President Bill Clinton:

Meeting America's Challenge of Cherishing our
Children and Strengthening America's Families

"Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Family is the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we will have a stronger America.

President Clinton, State of the Union Address
January 23, 1996

A Record of Accomplishment:

Cherishing Our Children

• Announced a breakthrough agreement with the media and entertainment industry to develop a television ratings system to enable parents to protect their children from violence and adult content.

• Gave parents greater control over what their children watch on television by requiring the installation of anti-violence screening chips ("V-chips") in all new televisions.

• Proposed targeted measures to cut off children's access to tobacco products and reduce their appeal to children.

• Established a Childhood Immunization Initiative to ensure vaccinations and healthy futures for all children. In 1995, the immunization rate for two-year old children reached 75% -- an historic high.

Strengthening Our Families

• Enabled workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member without fear of losing their jobs. (Family and Medical Leave Act)

• Provided tax relief for 15 million working families by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit to allow more families to qualify for tax rebates.

• Helped families move from welfare to work by authorizing 38 states to bypass existing welfare rules and set time limits on benefits, require recipients to work or stay in school, provide child care and give employers incentives to hire welfare recipients. These waivers are making work and responsibility a way of life for 75% of all welfare recipients.

• Breaking the cycle of welfare dependency by requiring teenage mothers to live at home, stay in school and turn their lives around.

Ensuring Responsibility

• Collected a record $11 billion in child support in 1995 through tougher enforcement, almost a 40% increase over 1992.

• Issued an Executive Order to help track down federal workers who fail to pay child support.

• Worked with community, business and religious leaders to form a national campaign to reduce teen pregnancy.

Making Our Communities and Schools Safer

• Won passage of the toughest, smartest Crime Bill ever which puts 100,000 more police officers on the street; imposed a targeted Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out provision to put career violent offenders behind bars for life; expanded the death penalty to include drug kingpins, murderers of federal law enforcement officers and nearly 60 additional categories of violent felons; and provided funding for 100,000 more prison cells to help states ensure that violent offenders serve their full sentences.

• Stood up to the gun lobby and won passage of the Brady Bill as a result, more than 60,000 fugitives, felons and other criminals have already been blocked from buying handguns.

• Banned the manufacture and importation of 19 of the deadliest assault weapons while specifically protecting more than 650 legitimate sporting weapons. (Assault Weapons Ban)

• Tripled funding for battered women's shelters and provided $26 million in state grants to bolster local law enforcement, prosecution and victims services to better address violence against women. (Violence Against Women Act)

• Established nationwide 24-hour domestic violence hotline providing immediate crisis intervention, counseling and referrals for those in need.

• Keeping dangerous weapons out of our children s classrooms by enforcing a Zero Tolerance gun policy in schools.

• Reducing violence and drug abuse in our schools by investing in school security, drug prevention programs and counseling. (Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act)

• Encouraged schools to adopt school uniform policies to help reduce violence while promoting discipline and respect.

Making the Necessary Investments in Education

• Increased Head Start funding by almost $800 million to provide early education to tens of thousands of additional children in need.

• Supported the development of the nation's first system of voluntary standards of excellence for students while encouraging grassroots reforms to improve our schools. (Goals 2000: Educate America Act)

• Encouraged schools, colleges and employers to join in creating school-to-work opportunities, providing students with work-based learning and giving them new pathways from high school to good jobs and post-secondary education. (School-to-Work Opportunities Act)

• Gave schools greater flexibility to use federal aid and develop effective teaching innovations to help economically disadvantaged students achieve their full potential. (Improving America s Schools Act)

Preparing Our Schools for the 21st Century

• Proposed a $2 billion Technology Literacy Challenge Fund to help communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century.

• Launched an Educational Technology Initiative to connect every classroom to the Information Superhighway and provide all students with access to computers by the dawn of the next century.

  Challenged the technology industry to connect 20% of California's public schools to the Information Superhighway by the end of this school year. This challenge became a reality in March during Net Day '96.

Opening the Door to College

• Reformed the student loan program, making college more affordable this year for 5.5 million students and saving taxpayers billions of dollars by cutting red tape and providing loans with flexible repayment options, including pay-as-you-earn plans. (Student Loan Reform Act)

• Enabled 45,000 volunteers to earn money for college by serving their communities and their country in the AmeriCorps program. (National Service Act)

The Challenges ahead:

• Congress should pass a bipartisan welfare reform bill that reinforces basic American values work, responsibility and family.

• Congress should pass meaningful health insurance reform that allows people to keep coverage when they change jobs and prevents insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

• Families must end domestic violence and work harder at staying together. Media and entertainment industries must create movies, CD's and television shows more suitable for children.

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