President Clinton's New Markets Initiative stimulated new private capital investments in economically distressed communities and built a network of private investment institutions to expand access to credit, equity, and technical assistance to businesses in America's new markets. President Clinton and House Speaker Dennis Hastert worked together to enact this bipartisan initiative as a part of the FY 2001 budget. The agreement included the extension and expansion of Empowerment Zones, a 40 percent increase in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to build an additional 700,000 units of affordable housing, the creation of the New Markets Tax Credit, the creation of New Markets Venture Capital Firms, the creation of 40 Renewal Communities, and a permanent brownfields cleanup tax incentive—totaling over $25 billion in new incentives for growth in low-income communities. The President traveled on three New Markets Tours of underserved communities, which helped generate more than $1 billion in private sector investment commitments. Through 2007, the NMTC will provide tax credits on up to $15 billion in new investments in businesses in underserved communities.