Helping Create a Future for All Children

• Paul received a 100% rating from the Children ’s Defense Fund for his work on behalf of children.
• Paul ’s Kids Come First plan proposes to put $2 billion into our schools instead of a further tax cut for
  America ’s wealthiest 1%.
• In 1998 Paul Wellstone introduced legislation to improve the quality and affordability of childcare by
  providing $5 million to help families pay for the service.
• Wellstone opposed the 1999 Juvenile Justice Reform Act because it failed to include a provision to reduce the
  disproportionate number of children of color coming into the juvenile justice system.

Working Hard for Affordable Housing

• In 2000 Wellstone cosponsored a measure to fund the construction of affordable housing and provide home
  ownership opportunities for low-income families.
• Senator Wellstone cosponsored a measure reducing the estate tax repeal by $5 billion in order to provide
  affordable housing. The Republican-controlled Senate defeated this measure, 52-45.
• In 1999 Paul Wellstone introduced a measure to protect tenants from sudden rent increases by giving at least 5
  months advance notice that an affordable building is leaving the federal subsidy program.

Pressing for Affordable Health Care for All

• Paul Wellstone has continuously introduced legislation to provide universal health care coverage.
• Paul sponsored the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which required private insurance companies to treat
  mental illness as it treats other medical conditions.
• Paul Wellstone introduced and supported laws to secure funding for state and local governments to provide
  mental-health and substance-abuse treatment to children in the juvenile justice system.

Fighting for Effective Welfare Reform

• Paul Wellstone believes the goal of public policy should be to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  (TANF)recipients become economically self-sufficient. He opposes the President ’s budget that slashes
  funding for job training and skills development, programs critical to those trying to move out of poverty.

Fighting for Racial Justice

• Wellstone helped pass the Civil Rights Bill of 1991.
• Wellstone supported a Congressional resolution seeking a formal apology to the descendants of slaves.
• Following the 2000 Florida vote, Wellstone cosponsored an electoral reform measure to ensure that the
  disenfranchisement of African American voters would not happen again.