[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 3, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 30103-30104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-14905]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 106 / Wednesday, June 3, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 30103]]


                Proclamation 7102 of May 29, 1998

                
Small Business Week, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our great Nation is renowned worldwide as the land of 
                opportunity. Americans are dedicated to bettering their 
                lives, pursuing the American Dream with entrepreneurial 
                spirit and ingenuity.

                 Small business owners across our country are among the 
                true heroes of our great American success story. We owe 
                much of today's prosperity to our Nation's 23.6 million 
                small businesses. Small businesses represent 99.7 
                percent of all employers, account for 47 percent of all 
                sales in the country, employ 53 percent of the private 
                work force, and are responsible for more than half of 
                the private gross domestic product. New business 
                formation reached another record level in 1997, with 
                884,609 new employer firms--the highest ever, and a 5-
                percent increase over the last record set in 1996.

                Recognizing the extraordinary contributions of small 
                businesses to the strength and continuing growth of our 
                economy, my Administration has worked hard to implement 
                policies and programs designed to help small businesses 
                develop and expand. We are directing tax relief to more 
                small businesses, expanding access to capital, 
                supporting innovation, providing regulatory relief, 
                opening overseas markets to entrepreneurs, and 
                strengthening America's work force through investments 
                in education, training, and better benefits.

                The U.S. Small Business Administration plays a key role 
                in my Administration's efforts to help Americans start, 
                build, and grow their small businesses into the 21st 
                century. Since the end of fiscal year 1992, the SBA 
                extended or guaranteed more than $48 billion in loans 
                to small businesses, more than in the previous 12 years 
                combined. The SBA's current portfolio guarantees $29 
                billion in loans to 200,000 small business owners who 
                otherwise would not have access to capital. Realizing 
                the enormous potential of today's revolution in 
                technology, we are leading the world in the development 
                of electronic commerce and in using the Internet to 
                help advance small business opportunities.

                As Americans observe Small Business Week, let us pay 
                tribute to the hundreds of thousands of small business 
                owners across our Nation whose energy, innovative 
                spirit, and faith in our system of free enterprise have 
                done so much to generate the unprecedented prosperity 
                and growth we enjoy today.

                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 May 31 through June 6, 1998, 
                as Small Business Week. I call upon Government 
                officials and all the people of the United States to 
                observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, 
                activities, and programs that celebrate the 
                achievements of small business owners and encourage the 
                development of new enterprises.

[[Page 30104]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-14905
Filed 6-2-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P