EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Unemployment Down to 6.1%: The unemployment rate in New Mexico has declined from 7.5% to 6.1% since 1993. 117,900 New Jobs: 117,900 new jobs have been created in New Mexico since 1993 -- an average of 18,616 jobs per year-compared to an average of just 14,500 jobs per year during the previous administration. 96,100 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 96,100 new private sector jobs have been created-an average of 15,174 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 10,675 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration. 11,500 New Construction Jobs: 11,500 construction jobs have been created in New Mexico since 1993 -- an average of 1,816 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of only 425 construction jobs were created each year during the previous administration. 83,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 35,000 New Mexico workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage-from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 48,000 more received an additional raise-from $4.75 to $5.15 -- on September 1, 1997. A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton, the Balanced Budget delivers a child tax credit to 177,000 families in New Mexico. Homeownership Has Increased in New Mexico: Homeownership in New Mexico has increased from 67.4% to 72.9% since the fourth quarter of 1993. Home Building Up 5.9%: New home building has increased an average of 5.9% per year after falling an average of 1.5% per year during the previous two administrations. Over $25,000 of Reduced Federal Debt for Every Family of Four: The national debt will be $1.7 trillion lower in FY99 than projected in 1993 -- that's $25,000 less debt for each family of four in New Mexico this year. EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Over 7,000 Children in Head Start: Over 7,000 New Mexico children were enrolled in Head Start in 1998. In FY99, New Mexico will receive $34.7 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $15.8 million over 1993. More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for New Mexico's Schools: Thanks to President Clinton, the final FY99 budget provides for the first year of the President's new initiative to hire 100,000 new, well-prepared teachers, to reduce class sizes in the early grades to a national average of 18. New Mexico receives $9.6 million in 1999 to hire about 247 new public school teachers. And, under President Clinton's proposal, New Mexico would receive $11 million in FY2000 to support a total of 314 teachers. $3.5 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY99], New Mexico receives $3.5 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. Nearly $3.5 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY99], New Mexico receives nearly $3.5 million for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century. $63.1 Million for Students Most in Need: New Mexico will receive $63.1 million in Title I grants (to Local Educational Agencies) providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY99]. $63.9 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY99], New Mexico will receive $63.9 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, an additional $3 million over last year. With this increase, a total of 32,500 New Mexico students will benefit. Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY99 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. New Mexico will receive $6.6 million in Work-Study funding in 1999 to help New Mexico students work their way through college. Over 900 Have Served in New Mexico through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 936 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in New Mexico's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 11/98] Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 44,000 students in New Mexico will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 53,000 students in New Mexico will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate] Expanded Job Training to New Mexico's Dislocated Workers: Thanks to President Clinton, the FY99 budget includes a significant expansion in the dislocated worker program. New Mexico will receive $12.7 million in 1999 to help 7,500 of New Mexico's dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE
664 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 664 new police officers to date in communities across New Mexico. [through 7/99] Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in New Mexico, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of Las Cruces and Albuquerque. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of New Mexico communities including: Santa Fe, Aztec, Gallup, Mescalero, San Juan Pueblo, and Taos. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes. Over $4.7 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, New Mexico received $4.78 million in federal funds in FY98 to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. $400,000 in Grants for Battered Women: In FY98, New Mexico received $400,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse. Nearly $3.3 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of New Mexico's Schools: New Mexico receives $3.3 million in FY99 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs. MOVING NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK:
14,253 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 14,253 fewer people on welfare in New Mexico now than there were when President Clinton took office-an 15% decrease. [through 12/98] Child Support Collections Up 89%: Child support collections have increased by nearly $17 million - or 89% -- in New Mexico since FY92. [through FY98] Encouraging Responsible Choices-Preventing Teen Pregnancy in New Mexico: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1992 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 15% in New Mexico. $21.1 Million for New Mexico Welfare-to-Work: In 1998, New Mexico received $9.7 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $4.9 million in funding), helping New Mexico welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, $6.3 million in competitive grants were awarded to New Mexico localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies and Native American tribes in New Mexico received $156,000 in Federal funding. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Sante Fe, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque have received a total of $1.87 million this year to fund innovative transit projects. INVESTING IN NEW MEXICO'S HEALTH
Health Care for Uninsured Children: The balanced budget included the largest single investment in health care for children since the passage of Medicaid in 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits-from checkups to surgery -- that children need to grow up strong and healthy. It ensures that prescription drugs, vision, hearing, and mental health coverage now offered at the state level are extended to millions of uninsured children. To expand health coverage to more uninsured children in New Mexico the balanced budget provided $57.7 million in 1998. This compares to the 1995 Republican plan vetoed by President Clinton that would have denied health care coverage to 6,800 children in New Mexico. Helping 56,000 New Mexico Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY98, New Mexico received $28.1 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 56,000 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 5,000 more than in 1994. More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC,by 1996, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines-surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In New Mexico in 1997, 93% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 88% received the vaccine for polio; 87% received the vaccine for measles, and 89% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis. Increased Funding for Ryan White by $7.0 Million: Between 1993 and 1998, New Mexico communities received $7.0 million in Ryan White formula and other HIV/AIDS program funds. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program which helps those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 12/98] Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 43% in New Mexico: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 43% in New Mexico by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 20,800 of New Mexico's youth will be kept from smoking and 6,700 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99] 540,000 Americans in New Mexico Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if New Mexico enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 540,000 people in New Mexico cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 260,000 New Mexico women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights. PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
5 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up: Since 1993, the EPA has completed five Superfund toxic waste clean-ups in New Mexico. The sites are located in Church Rock, Lemitar, Grants, Prewitt, and Albuquerque [through 6/99]. There were only two sites cleaned up in New Mexico during the previous twelve years combined. $8.4 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY99], thanks to President Clinton, New Mexico will receive $7.4 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems. In addition, New Mexico will receive $953,100 in Public Water Supply Supervision grants to help monitor drinking water quality and enforce health standards. Revitalizing Brownfields Project In New Mexico: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to Santa Fe and Bernalillo County for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. In addition, the State of New Mexico Environment Department and the Rio Grande Council of Governments, TX & NM, which includes a county in southern New Mexico, will benefit from Brownfields grants. This project is intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use. SPEARHEADING URBAN AND RURAL RENEWAL EFFORTS
Revitalizing New Mexico's Communities: Albuquerque and Mora were designated as Enterprise Communities in December, 1994 and awarded $3 million each to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for city residents. In 1999, Deming was named a Rural Enterprise Community. Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,300 To 1,600 New Affordable Housing Units in New Mexico Over the Next 5 Years: Last year, the President and Vice President pushed for a 40-percent expansion in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This year, the President and Vice President will try again to enact tax incentives to develop affordable housing. In New Mexico alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,300 - 1,600 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years. PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF
$5 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, New Mexico has received $5 million in disaster relief. This includes over $2 million in assistance for severe winter storms and Osha Canyon complex and extreme fire hazards in 1998 and, to recover from floods that occurred in March of 1993. [FEMA, 12/98] EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
Over $1 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, New Mexico has received over $1 billion in federal highway aid. Included in this funding is $5.2 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 43,986 jobs. [through FY98] Over $71 Million in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY98 New Mexico received over $71 million in Airport Improvement Project funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports. Approximately 60 Million in Transit Funds: New Mexico has received approximately $60 million in FTA funds from 1993-1997.
Last Updated July 1999
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