[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 22 (Monday, June 2, 1997)]
[Pages 810-811]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7008--Small Business Week, 1997

May 30, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America was built on the enterprise of our people--on their ideas, 
their energy, their willingness to take risks, and their willingness to 
pursue their dreams. Throughout the decades, men and women of 
independence, optimism, and determination have come to our shores, 
confident in the knowledge that in America they could build a life for 
themselves and their families through their own initiative, creating and 
developing businesses in every field of endeavor.
    The success of the small business community has been a hallmark of 
our free enterprise system, helping to drive the engine of America's 
economy as we compete in the global marketplace. The invaluable 
contributions of small business owners to the strength of our economy 
are reflected in some extraordinary statistics. The recent record growth 
of the small business community has resulted in 840,000 new employer 
firms over the past year--the highest number ever, and a 2-percent 
increase over the last record set in 1995. Small businesses employ 53 
percent of America's private work force, account for 47 percent of all 
sales in the country, and generate more than half of our private gross 
domestic product; and industries dominated by small business produced 
almost 1.5 million new jobs in the last year alone.
    Our challenge now is to help America's small business community 
build on this phenomenal record of success. My Administration is 
committed to giving small business men and women the opportunity to 
realize their dreams. The Small Business Administration has a portfolio 
guaranteeing over $27 billion in loans to 185,000 small businesses that 
otherwise would not have access to such

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capital. We are encouraging microenterprise through the Department of 
Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund, an 
initiative that makes it easier for prospective entrepreneurs to obtain 
the training and financing they need to start their own businesses. 
Working in partnership with State governments, we are striving to help 
modernize our Nation's small and medium-sized manufacturers and removing 
regulatory barriers to the adoption of new technologies in such fields 
as telemedicine, building and construction, and environmental 
technologies. We have also developed a National Export Strategy to help 
America's small and medium-sized businesses realize their export 
potential and compete effectively in the global marketplace.
    As we observe Small Business Week, I join all Americans in saluting 
the men and women who have embraced the opportunities our country 
offers, whose hard work is transforming their communities, and whose 
energy and initiative are building our country into the kind of Nation 
we want to be in the 21st century.
    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 June 1 
through June 7, 1997, 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 thirtieth day 
of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., June 3, 1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
June 4.