[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 126, 112th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8899--NOV. 1, 2012

Proclamation 8899 of November 1, 2012

National Entrepreneurship Month, 2012

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

America is known around the world as a country that empowers the
inventor and the innovator. Ours is a Nation where men and women can
take a chance on a dream--where they can take an idea that starts around
a kitchen table or in a garage and turn it into a new business or a new
industry. During National Entrepreneurship Month, we celebrate the hard
work, ingenuity, and courage of our thinkers, doers, and makers.
Because the new businesses created by entrepreneurs are responsible for
most of the new jobs in our country, helping them succeed is essential
to helping our economy grow. That is why my Administration has fought
tirelessly to invest in entrepreneurs and small businesses so they can
do what they do best--take risks, develop new ideas, grow

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businesses,
and create new jobs. To help them expand and hire, I have signed 18 tax
cuts for small businesses into law. Last year, my Administration
launched the Startup America initiative to help connect innovators to
funding and mentorship, cut through red tape, speed up innovation, and
get their ventures off the ground faster. Alongside it, leaders in the
private sector launched the Startup America Partnership, which has made
over $1 billion in business services available to a national network
that will serve tens of thousands of startups over the next 3 years. I
also directed Federal agencies to streamline processes for establishing
public-private research partnerships, small business research and
development grants, and university-startup collaborations. And we
launched BusinessUSA, a virtual one-stop shop that helps businesses--
large and small--access the full range of Federal resources they need at
every stage of their development.
My Administration has continued to build on that progress in 2012.
Earlier this year, I signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS)
Act into law, which is making it easier for innovative companies to go
public and expand their workforce. For the first time, the law will also
allow ordinary Americans to go online and invest in the startups and
small businesses they believe in through crowdfunding platforms. We have
also updated regulations to make it easier for foundations to invest in
businesses pursuing charitable purposes and stronger communities. In
August, we launched the Presidential Innovation Fellows program to bring
top innovators outside of Government together with top innovators inside
Government; release Federal data that is being used to develop new
products, services, and businesses; make it easier for startup
entrepreneurs to compete for Government contracts; transform the way
citizens access Government information and services; and save taxpayers
money. In addition, thousands of American entrepreneurs and inventors
are helping Federal agencies solve tough problems at www.Challenge.gov.
And, as part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act I
signed in February, we have bolstered Self-Employment Assistance
programs that allow States to empower unemployed workers to start their
own businesses.
As long as America's daring entrepreneurs are taking risks and putting
themselves behind new ideas and innovations, the Federal Government will
serve as a partner to support their endeavors and catalyze their
success. This month, and during Global Entrepreneurship Week, let us
renew the spirit of innovation that has fueled more than two centuries
of American progress and promises to drive us in the years to come.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, 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 November 2012 as
National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all Americans to
commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to
celebrate November 16, 2012, as National Entrepreneurs' Day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of
November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.
BARACK OBAMA