President Clinton has an unprecedented record of supporting women and their families. He understands that by improving the lives of American women, we make a vital investment in America's future. His Administration is committed to providing more economic and educational opportunities for women, to providing quality health and child care, and to preventing violence on the streets and at home.

President Clinton is expanding opportunities for women by:

Ensuring That Women’s Voices Are Heard at Every Level of Government

	Appointing more women to his Administration than any other (40 percent).
	Appointing women for the first time to high-level posts: Attorney General, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Secretary of Energy, Office of Management and Budget Director, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
	Appointing a record number of women (73) to the federal bench.
	Creating the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives & Outreach; the Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Office; and the Interagency Council on Women’s Business Enterprise.

Helping Every American Achieve Economic Security in the New Economy

	Winning enactment of the largest deficit-cutting plan in history — cutting the deficit by more than half within four years.
	Fighting for and signing into law the first increase in the minimum wage in five years — almost 60 percent of all minimum wage earners are women.
	Increasing funding for child care in every budget.
	Working to make child care programs more consistent and coordinated by streamlining programs, linking services, reducing red tape, and giving states more flexibility.
	Proposing an employee choice flex-time initiative that will allow workers to agree with their employers to work overtime in exchange for up to 80 hours of paid time-off.
	Signing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to enable workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member without fear of losing their jobs; he is proposing to expand the FMLA to allow workers to take up to 24 hours of unpaid leave to support their children’s educational needs, older relatives’ health care, and other family medical obligations.
	Providing tax relief for 15 million working families by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to help ensure that parents who work full-time do not raise their children in poverty. Nearly half of all EITC recipients with children are female heads of households.
	Fostering growth of women-owned businesses by improving access to capital, expanding the federal procurement market, and increasing business training and technical assistance. From 1993 to 1994, the volume of loans to women increased by 86 percent.
	Supporting effective, fair, and balanced affirmative action programs that provide opportunities for minorities and women.
	Ending welfare as we know it by signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. This bill includes time-limits and work requirements, gives states incentives to create jobs for welfare recipients, increases funding for child care, strengthens child support enforcement, and maintains the federal guarantee of nutrition programs and Medicaid coverage for pregnant women, children, and the disabled. Even before signing national welfare reform, President Clinton granted waivers to 43 states to reform welfare on their own — making work and responsibility a way of life for 75 percent of welfare recipients.
	Collecting $11 billion in child support in 1995 — a 40 percent increase from 1992 — by strengthening enforcement of child support laws.

Expanding Access to Quality Health Care

	Revoking the Reagan/Bush restrictions on abortion counseling (“gag rule”), abortions in military hospitals, and the “Mexico City” policy. He has protected Medicaid for abortion services for poor women who are victims of rape or incest and signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to fight violence and intimidation against women and their doctors.
	Signing the Health Insurance Reform Act (Kassebaum-Kennedy Bill) that 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.
	Increasing funding for breast cancer research by 65 percent and initiating the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, a public/private partnership to fight the disease.
	Fighting to preserve the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for women, children, people with disabilities, and older Americans. Sixty percent of all Medicaid beneficiaries are women.
	Strengthening Medicare by enacting savings and structural changes that extended the life of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for an estimated three years. Women comprise over 20 million, or 57 percent, of the 37 million Medicare recipients, and nearly 5 million women, or 23 percent of women aged 65 or older, depend solely on Medicare to help with their medical bills.
	Launching the Medicare Mammography Campaign to educate older women about the importance of detecting breast cancer early and to inform them about Medicare coverage of mammography services.
	Requiring that women and minorities be included in all clinical research supported by the National Institutes of Health.
	Fighting for full funding for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program.
	Requesting budget increases each year for the federal Family Planning Program in order to help women reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies.
	Vetoing legislation that would have banned late-term abortions because it did not include an exception for serious adverse health consequences for women.

Providing Educational Opportunities for the New Century

	Supporting education equity and leadership training for young girls.
	Increasing Head Start funding by nearly $800 million to provide early education to tens of thousands of additional children in need.
	Signing the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, which broadens educational, career and economic opportunities for students not immediately bound for four-year colleges.
	Increasing access to college by reforming student loans, by creating AmeriCorps, by expanding Pell Grants, and by proposing tax cuts for higher education and training.

Making Homes and Communities Safer

	Signing his tough Crime Bill, which: Included the Violence Against Women Act, the first national effort to reduce violence against women. The Act increases funding for battered women’s shelters and has already provided $156 million in state grants to bolster law enforcement, prosecution, and victims’ services. Created the first nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, providing immediate crisis intervention, counseling, and referrals for women in need. Increased penalties for sex offenders and imposed a registration requirement for violent sexual offenders. Imposed a targeted “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out” provision to put career violent offenders behind bars for life. Banned 19 of the deadliest assault weapons and their copies, but specifically protected more than 650 legitimate sporting weapons. Created the COPS program, putting 100,000 more community police officers in cities, towns, and rural areas.
	Fighting for and signing the Brady Bill, which has prevented more than 60,000 fugitives, felons, and other criminals from buying handguns.

Building on Our Progress

President Clinton believes that we have an historic opportunity and a responsibility to lead the world in our efforts to better the lives of women. He will continue to work for women by:

	Protecting women’s health and safety and the right of American women to make their own reproductive choices.
	Fighting against drastic budget cuts that threaten Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment.
	Investing in education and helping Americans invest in their children’s futures with public school choice, charter schools, tax deductions and tax credits for higher education, and 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 they need for the 21st century.
	Providing more relief to working families through a $500 per child tax credit.
	Calling for an extension of the Brady Bill to prevent those who commit acts of domestic violence from buying guns.
	Continuing to support affirmative action consistent with Supreme Court rulings and working with federal agencies to reform programs so that they are stronger where needed. The Administration will oppose legislation that will turn back the clock on the federal government’s historic, bipartisan commitment to equal opportunity.
	Challenging businesses: to create workplaces that allow workers to be productive employees and responsible family members; to provide the security that a living wage, safe and affordable, child care, health care and pension benefits can give; to recognize that investment in employees is as important as investing in factories and equipment; to give employees a greater voice in the workplace; and to protect the health and safety of employees.