[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 30427-30428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-7008]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 107 / Wednesday, June 4, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 30427]]
Proclamation 7008 of May 30, 1997
Small Business Week, 1997
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
America was built on the enterprise of our people--on
their ideas, their energy, their willingness to take
risks, and their willingness to pursue their dreams.
Throughout the decades, men and women of independence,
optimism, and determination have come to our shores,
confident in the knowledge that in America they could
build a life for themselves and their families through
their own initiative, creating and developing
businesses in every field of endeavor.
The success of the small business community has been a
hallmark of our free enterprise system, helping to
drive the engine of America's economy as we compete in
the global marketplace. The invaluable contributions of
small business owners to the strength of our economy
are reflected in some extraordinary statistics. The
recent record growth of the small business community
has resulted in 840,000 new employer firms over the
past year--the highest number ever, and a 2-percent
increase over the last record set in 1995. Small
businesses employ 53 percent of America's private work
force, account for 47 percent of all sales in the
country, and generate more than half of our private
gross domestic product; and industries dominated by
small business produced almost 1.5 million new jobs in
the last year alone.
Our challenge now is to help America's small business
community build on this phenomenal record of success.
My Administration is committed to giving small business
men and women the opportunity to realize their dreams.
The Small Business Administration has a portfolio
guaranteeing over $27 billion in loans to 185,000 small
businesses that otherwise would not have access to such
capital. We are encouraging microenterprise through the
Department of Treasury's Community Development
Financial Institution Fund, an initiative that makes it
easier for prospective entrepreneurs to obtain the
training and financing they need to start their own
businesses. Working in partnership with State
governments, we are striving to help modernize our
Nation's small and medium-sized manufacturers and
removing regulatory barriers to the adoption of new
technologies in such fields as telemedicine, building
and construction, and environmental technologies. We
have also developed a National Export Strategy to help
America's small and medium-sized businesses realize
their export potential and compete effectively in the
global marketplace.
As we observe Small Business Week, I join all Americans
in saluting the men and women who have embraced the
opportunities our country offers, whose hard work is
transforming their communities, and whose energy and
initiative are building our country into the kind of
Nation we want to be in the 21st century.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim June 1 through June 7, 1997,
as Small Business Week. I call upon Government
officials and all the people of the United States to
observe this week with appropriate
[[Page 30428]]
ceremonies, activities, and programs that celebrate the
achievements of small business owners and encourage the
development of new enterprises.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-7008
Filed 6-3-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
