President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
A strong America requires strong community
[One of the principles of the New Democrat philosophy is that] a strong America requires a resurgent sense of [community],
a strong sense of mutual obligations, and a conviction that we cannot pursue our individual interests independent of the needs of our fellow citizens.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.327
Jun 21, 2004
New Initiatives to Collect more Child Support
Since the President took office, child support collections have doubled from $8 billion in 1992 to nearly $16 billion in 1999. Today, parents who owe child support have their wages garnished, their bank accounts seized, their federal loans denied,
and their tax refunds withheld. Over $1.3 billion was collected from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1998, double the amount since 1992. In addition, a new program established in 1999 that matches records of parents who owe child support with
multi-state financial institutions, has already identified nearly 900,000 delinquent parents with accounts valued at $3 billion. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, enacting tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly
fail to support children living in another state or who flee across state lines. The number of fathers taking responsibility for their children by establishing paternity rose to a record 1.5 million in 1999, triple the 1992 figure of 516,000.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Sep 6, 2000
Incentives for home ownership
There is no more crucial building block for a strong community and a promising future than a solid home.“ The Clinton Administration is dedicated to making the dream of homeownership a reality for all Americans. In 1995, the Administration, in
partnership with 50 key public and private sector organizations, formed a National Homeownership Strategy with the goal of helping more Americans become homeowners.
[Accomplishments include]:
Highest Homeownership Rate in History, 67.2% in the 2nd
quarter of 2000.
Lowering Interest Rates by Paying Off the National Debt.
Record Levels of Homeownership Assistance via 1.3 million loans from the Federal Housing Administration.
Helping Renters Buy Their First Home via homeownership vouchers
for 50,000 families.
Providing Incentives to Save for a Home via Individual Development Accounts, providing incentives through federal matching funds for low-income families to save for a first home, higher education, or to start a new business.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Aug 1, 2000
Get tough on youth violence and gangs
We established a National Gang Tracking Network and sent a message to the gangs that are at the root of today’s drug culture and youth violence: we mean to put you out of business, to stop you from terrorizing our neighborhoods, and to put you away for a
very long time.
All our efforts are designed to rescue kids in trouble. At night, children belong at home, under a curfew, if necessary. During the day, they belong in school, not on the street. At any time, our children are our responsibility.
Source: Between Hope and History, by Bill Clinton, p. 85-86
Jan 1, 1996
Give parents tools to balance work and family.
Clinton adopted the manifesto, "A New Agenda for the New Decade":
Strengthen America’s Families While the steady reduction in the number of two-parent families of the last 40 years has slowed, more than one-third of our children still live in one- or no-parent families. There is a high correlation between a childhood spent with inadequate parental support and an adulthood spent in poverty or in prison.
To strengthen families, we must redouble efforts to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, make work pay, eliminate tax policies that inadvertently penalize marriage, and require absent fathers to pay child support while offering them new opportunities to find work. Because every child needs the attention of at least one caring and competent adult, we should create an “extended family” of adult volunteer mentors.
Family breakdown is not the only challenge we face. As two-worker families have become the norm, harried parents have less time to spend on their most important job: raising their children. Moreover, parents and
schools often find themselves contending with sex- and violence-saturated messages coming from an all-pervasive mass entertainment media.
We should continue public efforts to give parents tools to balance work and family and shield their children from harmful outside influences. For example, we should encourage employers to adopt family-friendly policies and practices such as parental leave, flex-time, and telecommuting. Public officials should speak out about violence in our culture and should press the entertainment media to adopt self-policing codes aimed at protecting children.
Goals for 2010
Cut the rate of out-of-wedlock births in half.
Recruit a million mentors for disadvantaged children without two parents.
Provide affordable after-school programs at every public school.
Make every workplace “family-friendly.”
Promote policies that help parents shield their children from violence and sex in entertainment products.
Source: The Hyde Park Declaration 00-DLC4 on Aug 1, 2000
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