To understand what kind of President Al Gore will be, you need only to look at his accomplishments as Vice President. Throughout his career, Al Gore has provided leadership on issues important to America's families.

GROWING THE ECONOMY

The Longest Peacetime Economic Expansion in U.S. History. Vice President Al Gore cast the deciding vote for the Administration's 1993 economic plan, which has helped:

• eliminate a record federal budget deficit, from a $290 billion deficit in 1992 to a projected $79 billion surplus in 1999 -- the largest in history.

• create nearly 19 million new jobs.

• reduce the unemployment rate to 4.3 percent -- a dramatic drop from the 7.5 percent unemployment rate in 1992. The unemployment rate has been at or below 5 percent for 24 consecutive months.

• foster the highest home ownership rate ever.

• create over 2.2 million new small businesses since 1992.

PROMOTING STRONGER FAMILIES

Fighting for Tax Cuts for Families with Children. Gore fought for the enactment of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which included a $500 per child tax credit for 27 million families with 45 million children.

Cast Deciding Vote in Favor of Tax Relief for Working Families and to Help Children Out of Poverty. Gore cast the deciding vote in favor of the Administration's 1993 budget, which included tax relief for 15 million working families through the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 1997, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people out of poverty, more than half of whom were children under the age of 18.

Working for a Minimum Wage Increase. As Vice President, Gore worked hard for the minimum wage increase enacted under this Administration in 1996, which raised the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 an hour. Ten million Americans received an increase in wages. He is now pressuring Congress to pass a minimum wage increase for working families this year.

Supporting and Expanding Family and Medical Leave. As Vice President, Al Gore has fought for the Family and Medical Leave Act which became law under this Administration and covers millions of workers. The FMLA grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to care for a new baby or for sick relative. Gore also supports proposals to expand the FMLA to give workers more choices when confronted with the need to work overtime or when parents need to meet their children's teachers.

Helping Create a TV Rating System to Protect Children from Violence in the Media. Al Gore led the Administration's efforts to forge a voluntary TV ratings system with the major networks, as outlined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The plan includes a system of content labels warning of violence, sex, offensive language and sexual dialogue to complement an earlier age-based system. The ratings work in conjunction with the V-chip to empower parents to control what their children watch.

IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Supported the Largest Single Increase in Education Investment in 30 Years. As part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, Congress passed the HOPE scholarship tax credit program proposed by the Administration. This new program will give students a $1,500 tax credit to help make the first two years of college universally available. The HOPE Scholarships are expected to help 5.9 million students attend college. The 1997 Act included other tax deductions that helped make it the largest single increase in education spending in 30 years.

Working for Smaller Class Sizes. Al Gore has called on Congress to build upon last year's successes in reducing class sizes. Last year, Congress agreed to partially fund an Administration initiative to help schools hire additional teachers. Gore is now challenging Congress to finish the job by providing the funding needed to hire 100,000 new teachers.

Working to Expand Early Childhood Education. Since 1993, the President and Vice President have increased funding for Head Start by 68 percent. Their efforts have helped increase enrollment in the program by 200,000 children, bringing the total number of children in Head Start to 835,000 in 1998. Earlier this year, Vice President Gore announced a new Administration proposal to expand Head Start even further. As part of their Fiscal 2000 budget proposal, the Administration is proposing to increase Head Start funding by $600 million -- which, if enacted, would be the largest increase in the program's history.

Increasing Funding for Pell Grants. At Gore and the Administration have worked to dramatically increase financial assistance for college students. In 1997, the Administration succeeded in securing the largest one year increase in the Pell Grant program in two decades. Pell Grants helped nearly 4 million low-and moderate-income students attend college last year.

Leading the Effort to Connect Every Classroom to the Internet. In 1996, Vice President Gore launched the national initiative to wire every classroom to the Internet. In the first eighteen months of the program, more than 80,000 schools and libraries received $1.66 billion in funding -- helping to connect 640,000 classrooms to the Internet. More than 53 percent of those schools and libraries that received funding were in the poorest neighborhoods.

IMPROVING HEALTHCARE

Increasing the Life of the Medicare Trust Fund. Al Gore has been a leader in the fight to help preserve Medicare and extend the life of the program until at least 2015. In 1999, the Clinton/Gore Administration called for 15 percent of the budget surplus to be dedicated to preserving Medicare.

Working for Access to Quality Health Care. Al Gore has fought for a Patients' Bill of Rights to ensure that Americans have access to quality health care. He has been an outspoken advocate for reforms to help those insured by HMOs get the care they need, when they need it. Gore was also a leading supporter of legislation enacted under the current Administration which is helping millions of people keep their health care coverage even when changing jobs.

Largest Investment in Children's Health Care Since 1965. In 1997, the Administration approved the largest investment in children's health care in more than 30 years. The $24 billion Children's Health Insurance Program signed by this Administration will provide coverage for up to 5 million children throughout the Urinal States. Last year, Gore worked to ensure that the millions of children eligible under this program get the care they need.

Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research, Since 1993, funding for breast cancer research, prevention and treatment has doubled, from $283 million in Fiscal Year 1993 to $599 million in Fiscal Year 1999. In addition, the Administration has implemented the Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure the quality of mammograms.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

Gore and the Administration Have Safeguarded Our Drinking Water. During his tenure as Vice President Al Gore has been a leader in protecting drinking water in our communities. He fought for the Administration's "Clean Water Action Plan," which advocates increased water quality standards. The Administration also successfully passed the "Safe Drinking Water Act" 1996, and passed a "Communities Right to Know" provision so that 55,000 Water systems will provide "consumer confidence" reports each year so their customers to inform them of the quality of the water they are receiving.

Gore and the Administration Have Worked for Clean Air. As Vice President, Al Gore has been a leader in the Administration's efforts to clean up the air: new clean air standards adopted two years ago will prevent up to 15,000 premature deaths a year, and help millions of Americans who suffer from respiratory illness. Gore praised the new standards as "the most significant steps in a generation to protect the American people, especially our children, from air pollution.”

A Leader In Protecting the Global Environment. The Vice President has been a leader in the Administration's efforts to protect the global environment. Gore hosted a White House conference on the Administration's “Climate Change Action Plan" and his participating in an international summit on reducing amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse forms that are required into the atmosphere led to a breakthrough commitment to reduce greenhouse gases around the world.

Working to Protecting America's Environmental Treasures. Al Gore has led the Administrator's efforts to protect our environmental treasures. In 1998, Vice President Gore unveiled a $7.8 billion restoration proposal to help restore the normal water flow in the Everglades. Gore has also supported efforts to ban drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Range in order to protect more than 19 million acres of refuge -- the last intact Arctic ecosystem. In addition, the Administration took a strong stand to protect more than 10 million acres of old growth reserves in the Pacific Northwest, and to restore, protect, and revitalize 14 rivers designated as "American Heritage Rivers."

Making Substantial Achievements in Toxic Waste Clean-Up. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, nearly three times as many Superfund cleanups have been completed than in the previous two presidential administrations. In addition the Administration's budget for FY2000 includes $1.5 billion for the Superfund position.

Working with Automakers to Develop Energy-Efficient Vehicles. In 1993, Vice President Gore was instrumental in reaching an agreement between the Big Three automakers and the federal government to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles within one decade.

WORKING FOR SAFER COMMUNITIES

Cast the Tie-Breaking Vote for Closing the Gun Show Loophole. In the wake of school shootings in Colorado and Georgia, the Vice President cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate to require background checks on anyone who purchases a gun at a gun show or retrieves a gun from a pawn shop. As passed by the Senate, this legislation would effectively close a loophole in existing law that has allowed gun shows to be exempt from the Brady Law.

Fought for the Landmark 1994 Crime Bill to Fund 100,000 Police on the Street, Ban Dangerous Assault Weapons. Al Gore was one of the most outspoken advocates for the 1994 crime bill. This landmark legislation provided funds to put 100,000 community police officers on the street, expanded the death penalty to dozens of new crimes, included the Violence Against Women Act, and took 19 deadly assault weapons off the street.

Lowest Violent Crime Rate Since 1973. Under this Administration, the violent crime victimization rate has dropped 21 percent, bringing it to the lowest level since 1973, when the survey began. Also, the murder rate is at its lowest point in 30 years.

REFORMING GOVERNMENT

Making Government Work Better and Cost Less. Vice President Gore's efforts to reinvent government have saved taxpayers $137 billion by eliminating waste and redundancy. This initiative has eliminated 16,000 pages of regulations and 640,000 pages of needless internal rules.

Reducing the Federal Workforce to its Lowest Level in 30 years. The reinventing efforts have helped reduce the federal workforce by more than 350,000, to its lowest levels since President John F. Kennedy.

A LEADER IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS

A Recognized Leader in Foreign Affairs. Al Gore has played a key role in the Administration's foreign policy successes. He has helped to reduce deadly nuclear arsenals, sustain fragile political reforms, resolved trade disputes, and pave the way for far greater U.S. investment abroad through direct intervention with foreign leaders.

Gore has formed close working relationships with foreign leaders through bi-national commissions with Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Egypt, and Kazakhstan.

Gore was the lead negotiator on a deal to convert Russian nuclear weapons plants to civilian uses, part of the U.S. efforts to reduce the nuclear stockpile in Russia.

Gore Worked to Resolve the Crisis in Kosovo. Gore has worked directly with world leaders in times of crisis, including the recent conflict in Kosovo. Gore spoke with the Russian Prime Minister to inform him of NATO's plans to attack in Kosovo, and was instrumental in the final efforts to reach a peace accord in the region.