[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 3, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27677-27679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09539]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 3, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 27677]]


                Proclamation 10567 of April 28, 2023

                
National Small Business Week, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                From barber shops, beauty salons, and pizza parlors to 
                manufacturing companies and mom-and-pop shops, 
                Americans have applied to form a record 10.5 million 
                small businesses in the past 2 years. This week, we 
                celebrate the backbone of our economy and the glue of 
                our communities: our small businesses, which help make 
                our Nation strong.

                Nearly half of all private sector workers in our 
                country are employed by small businesses. These 
                businesses also account for almost half of our Nation's 
                gross domestic product. They create many of the goods 
                and services Americans rely on to sustain their 
                everyday lives. For many families, owning a small 
                business is also the fulfillment of their dreams, their 
                path to a better life, their chance to build a family 
                legacy, and a source of community enrichment. But as so 
                many entrepreneurs know well, success can never be 
                taken for granted.

                Success requires access to capital to meet payroll, pay 
                rent, buy inventory, and grow. Small businesses need 
                resilient supply chains so products can get out the 
                door and arrive on time, and they need high-speed 
                Internet to process transactions and connect with 
                customers around the world. They also need the 
                confidence that, when the going gets tough, support is 
                close by.

                When companies were shuttering their doors and laying 
                off workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my 
                Administration delivered a capital infusion of more 
                than $450 billion to the small business sector to keep 
                Main Streets across America operating and employees on 
                the payroll. To create long-term benefits for our 
                economy, I signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 
                the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction 
                Act. Together, these new laws are creating billions of 
                dollars in contracting opportunities for America's 
                small businesses and investing hundreds of billions of 
                Federal dollars to rebuild our infrastructure, bring 
                manufacturing back to America, and launch a clean 
                energy revolution right here in the United States.

                Our historic investment in semiconductors--the tiny 
                computer chips that power everything from smartphones 
                to cars--will create a manufacturing boom, including 
                for small businesses throughout the semiconductor 
                supply chain. Record funding for clean energy 
                development means small businesses have the opportunity 
                to build electric and other fuel cell vehicles and 
                charging stations. My Administration is committed to 
                investing in America and empowering its small 
                businesses to thrive. I underscored that during my 
                State of the Union Address when I announced new 
                standards that require all construction materials used 
                in these new Federal infrastructure projects to be made 
                in America--ensuring our country's future is built 
                right here at home.

[[Page 27678]]

                We need to make sure all American small business owners 
                benefit from these investments. That is why I am 
                committed to improving access to capital, contracts, 
                technical expertise, and financial and legal assistance 
                for small business owners from historically 
                underrepresented communities. Through our State Small 
                Business Credit Initiative, States, territories, and 
                Tribal governments are helping small business owners, 
                including socially and economically disadvantaged 
                entrepreneurs, access billions of dollars in loans and 
                investments. The Small Business Administration is 
                revamping its existing loan programs to expand access 
                to small-dollar loans and increase the number of 
                lenders that offer guaranteed loans, both of which can 
                make a major difference for the smallest businesses and 
                minority- and women-owned businesses that may have 
                trouble accessing capital.

                One of the first actions taken by my Administration was 
                to make the Minority Business Development Agency a 
                permanent part of the Department of Commerce. In March, 
                I hosted the second annual Women's Small Business 
                Summit at the White House, where I announced the 
                establishment of the largest network of Women's 
                Business Centers ever across America. My Administration 
                has invested nearly $70 million in this network, 
                expanding it to all 50 States for the first time in our 
                history. The centers offer training and mentoring to 
                help women entrepreneurs develop business plans, launch 
                new businesses, and access credit and capital.

                Vice President Kamala Harris has convened small 
                business owners and entrepreneurs across our Nation to 
                inform them about the resources, capital, and support 
                we are offering them. Last year she announced the 
                formation of the new Economic Opportunity Coalition, an 
                alliance of private sector companies and nonprofits 
                committing tens of billions of dollars of investments 
                in community financial institutions and small 
                businesses. In April of this year, she and the Deputy 
                Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced our new 
                $1.73 billion investment in the Community Development 
                Financial Institutions Fund, which provides 
                historically underserved and often low-income 
                communities access to credit, capital, and financial 
                support to grow their businesses.

                We are making progress, but I know there is more we can 
                do. I have set a goal to award 15 percent of all 
                Federal contracts to small disadvantaged businesses by 
                2025, which will bring an estimated additional $100 
                billion in Federal contracting money to these 
                companies. My new Budget calls for an additional $341 
                million for the Community Development Financial 
                Institutions Fund, and I am seeking an additional $30 
                million for the Community Navigators Pilot Program--
                which we have already supported with $100 million--so 
                that local nonprofits, government agencies, and 
                organizations can help new entrepreneurs navigate the 
                complex paperwork involved in applying for small 
                business loans.

                Building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, 
                not the top down, means investing in America's small 
                businesses. It means opening up doors of opportunity 
                for doers, dreamers, and job creators who represent the 
                restless, bold, and optimistic American spirit. When we 
                make these investments and support these innovators, 
                our Main Streets thrive, our families have good-paying 
                jobs, and America's future truly knows no bounds.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 30 
                through May 6, 2023, as National Small Business Week. I 
                call upon all Americans to recognize the contributions 
                of small businesses to the American economy, continue 
                supporting them, and honor the occasion with programs 
                and activities that highlight these important 
                businesses.

[[Page 27679]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-09539
Filed 5-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P