***** Reformatted. Please distribute CLINTON/GORE ON CIVIL RIGHTS For twelve years Republicans have divided us pitting rich against poor, black against white, woman against man, and creating a country where we no longer recognize that were all in this together. They have profited by fostering an atmosphere of blame and denial instead of building an ethic of responsibility. President Bush and Vice President Quayle had the chance to bring out the best in us. Instead they appealed to the worst. The White House's greatest responsibility is to bring us together, not to drive us apart. A Clinton/Gore Administration will actively work to protect the civil rights of all Americans. Bill Clinton will nominate jurists to the federal courts who have demonstrated wisdom, maturity, and intelligence in their legal work jurists with a firm grounding in the rule of law and a firm belief in the fundamental importance of civil rights equal opportunity in our society. A Clinton/Gore Justice Department will aggressively prosecute offenders of civil rights laws and will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court for interpretations of the law that support its underlying content. Bill Clinton and Al Gore believe Americans want to be part of a nation that is coming together. It is time to heal the divisions that have scarred our nation. Rights for all * Support strong and effective enforcement of the 1991 Civil Rights Act to ensure workplace fairness rules for all Americans. Bill Clinton criticized President Bush for cynically characterizing the landmark 1991 Civil Rights Act as a quota bill. * Oppose racial quotas. * Crack down on violence against women in the workplace, on college campuses, and in their homes; sign the Violence Against Women Act to provide tougher enforcement and stiffer penalties to deter domestic violence. * Support the Equal Rights Amendment and work hard to ensure its passage. * Strongly enforce the Americans With Disabilities Act. * Extend language assistance provisions in the Voting Rights Act to ensure language-minority Americans an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. * Enforce Title 9, which prohibits sex discrimination in education. * Support federal civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians that respects freedom of religion by exempting religious organizations; and that provides clear evidence standards to be used in court. * Support the Equal Remedies Act, which lifts damages caps for women, people with disabilities and religious minorities in workplace discrimination cases. * Work to pass the Motor-Voter Bill, which will ease voter registration requirements and bring more Americans into the political process, but which President Bush vetoed. * Support statehood for the District of Columbia. Economic empowerment * Fight for civil rights, not just by protecting individual liberties, but by providing equal economic opportunity; support new anti-poverty initiatives that move beyond the outdated answers of both major parties and instead reflect the values most Americans share: work, family, individual responsibility, community. Empower people to make their own choices and regain control of their destinies. * Require every employer to spend 1.5 percent of payroll for continuing education and job training -- and make them provide the training to all workers, not just executives. Workers will be able to choose advanced skills training, the chance to earn a high school diploma, or the opportunity to learn to read. * Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to ensure that no one with a family who works full-time has to raise their children in poverty by making up the difference between a family's earnings and the poverty level. * Bring business, labor, and education leaders together to develop a national apprenticeship system that offers non college-bound students valuable skills training, with the promise of good jobs when they graduate. * Launch a national network of community development banks to spur economic growth in urban and rural areas by making loans to low-income entrepreneurs who start new businesses and to home owners. The Record Involving and empowering those once excluded * Bill Clinton has named African Americans to numerous cabinet positions in Arkansas, including the Arkansas Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Finance and Administration, and the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. * Clinton's appointment record is equally strong for women: his gubernatorial campaigns have been managed by women, his longest-tenured chief of staff was a woman, and in 1988 the National Women's Political Caucus ranked Clinton sixth among the nations governors in the percentage of women appointed to cabinet-level positions * Clinton appointed African Americans and women to the most powerful state boards and commissions for the first time in Arkansas history. * Under Governor Clinton's leadership, Arkansas has been a national leader in enacting legislation and developing programs to preserve Native American cultures, including passage of an act that prohibits the desecration of Native American burial sites and the commercial trade or display of human remains and sacred objects. * Senator Gore was an original cosponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1990 and supporter of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 which restore protections against racial and ethnic discrimination struck down by the Supreme Court in the 1988-89 term. * Opposed Congressional prohibitions on busing to achieve desegregation. * Cosponsored the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1987. * Cosponsored the Equal Remedies Act which will remove limitations on dollar amounts of compensatory and punitive damage awards in cases of intentional employment discrimination against women. * Consistently supported ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. * Supported the AIDS Federal Policy Act of 1987 which bans discrimination against persons with AIDS or the HIV infection. * Was an original cosponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act. * Voted for the Motor-Voter Act, which President Bush vetoed, and which would have made it easier for people with disabilities to register to vote. Expanding economic opportunity * Governor Clinton created the Division of Minority Business Development to expand minority business opportunities. Together with the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, the Division has assisted minority-controlled businesses in Arkansas with $5.2 million. It also offers regular financial advice. * Invested more than $19 million in predominantly African American communities for streets and roads, housing, city water projects, fire protection, and community centers, and over $11.5 million for sewer and wastewater projects and community parks in those communities. * Supported the creation of the Small Business Revolving Loan Fund, to provide loans to small and minority businesses primarily in rural areas. * As Attorney General and Governor, Bill Clinton recruited and employed qualified persons with disabilities on his staff. Under Clinton's current administration, the State Directors of the Division of Rehabilitation Services, and the Division of Services for the Blind are qualified individuals with severe disabilities. * With the legislature in 1985, Clinton established the Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities. The Commission has sparked more involvement and participation by persons with disabilities in both the public and private sectors. * A decade before the Americans with Disabilities Act, Governor Clinton supported administrative action to permit state agencies to secure adequate accommodations for staff with disabilities, regardless of costs. * Senator Gore consistently supported programs designed to assist businesses owned by minorities and women. He has helped expand minority business development through programs like the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. * Authored the Small Business Innovation Development Act to provide a more equitable and effective distribution of research and development funds for small businesses. He is the cosponsor of numerous bills designed to encourage small business ownership and maintain a favorable tax policy for small capital growth.