[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 26, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 28711-28712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13595]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 26, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 28711]]


                Proclamation 7200 of May 22, 1999

                
Small Business Week, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                From the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age, 
                small businesses have powered the American economy and 
                created much of our prosperity. Generations of 
                entrepreneurs have found in small businesses an outlet 
                for their creativity, the source of their livelihood, 
                and a chance to share in the American Dream. Millions 
                of American consumers have found in small businesses 
                the innovative products and vital services they need to 
                improve the quality of their lives.

                Today, America's 24 million small businesses employ 
                more than half our country's work force and generate 
                more than $16 trillion in revenue--more than 50 percent 
                of our gross domestic product. Small firms are also a 
                true avenue of opportunity for women and minorities, 
                for older and younger workers, and for part-time 
                employees and those formerly on public assistance. They 
                provide 67 percent of working Americans with their 
                first job and their initial on-the-job training in 
                basic work skills.

                My Administration is deeply committed to creating an 
                environment in which small businesses can thrive. 
                Through programs administered by the Small Business 
                Administration (SBA)--such as the business loan 
                guarantee program, the economic development loan 
                program, the microloan program, the small business 
                investment company program, and the disaster loan and 
                surety bond programs--we have given small business 
                owners access to financial assistance. Last year alone, 
                the SBA guaranteed almost $11 billion in loans to small 
                businesses, provided technical and management 
                assistance to almost a million people, and helped 
                entrepreneurs compete for more than $33 billion in 
                Federal contracts. Through tax relief and regulatory 
                streamlining and by opening overseas markets and 
                providing export assistance, we are helping America's 
                small businesses compete successfully in the global 
                marketplace.

                The men and women who own and manage America's small 
                businesses have made enormous contributions to the 
                technological innovations, job growth, and prosperity 
                we enjoy today. But those contributions cannot be 
                measured in dollars and cents alone; entrepreneurs give 
                back to their communities in myriad ways, making them 
                better places in which to live and work. During Small 
                Business Week, we have a special opportunity--and 
                obligation--to acknowledge the achievements of small 
                business men and women and to express our appreciation 
                for the vision, energy, and effort they bring to their 
                enterprises.

                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 23 through May 29, 1999, 
                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.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-nine,

[[Page 28712]]

                and of the Independence of the United States of America 
                the two hundred and twenty-third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-13595
Filed 5-25-99; 9:04 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P