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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release August 5, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Not long ago, I invited CEOs and other business leaders to join me in visiting New Markets across the country to highlight economic opportunities and to emphasize the need for greater investment in underserved rural and inner-city areas. I am pleased to announce that today, bipartisan legislation based upon my New Markets Initiative is being introduced in both the House and the Senate. This legislation expands upon the innovative approach to community empowerment that Vice President Gore and I have pioneered for nearly seven years.

We need to provide the same encouragement to invest in Appalachia, Native American reservations, the Mississippi Delta, and the inner cities that we provide today to invest in new markets overseas. Through new tax incentives and investment tools, this legislation will help to attract equity capital that entrepreneurs and businesses need to start and expand enterprises and create new jobs in low and moderate income communities. These tools will help corporate America to develop new markets in places where major corporations have rarely, if ever, looked before. It's good for business, it's good for America's growth, and it's the right thing to do.

I am encouraged by the bipartisan support for the New Markets Initiative, as demonstrated by the lead sponsorship of this legislation by both Democrats and Republicans. We will continue to work with Congress to pass this New Markets legislation into law. At a time of remarkable economic prosperity, we need to ensure that no community or person is left behind.

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