hospital stay (72 hours for a Cesarean).

MAKING OUR HOMES AND COMMUNITIES SAFER:

• Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets. At this time, nearly 80,000 officers have been funded through the 1994 Crime Bill, on the way to 100,000 more police on the streets and in our communities. And violent crime has dropped six years in a row - the longest period of decline in 60 years.
• Signed the Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Bill and an Extension of Brady into Law. The Brady Law has already kept handguns away from 250,000 persons including felons, fugitives and individuals convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors or who are under restraining orders. The President signed into law the extension of the Brady Law, which prohibits anyone convicted of a domestic violence offense -- misdemeanor or felony -- from owning or possessing a firearm.
• Will Hold the First-Ever White House Conference on School Safety. On October 15, 1998, the President will host the White House Conference on School Safety. The participants will explore solutions to this national challenge: How do schools, families and communities work together to make sure that every child is safe in every school in America.
• Signed Megan's Law and the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, requiring states to set up sex offender registration systems and allows community notification when sex offenders move into neighborhoods.
• Championed and Signed the Violence Against Women Act, the cornerstone of the President's efforts to fight domestic violence, and created an office at the Department of Justice dedicated to combating violence against women.
• More than Tripled Funding to Domestic Violence Shelters and instituted new penalties against men who stalk, threaten or abuse women across state lines.
• Established Nationwide 24-Hour Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline (1-800-797-SAFE) provides immediate crisis intervention, counseling and referrals for those in need. Since the hotline opened, there have been 229,000 calls -- averaging 8,000 calls a month -- from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

PROMOTING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES FOR WOMEN:

• Reversed the "Gag Rule" limiting the information federally funded family planning clinics could give to women.
• Greater Support for Family Planning. The President's FY99 proposal will increase Title X Family Planning grants by $15 million -- a 46 percent increase since FY92.
• Signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, establishing a safety-zone around women's health clinics.

STRENGTHENING EQUAL EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIONS:

• Increasing Civil Rights Enforcement. Proposed for the largest single increase in funding to enforce existing civil rights laws in nearly two decades. Through new reforms and heightened commitment to enforcement, the Administration will seek to prevent discrimination before it occurs and to punish those who do discriminate in employment, education, housing and health care, and against those with disabilities. The Clinton Administration's FY99 budget contains $602 million for civil rights enforcement agencies and offices -- an increase of $86 million over last year's funding.
• Increasing Funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The cornerstone of the improved civil rights enforcement effort is a $37 million increase (15 percent) for the EEOC. Through increased use of mediation, improved information technology and an expanded investigative staff, the EEOC will reduce the average time for resolving private-sector complaints from over 9.4 months to 6 months and cut the backlog of cases from 64,000 to 28,000, by the year 2000.

GENERATING MORE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN:

• Women Are Starting Businesses at Twice the Rate of All Businesses. Women own nearly 40 percent of all firms in the United States. These eight million women-owned firms employ 18.5 million -- one in every five U.S. workers -- and contribute $2.3 trillion to the economy. The Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership is working to foster this growth.
• Tripled the Number of Small Business Loans to Women Entrepreneurs. Between 1993 and 1997 the SBA approved nearly 50,000 loans to women entrepreneurs under the 7(a) and 504 loan programs. Last year alone, the Small Business Administration granted more than 10,000 loans, worth $1.67 billion, to women small business owners, triple the number of loans granted in 1992.

WOMEN AS PARTNERS IN DECISION MAKING:

• Appointed More Women than Any Other President -- 41 percent of Administration appointees are women.
• Women Hold 29 Percent of the Top Positions -- 29 percent of the positions requiring Senate confirmation (PAS) are held by women. Additionally,
  • 34 percent of Presidential appointments, including boards and commissions, are held by women.
  • 39 percent of non-career Senior Executive Service positions are held by women.
  • 58 percent of Schedule C positions are held by women.
• Appointed the First Women Ever to Serve as Attorney General, Janet

  Reno, and Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. Including the Attorney General and Secretary of State, women make up 27 percent of the Clinton Cabinet: Alexis Herman, Secretary of Labor; Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Carol Browner, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Janet Yellen, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors; and Charlene Barshefsky, United States Trade Representative all serve in the President's Cabinet.

• 30 Percent of All of the President's Judicial Nominees Are Women.
• Nominated the Second Woman to Serve on the Supreme Court. During his first year in office, President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the United States Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg is only the second woman to serve on the nation's highest court.

9/98