"We will say to the nation's inventors and entrepreneurs: if you invest in these new technologies, America will invest in you." - Al Gore

Al Gore knows that small businesses and entrepreneurs have been the motors of our economy - generating an estimated one-third of America's historic economic growth, and employing over half of our private workforce. Gore has been a critical part of this Administration's efforts to build a booming economy that betters the lives of all Americans, while understanding that our small businesses are the backbone of this historic expansion. Gore cast the deciding vote for the Administration's 1993 economic plan that has helped create more than 20 million new jobs, eliminate the deficit and foster low unemployment. In addition, he has fought to open foreign markets, and to expand access to business capital and quality education. Over the last seven years Gore has fought to improve small business' access to capital and to craft policies that help businesses grow. And the results are telling. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration small business incomes have increased by 14.2 percent after falling during the previous administration.

As President, Al Gore will work to strengthen and create new opportunities for small business and entrepreneurs. To help small businesses prosper, he will expand access to capital, credit, and technical assistance, streamline the regulatory process, and fight to strengthen our overall economic prosperity by maintaining fiscal discipline, provide tax cuts to strengthen business investment, and work to open foreign markets.

THE RECORD

• Longest Peacetime Expansion In U.S. History
• Casting the Deciding Vote for the 1993 Economic Plan. Vice President Al Gore cast the deciding vote for the Administration's 1993 Economic Plan, which has helped fuel the longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history.
• Eliminating the Budget Deficit. The Administration's 1993 Economic Plan has helped to transform a record budget deficit, which was $290 billion in 1992, into a projected $115 billion surplus in 1999 - the largest in history.
• More than 20 Million New Jobs Created. During the Clinton-Gore Administration, more than 20 million jobs have been created, almost 90 percent of which have been created in the private sector - the highest percentage in 50 years. Small businesses represent roughly 52 percent of the private sector.
• Low Unemployment. During this Administration, the unemployment rate has been reduced to 4.0 percent, the lowest rate in 30 years - and a dramatic drop from the 7.5 percent unemployment rate in 1992.
• Lowest Inflation Since 1959. Last year, the GDP price index rose at an annual rate of 1.0 percent, the lowest since 1959.
• Steady Economic Growth. During the Clinton-Gore Administration, the economy has grown at an average rate of 3.5 percent per year. This is in comparison to the Bush Administration when growth averaged 1.3 percent per year and 2.4 percent per year during the Reagan-Bush years.
• Increasing Business Investment. Real productive business investment is up 12.3 percent per year during the Clinton-Gore Administration - faster than any Administration since President Kennedy. During the previous Administration, real business investment rose just 1.9 percent annually.
• Productive Business Investment Also Growing. During the first quarter of 1999, productive business investment grew 9.5 percent. In1998, it grew 16.6 percent, the sixth consecutive year of double-digit business investment growth.
• Lowering the Bankruptcy Rate. Business bankruptcies have dropped by 13.7 percent during the Clinton-Gore Administration, as opposed to increasing by 1.5 percent during the Bush Administration. In 1997, there were 10,000 fewer bankruptcies than in 1990, which was the best year of the Bush Administration.
• Assisting Small Business
• Creating New Businesses in Record Numbers. During this Administration, more than 4.1 million businesses have been created. Over this same period, the annual average number of business formations has increased by 10 percent versus the previous Administration. In 1997 alone, a record 885,000 new businesses were created - 116,000 more than during the best year of the Bush Administration.
• More Than 2.2 Million New Small Businesses. Of the more than 4 million new businesses that have been created during this Administration, more than 2 million have been small businesses.
• Higher Incomes for Small Businesses. During this Administration, small business incomes have increased by 14.2 percent versus falling by 1 percent during the previous administration. In 1997, small businesses accounted for $70 billion more in income than they did during 1991, the best year of the Bush Administration.
• Expanding Access to Capital. Al Gore and the Administration have worked to give small business the capital they need to grow and prosper. During this Administration, the Small Business Administration has guaranteed $59 billion in loans to small businesses, more than the previous 12 years combined.
• Increasing Loans to Underrepresented Communities. Al Gore and the Administration have worked to get all Americans the capital they need to pursue their dreams. During this Administration, lending to African American- and Latino-owned businesses has doubled and lending to women-owned businesses has tripled. The number of veterans receiving help has also doubled since 1992.
• Investing in America's High-Technology Industry. The Administration has shown its commitment to keeping the United States on the cutting edge of high-technology by granting $184 million in Technology Transfer awards to high-tech businesses. Currently SBA loan programs assist over 2,000 high-technology firms and the Small Business Innovation Research Program invested more than $900 million in small high-technology firms in FY 1996 alone.
• Making Microloans to Assist Small Businesses. The Small Business Administration has made more than 7,900 Microloans totaling more than $80 million since 1992. In addition, the SBA has assisted other microbusinesses in obtaining more than $24 million in loans from nongovernment sources. These small loans are critical in helping small businesspersons get start-up capital, along with technical assistance, that they might not otherwise receive. These Microloans have created and retained 11,321 jobs.
• Easing the Tax Burden. In 1997, the Administration fought for and signed the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut the estate tax, increased the health-insurance deduction for self-employed individuals and updated home-office deductions. In addition, small businesses will have access to more capital due to new changes in the capital gains tax rates.
• Working for Regulatory Relief. The Administration signed the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, which will require federal agencies to ease the impact of rules on small businesses. These initiatives saved small businesses over $600 million in 1998.

AL GORE'S PLAN TO FIGHT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

• Tax Relief For Small Business: Al Gore has been a long-time supporter of a targeted tax cut aimed at spurring investment in small business.
• A Permanent Research and Experimentation Tax Credit, not subject to the annual battle over renewal on the current credit, so that companies can make investments for the future. Gore supports expanding this new R&D Credit so that small businesses can take better advantage of it by making the credit partially refundable.
• Estate Tax Relief. Al Gore supports providing estate tax relief for small businesses and family farms. Gore supports doubling the amount of estate tax exemption for small businesses. With this relief, the majority of small businesses would no longer have to pay any estate tax on their small business and estate taxes will dramatically fall for many more small businesses.
• Creation of the "New Markets." Providing tax credits and loans to guarantee incentives to stimulate $22 billion of new private capital investments in economically distressed communities around the country.
• Lifelong Learning: Al Gore knows an educated workforce is the best guarantee that American will compete and win in the 21st century economy. That is why he has proposed investing part of the surplus in an Education Reform Trust Fund that will ensure Americans have the best education system in the world.
• Help Create the Best System of Public Education, So our Children Get the Education They Need to Succeed in the 21st Century. He is committed to working with parents, teachers, and principals to create the modern classrooms, higher standards, and smaller class sizes and schools every child deserves. Additionally he will make it easier for parents to save for college tuition - tax free.
• Finish the Job of Connecting our Classrooms to the Internet, so that one day a child can reach a hand a cross a keyboard and read every book ever written, hear every symphony ever composed and see every painting ever painted. That means we must ensure that these new technologies are as easy for teachers to use as chalkboards are today.
• Create new 401(j) training accounts with tax preferences to encourage workers to save for their own training, and provide tax cuts for those who do.
• Expand Life Long Learning programs, so that every adult who needs training to adapt to the new economy can get it - and can prosper from the technological change.
• Promoting Trade and Developing Foreign Markets. Throughout his career in public service, Al Gore has supported agreements that encourage free and fair trade as a way to open foreign markets to the superior goods and services produced in America. He believes that opening foreign markets has been one of the keys to the sustained creation of good, quality jobs for American workers during the last seven years. Exports sustain about 1 in 5 factory jobs - jobs that pay more than jobs not tied to the global economy. Open markets spur innovation, speed the growth of new industries, and make our businesses more competitive. As President, Al Gore will work to knock down barriers to fair trade so other nation's markets are as open as our own.
• Pursue an international agreement to make "cyberspace" a permanent "duty-free zone," so that U.S. companies can sell goods around the world via the Internet, without duties.
• Insist that other countries apply their trade obligations under WTO in a way that does not discriminate against electronic commerce.
• Insist that other countries refrain from enacting trade-related measures that could impede e-commerce.
• Regulation. Small businesses also need a regulatory environment that does not create undue compliance burdens, while protecting consumers, workers, and the environment. Over the last eight years, we have made good progress and worker related injuries are at an all time low. As President, Al Gore will build on recent successes and direct government agencies to continue seeking ways to improve employee health and safety, with little cost or confusion to small businesses.
• Expanding Access to Capital, Credit, and Opportunity for Small Business
• Strengthen Small Business Administration Programs (SBA). Al Gore supports strengthening SBA programs that support the creation and expansion of small businesses.
• Extend Empowerment Zones. Create a third round of Empowerment Zones to encourage investment and job creation in distressed communities
• Support Microenterprise Lending and Technical Assistance. Al Gore strongly supports the Small Business Administration's Microloan program, Individual Development Accounts, and the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
• Small Business Investment Company Program. Create more flexibility and new financing terms for Small Business Investment Companies that invest in underserved areas.
• Expand the innovative "BusinessLINC." Al Gore will strengthen the innovative BusinessLINC program, which allows entrepreneurs and small businesses to better work with larger businesses to expand investment.

Source: Al Gore for President 2000 Web Site