[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 31 (Monday, August 9, 1999)]
[Page 1565]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Legislation To Advance the New Markets Initiative

August 5, 1999

    Not long ago, I invited CEO's and other business leaders to join me 
in visiting new markets across the country to highlight economic 
opportunities and to emphasize the need for greater investment in 
underserved rural and inner-city areas. I am pleased to announce that 
today, bipartisan legislation based upon my new markets initiative is 
being introduced in both the House and the Senate. This legislation 
expands upon the innovative approach to community empowerment that Vice 
President Gore and I have pioneered for nearly 7 years.
    We need to provide the same encouragement to invest in Appalachia, 
Native American reservations, the Mississippi Delta, and the inner 
cities that we provide today to invest in new markets overseas. Through 
new tax incentives and investment tools, this legislation will help to 
attract equity capital that entrepreneurs and businesses need to start 
and expand enterprises and create new jobs in low and moderate income 
communities. These tools will help corporate America to develop new 
markets in places where major corporations have rarely, if ever, looked 
before. It's good for business, it's good for America's growth, and it's 
the right thing to do.
    I am encouraged by the bipartisan support for the new markets 
initiative, as demonstrated by the lead sponsorship of this legislation 
by both Democrats and Republicans. We will continue to work with 
Congress to pass this new markets legislation into law. At a time of 
remarkable economic prosperity, we need to ensure that no community or 
person is left behind.