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Bill Clinton On The Issues 1996 - Strengthening America’s Families: Hispanic Americans Bill Clinton 1996 On The Issues

Strengthening America’s Families: Hispanic Americans
 

"Hispanics are making huge strides in ways we could not have even imagined just a generation ago. I don’t want any Hispanic child in America to feel that his or her race is an impediment to full achievement. Every child has a right to the American Dream, and all of us have a responsibility to nourish that dream.”

—President Bill Clinton

President Clinton is committed to ensuring that Latinos have the same opportunities as all Americans. The President’s policies strengthen families, create more jobs and business opportunities, and ensure a quality education for all of our children.

President Clinton has addressed the concerns of the Hispanic-American community by:

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Winning passage of the largest deficit-cutting plan in history with his 1993 economic package. The President’s policies have grown the economy and created 10.5 million new jobs, over one million in manufacturing and construction. The unemployment rate for Latinos in May of this year was 8.8%, down from 11.3% when the President took office.
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Helping to create over 220,000 new businesses owned by Hispanic Americans. The Clinton Administration has made new tax cuts available to over 90 percent of all small businesses.
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Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to provide tax relief for 15 million working families so parents do not have to raise their children in poverty.
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Standing up for the government’s affirmative action programs and concluding that they are still effective and important tools to expand education and economic opportunity for all Americans. President Clinton wants to “mend, not end” affirmative action.
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Appointing the most diverse Cabinet and Administration in history. The President reached out to the Latino community to fill hundreds of positions in our government. From Henry Cisneros, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Frederico Peña, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to the hundreds of other Latinos who help run our government, there are now more Hispanics in senior-level positions than at any time in our nation’s history. The President has also appointed a record number (16) of Latinos to the federal, district, and circuit courts.
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Signing the Health Insurance Reform Act (Kassebaum-Kennedy Bill) which expands and protects access to health insurance by limiting exclusions for pre-existing conditions and allowing individuals to take their health insurance with them when they change or lose their jobs..
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Fighting for and signing into law the first increase in the minimum wage in five years to reward work and responsibilty.
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Increasing access to college by reforming student loans and expanding Pell Grant scholarships and work study. President Clinton’s national service program, AmeriCorps, is giving young people the opportunity to serve their communities while earning money for college. Latinos comprise 14 percent of all AmeriCorps participants.
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Signing into law the Goals 2000 Act, which supports standards of excellence for students and encourages grassroots reforms to improve our schools.
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Proposing his Hope Scholarship plan to make the first two years of college as universal as high school. All students would receive a $1,500 refundable tax credit for full-time tuition in their first year and another $1,500 in the second year if they work hard, stay off drugs, and earn at least a B average in their first year.
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Signing an Executive Order on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans to improve education and give institutions that help Hispanics more input on educational goals and issues. The President has successfully fought all attempts to stop funding this initiative.
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Implementing the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, which increases educational, career, and economic opportunities for students not enrolled in college.
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Opposing California’s Proposition 187 which would have denied education and health access to children of illegal immigrants. President Clinton continues to oppose similar legislative efforts currently being led by the Republican Congress.
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Signing into law the toughest, most comprehensive Crime Bill ever, putting 100,000 new police on the street, banning 19 different kinds of assault weapons, and preventing over 60,000 fugitives, felons, and other criminals from buying guns.
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Developing community policing programs to make our neighborhoods safer and keeping guns and drugs out of our schools.
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Signing NAFTA, which created a free trade zone between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and established the largest and richest market in the world.
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Signing into law the Family and Medical Leave Act so workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for an ill family member without fear of losing their jobs.
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Signing a comprehensive Child Immunization Plan to help parents raise healthy children and avoid preventable illnesses.
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Establishing the Office of Minority Health Research and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
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Funding supplemental unemployment and food assistance programs to help 1.9 million unemployed American workers and their families.
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Creating nine Economic Empowerment Zones and 95 Enterprise Communities to provide urban and rural communities with grants and tax incentives that are spurring economic growth, attracting businesses, and creating jobs for millions of Americans.
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Helping more Hispanic Americans buy their own homes. The Clinton Administration helped to increase the number of mortgage loans to Latinos by 42 percent from 1993 to 1994. The Administration made the low-income housing credit permanent, increasing opportunities for affordable housing development by the private sector.
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Passing the Family Support and Preservation Program to strengthen families and protect our children.
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Signing into law the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter) to expand voting rights for all by creating more accessible voter registration locations.
 
 


 
Building on Our Progress

All Americans should honor the respect that Hispanic Americans have for their families and communities. The Clinton Administration is working hard to strengthen families and give children a brighter future and greater opportunities. To help Latinos succeed, President Clinton is:

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Fighting to end discrimination. He has ordered a national investigation of discrimination in the provisions of home mortgages. The Administration has elevated the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Office of Special Counsel for Discriminatory Immigration Employment Practices to fight discrimination in employment.
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Making “naturalization” a top priority of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in order to make it easier for those eligible for citizenship. The Administration’s legal immigration policy is pro-family and pro-work.
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Proposing his “America Reads” Challenge to ensure that every child in American can read independently by the end of the third grade. The President’s new initiative helps parents, as their children’s first teachers, and the entire community, to invest in reading success. The Clinton Administration will mobilize 1 million community volunteer tutors, expand Head Start, and challenge both the non-profit and private sectors to help our children read.
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Increasing Head Start funding to help prepare children to learn.
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Negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005.

Source: Bill Clinton for President 1996 Web Site

 

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