    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
    [Page 715]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7188--National Science and Technology Week, 1999

    April 23, 1999

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        The American experience is deeply rooted in the desire to expand our
    frontiers and increase our knowledge about ourselves and our world. We
    stand at the end of a century marked by wondrous advances in science and
    technology--advances that have immeasurably improved the lives of our
    citizens. As recently as 100 years ago, space travel, genetic
    engineering, and telecommunications existed only in the realms of
    imagination and science fiction. Today, the nascent International Space
    Station, the nearly complete Human Genome Project, and the flourishing
    Internet attest to the great strides our civilization and our Nation
    have made. The scope and speed of our discoveries are truly
    breathtaking, and each day new applications of science and technology
    enrich our lives in fields as diverse as medicine, communications,
    engineering, and the arts.
        Recognizing the importance of maintaining America's scientific and
    technological leadership, my Administration is seeking increased funding
    in areas like biomedical research and in earth and space sciences. My
    fiscal year 2000 budget also proposes a 28 percent increase in
    information technology research to finance a new initiative--Information
    Technology for the Twenty-First Century (IT<SUP>2</SUP>). This
    initiative will support long-term information technology research that
    will lead to fundamental advances in communications and improvements in
    computing.
        During National Science and Technology Week, in communities large
    and small, engineers, scientists, educators, business people, and
    community leaders will lead observances to help their fellow citizens
    appreciate the world's scientific and technological wonders. I encourage
    all Americans--and especially our young people--to participate in the
    many educational activities taking place across our Nation. The more we
    understand and appreciate the extraordinary tools that science and
    technology place at our fingertips, the more we can accomplish in our
    efforts to create a cleaner environment, healthier families, better
    schools, and a brighter future. The only limit on our achievements is
    our imagination.
        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 April 25
    to May 1, 1999, as National Science and Technology Week. I call upon
    educators and students, the business community, and all the people of
    the United States to work this week and throughout the year to learn
    more about the contributions science and technology make to our lives
    and our future.
        In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third
    day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine,
    and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
    and twenty-third.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 27,
    1999]

    Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April
    28.