Sub-sections under Welfare & Labor:
• Faith-based organizations
• Labor
• Other issues under Welfare & Labor

Housing: Keep interest rates low; foster more savings

Gore’s main proposals on housing:
• Keep interest rates low by paying off the national debt. “Each 1 percentage point reduction in interest rates save the typical family with a $100,000 home mortgage $850 annually,” Gore has said. “Over a decade, the total mortgage savings for all homeowners is equivalent to a $250 billion tax cut.”
• “Retirement Savings Plus” accounts that allow people to save for first-time home purchases.
• A continued commitment to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the Community Reinvestment Act, measures Gore says are key to the production of low- and moderate-income housing. “The tax credit has spurred the private development of low-income housing and is helping to build 75,000 to 90,000 housing units each year,” Gore says.
• “Better America Bonds,” a financing tool that would provide bondholders with tax credits, allowing local authorities to raise money at a lower cost for such projects as brownfield cleanups or acquiring more open space.

Invest to increase median family income by one-third by 2010

Raise family income so that by 2010, the median family’s after-tax, inflation-adjusted income increases by one third. While workers will lead the increase in productivity, the government can help foster it:
• Pay down debt to encourage investment
• Invest in people and technology
• Commonsense deregulation to spur competition
• Opening markets abroad for American goods
• Make targeted tax cuts

$2.3B in tax credits for worker training

Gore’s new investments [in training] will cost $2.3 billion over ten years and include expanded training for transitioning workers and support for appropriate training:
• Support for training to meet the needs of local communities: Gore is today proposing to offer competitive grants to communities that develop a plan to partner with local workforce boards, industry, and labor groups.
• Expanded training for dislocated workers:Gore is today proposing to provide matching challenge grants to states that provide a training allowance to all unemployed workers in approved training programs so they complete their training.
• Employer tax credits for technology training:To make it easier for workers to succeed in the new economy, Gore’s plan would offer employers up to a $6,000 tax credit per employee for worker training in information technology and other technology skills.

$200B to encourage more savings by low-income workers

Second generation of welfare reform: focus on fatherhood

“I believe we have a national obligation to insist upon responsible fatherhood - everywhere and from everyone,“ Gore said. ”Today, I call for a second generation of welfare reform. It is flat out wrong to bring a child into the world and then walk away. Every father has some basic obligations - to provide financial support for his children, to spend time with them and to treat the mother of his children with respect.“ Today, more than one third of all children live apart from their fathers. Children with absent fathers are more likely to turn to drugs and commit suicide.

Build 180,000 low-income homes; subsidize 120,000 more

Investing in inner cities is good deed & good business

7M people off welfare: reform has worked

BRADLEY: I voted against it because I didn’t think it was in the best interest of the country. And I’m wondering why you think it’s working so well when there are one million children today who’ve lost their health insurance because of welfare reform. Although the welfare rolls have dropped, [the number of] people in deep poverty have increased. [The 1996 Senate vote] was a gamble with kids for reelection. I was not willing to take that gamble. The next 4 years [required] attempts to correct a bad bill. Legal immigrants were kicked off of the welfare rolls; the strict limits of two years and five years was an onerous burden. [Those provisions] have been changed now. Governors now have flexibility. So the bill I voted against is not the bill now. But I think we need to reform welfare reform. No question about that.

Reduce child poverty via tax credits & minimum wage

Invest in urban redevelopment and “Empowerment Zones”

Strengthen voluntary charity as well as federal welfare

Al Gore thinks the government can do a lot to help poor Americans, although he, like Bush, wants to strengthen the voluntary sector. Gore would:
• increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 an hour
• expand the Earned-Income tax credit
• crack down on “deadbeat dads” and force them to pay child support
• encourage businesses to move into poor areas
• make sure people eligible for food stamps and Medicaid actually get them
• expand the child and dependent-care tax credit and make it refundable
• expand federal spending on child-care subsidies
• give all four-year-olds (not just poor ones) access to pre-school education
• strengthen Social Security benefits for elderly women living alone

Supports volunteerism thru faith-based organizations

Corporations should match donations to faith-based orgs

“Charitable Choice:” Fed funds for church-based welfare

Faith-based organizations replace govt programs

Reduce poverty to 10% via welfare reform & minimum wage

In the last eight years, poverty has fallen to its lowest level in a generation - in large measure because of our strong economy. But we can do better: we should all fight to reduce child poverty. And I am committed to taking concrete steps to see to it that fewer than one in ten Americans - children and adults -- will live in poverty by the end of the next Presidential term.
• Let’s raise the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that work always pays more than welfare.
• Let’s move more and more families from welfare to work.
• Let’s help more working parents pay for child care - which can make all the difference in getting and keeping a full-time job.
• Let’s make dramatic reductions in poverty among the elderly.

Support equal pay for equal work

For too long, men and women have seen vast disparity in their earnings. The typical woman still earns only 73% of what the typical man earns. It is time to close that gap. This gap reflects not just discrimination, but also that fewer women go into the highest paying occupations. Nation must tackle both problems.
• Fight for paycheck fairness and help employers comply with equal pay requirements
• Improve access to high-tech, high-wage jobs
• Strengthen women’s entrepreneurship

Promises labor prosperity, repeal of striker replacement law

To union: we disagree on China; but agree elsewhere

The AFL-CIO has made defeat of the China trade bill its top legislative priority for the year. Labor argues that free trade costs American jobs and does nothing to ensure labor rights overseas.

Supports Coal Miner and Widows Health Protection Act

Earlier this year, [Gore proposed] securing the long-term solvency of the United Mine Workers Combined Benefit Fund, which was created by Congress in 1992 to provide for the continuation of health benefits for retired coal miners and their families. ”In 1992, Congress reaffirmed a promise that was first made more than a half century ago by the coal industry and the federal government,“ Gore said. ”I intend to work with the Congress to make sure that this promise is kept.“

Add $1 to minimum wage; add earned-income credits

Injuries can be reduced by workers self-identifying hazards.