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 to 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.

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 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)
• Challenged Congress to make $10,000 of college tuition tax-deductible each year; expand work-study to help 1 million young Americans work their way through college by the year 2000; provide $1,000 merit scholarships for the top 5% percent of graduates in every high school; and increase the number of Pell Grants for students who need help.

Strengthening America's Economy

• Submitted to Congress the first genuine balanced budget in 17 years -- balancing the budget in seven years based on both Administration and Congressional Budget Office estimates while protecting our fundamental priorities of Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment.
• Won enactment of the largest deficit-cutting plan in history -- cutting the deficit in half within four years, after it quadrupled during the previous two Administrations.
• Oversaw the creation of over 9.7 million new jobs in just under three-and-a-half years -- a faster annual rate of job growth than any Republican Administration since the 1920's.
• Unemployment rate has fallen to 5.6% -- down from over 7% when President Clinton took office.
• 93% of all new jobs created are in the private sector -- higher than the average percentage during any Administration since the Truman Administration.
• More than 3.5 million new jobs in high-wage industries have been created since January 1993 -- by contrast, 200,000 high-wage industry jobs were lost in the previous four years.
• One million new manufacturing, automotive and construction jobs have been added since January 1993.
• Highest annual number of new business incorporations since World War II.
• Real median family income has increased during the Clinton Administration -- after falling 4% during the previous four years.
• The combined unemployment, inflation and mortgage rate is at its lowest level since 1968.

Creating Economic Security

• Proposed a $2,600 job-training voucher program to allow unemployed workers the freedom to choose the training programs that are right for them.
• Fought for meaningful health insurance reform to allow people to keep coverage when they change jobs and prevent denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
• Challenged Congress to raise the minimum wage to provide the opportunity for working Americans to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
• Protected the pensions of more 40 million workers and retirees by reforming the federal pension insurance system and requiring companies to keep their retirement plans sufficiently funded. (Retirement Protection Act)
• Challenged Congress to enable Americans to save for their retirements by increasing pension portability, enhancing pension protection and expanding coverage.

Opening New Markets to Create Jobs for U.S. Workers

• Exports have surged 31% over the last three years because President Clinton stood up for American workers and opened more markets to U.S. goods and services.
• More than 1 million new export-related jobs have been created under the Clinton Administration -- jobs supported by exports pay on average 15% more than other jobs.
• America is once again the world's number one manufacturer of automobiles -- overtaking Japan for the first time since the 1970's.
• American goods exported in sectors covered by Clinton Administration trade agreements with Japan have grown over 85% -- three times faster than growth in other U.S. goods exported to Japan.
• The United States was named the most competitive economy in the world for the third year in a row.

Won Passage Of The Toughest and Smartest Crime Bill Ever

• Puts 100,000 more police officers on the street -- 43,000 officers have already been funded.
• 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.
• Provided funding for 100,000 more prison cells to help states ensure that violent offenders serve their full sentences.
• The number of murders fell 8% in 1995 -- one of the largest decreases in more than three decades. The nation's largest cities saw overall crime fall 6% during the same period.

Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals

• 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)

Combatting Drug Use

• Developed a comprehensive National Drug Control Strategy that will reduce illegal drug use through law enforcement, prevention, treatment and interdiction.
• Breaking the cycle of drugs and crime through universal drug testing in the criminal justice system and by providing funding for drug courts.

Fighting to End Domestic Violence

• 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.

Making Our Schools Safer

• 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.
• The number of Americans who use cocaine has declined 30% since 1992.

Securing America's Borders

• Stood firm against illegal immigration and deported a record 51,600 illegal and criminal aliens in 1995 -- a 15% increase over 1994.
• Increasing the number of Border Patrol agents along the southwestern border by 50% to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.

Ensuring Public Health

• Made the air we breathe cleaner by issuing new standards to cut toxic pollution from chemical plants by 90% and dangerous incinerator emissions by 98%.
• Fought attempts in Congress to roll back the progress made in ensuring safe food and water for our families.
• Issued new policy to control E. coli bacteria contamination in meat.
• Expanded the public's right-to-know about toxic releases and required polluters to disclose information to the public.
• Ensured compliance with environmental safeguards by toughening EPA's enforcement program

Protecting Our Natural Resources

• Fought attempts to close national parks and lift the ban on offshore oil drilling.
• Committed $1.5 billion over seven years to help restore the unique Florida Everglades.
• Broke through decades of conflict and negotiated a consensus plan to protect and allocate California Bay-Delta water.

Common Sense Reforms to Environmental Programs

• Changed EPA rules and procedures to reduce paperwork requirements for businesses by 10 million hours.
• Reformed wetlands and endangered species programs to lessen any adverse impact on homeowners.
• Launched a Brownfields Initiative to return land to productive use by providing tax incentives to clean-up old industrial waste sites.

Leading the Fight for Peace

• Ended four years of bloodshed and destruction in Bosnia by brokering the Dayton peace accords.
• Championed peace efforts in the Middle East by negotiating the Israel-Jordan peace treaty and helping Israelis and Palestinians fulfill their historic peace agreement.
• Organized historic March 1996 Summit of the Peacemakers in Egypt, gathering 29 world and regional leaders to support the Middle East peace process and counter terrorism.
• Negotiated written agreement between Israel and Syria to end Hezbollah attacks on Israel and provide restoration of calm and protection of civilians on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.
• Restored democracy to Haiti, stopping the flow of refugees to the U.S. and accomplishing the first transfer of power from one democratically-elected president to another in Haitian history.
• Became the first American President to visit Northern Ireland in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace.

Making a Difference in America and Around the World

• Russian nuclear missiles are no longer pointed at America's children.
• Poised to reduce nuclear stockpiles by another 25% by successfully securing bipartisan Senate ratification of the Start II Treaty with Russia.
• Imposed the toughest sanctions ever on Castro's Cuba following the brutal killing of U.S. nationals over international waters.
• Shaped new American military for post-Cold War challenges to peace, ensuring America remains the best-equipped, best-trained and best-prepared fighting force in the world.
• Intensified the fight against terrorism and organized crime at home and abroad by enacting anti-terrorism legislation giving law enforcement officials tough new tools to stop terrorists before they strike.

Reforming Our Political System

• Made voting easier for more than 11 million Americans by creating more accessible "motor-voter"
• Enacted the first major overhaul of lobbying rules in 50 years -- now lobbyists must disclose the organizations for which they work. (Lobbying Disclosure Act)
• Fought for passage of comprehensive campaign finance reform to curb the influence of money in our political system.
• Imposed the strictest Administration ethics guidelines ever, including a five-year ban on top officials lobbying their former agencies and a lifetime ban against lobbying for foreign governments.
• Ensured that the same laws apply to Congress as to the rest of America. (Congressional Accountability Act)

Making Government Work Better and Cost Less

• Cut the federal civilian workforce by nearly 240,000 positions -- the size of the federal government is now at its lowest level in30 years.
• Eliminating more than 16,000 pages of unnecessary regulations.
• Saved taxpayers $58 billion by cutting wasteful government practices and spending through Reinventing Government efforts. Additional recommendations will save another $116 billion.
• Prohibited Congress from imposing new requirements on state and local governments without paying for them. (Unfunded Mandates Reform Act)
• Fought for and signed line-item veto legislation to change the way Washington works by cutting spending on wasteful special-interest projects.