[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 1996)]
[Pages 853-854]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6896--National Defense Transportation Day and National 
Transportation Week, 1996

May 15, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Americans derive daily benefits from the finest transportation 
system in the world. Our Nation's network of land, sea, and air travel 
allows for the efficient movement of goods and people, strengthening our 
economy, uniting our citizens, and linking us to other countries around 
the globe. As we strive to compete in an international marketplace, we 
must deepen our commitment to this infrastructure and continue the long-
standing partnership between government and industry that has made our 
successes possible.
    Transportation has played a vital role in America's recent economic 
recovery, creating some 400,000 new jobs in the last 3 years. Fields 
that faced financial difficulties just a short time ago, such as 
aerospace, shipbuilding, and airlines, are now profitable and growing. 
My Administration has been proud to sign more than 30 new market-opening 
aviation agreements, including an agreement with Canada, our biggest 
trading partner, that has generated significant economic activity in 
just one year and facilitated air travel between our two countries.
    In an effort to build on this progress and further improve 
efficiency, we have increased our national investment in 
infrastructure--by some 11 percent a year over early 1990s levels--while 
streamlining the Department of Transportation by 10,000 employees and 
cutting red tape to speed the financing and construction of highway 
projects. Safety remains a top priority in these efforts, and 
communities across the country are working to protect drivers, 
passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Sophisticated communications 
technology helps relieve traffic congestion in urban areas and expanded 
mass transit systems move people more quickly and safely with minimal 
environmental impact.
    To celebrate these accomplishments and to honor the millions of men 
and women, both government and private sector employees, who maintain 
America's transportation system and contribute so much to our Nation's 
activities, the Congress, by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957 (36 
U.S.C. 160), has designated the third Friday in May of each year as 
``National Defense Transportation Day'' and, by joint resolution 
approved May 14, 1962 (36 U.S.C. 166), declared that the week within 
which that Friday falls be designated ``National Transportation Week.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Friday, May 17, 1996, as National 
Defense Transportation Day and May 12 through May 18, 1996, as National 
Transportation Week. I urge all Americans to observe these occasions 
with appropriate ceremonies and activities, giving due recognition to 
the countless individuals and organizations that build, secure, and 
operate this country's modern transportation system.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 
of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:05 p.m., May 16, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 17.

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