John Kerry: “in 1999, President Clinton unveiled the New Markets Investment Initiative to counter an unmet challenge in the 21st…”

“in 1999, President Clinton unveiled the New Markets Investment Initiative to counter an unmet challenge in the 21st century: building economically vibrant communities in underserved places such as inner cities and distressed rural areas, where there is a great need for jobs and economic development. The goal was to build a bridge between Wall Street and our untapped markets in Main Street America. In that same year, Senators Paul Wellstone, Jeff Bingaman, Paul Sarbanes, Carl Levin, Max Cleland, and I introduced the Community Development and Venture Capital Act to spearhead this innovative New Markets initiative in the Senate. In 2000, our New Markets initiative was enacted with bipartisan support in Congress as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2001. The New Markets Venture Capital Program, NMVC, which specifically promotes the creation of wealth and job opportunities in low-income areas, was only one part of the initiative agreed to by Speaker Hastert and then-President Clinton. The other elements of that agreement included the New Markets Tax Credits, NMTC, additional empowerment zones, and a new program: Community Renewal Zones. The overall goal of the legislation was to provide a number of different approaches to alleviating poverty so that we could better understand what works best. With the exception of the NMVC Program, all of the other programs have moved forward.…”