Presidential Documents

30427

Federal Register

Vol. 62, No. 107

Wednesday, June 4, 1997

Title 3—

The President

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
30428 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 107 / Wednesday, June 4, 1997 / Presidential Documents

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

[FR Doc. 97–7008

Filed 6–3–97; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and twenty-first.

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