[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 21 (Monday, May 31, 1999)]
[Pages 977-978]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7200--Small Business Week, 1999

May 22, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    From the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age, small 
businesses have powered the American economy and created much of our 
prosperity. Generations of entrepreneurs have found in small businesses 
an outlet for their creativity, the source of their livelihood, and a 
chance to share in the American Dream. Millions of American consumers 
have found in small businesses the innovative products and vital 
services they need to improve the quality of their lives.
    Today, America's 24 million small businesses employ more than half 
our country's work force and generate more than $16 trillion in 
revenue--more than 50 percent of our gross domestic product. Small firms 
are also a true avenue of opportunity for women and minorities, for 
older and younger workers, and for part-time employees and those 
formerly on public assistance. They provide 67 percent of working 
Americans with their first job and their initial on-the-job training in 
basic work skills.
    My Administration is deeply committed to creating an environment in 
which small businesses can thrive. Through programs administered by the 
Small Business Administration (SBA)--such as the business loan guarantee 
program, the economic development loan program, the microloan program, 
the small business investment company program, and the disaster loan and 
surety bond programs--we have given small business owners access to 
financial assistance. Last year alone, the SBA guaranteed almost $11 
billion in loans to small businesses, provided technical and management 
assistance to almost a million people, and helped entrepreneurs compete

[[Page 978]]

for more than $33 billion in Federal contracts. Through tax relief and 
regulatory streamlining and by opening overseas markets and providing 
export assistance, we are helping America's small businesses compete 
successfully in the global marketplace.
    The men and women who own and manage America's small businesses have 
made enormous contributions to the technological innovations, job 
growth, and prosperity we enjoy today. But those contributions cannot be 
measured in dollars and cents alone; entrepreneurs give back to their 
communities in myriad ways, making them better places in which to live 
and work. During Small Business Week, we have a special opportunity--and 
obligation--to acknowledge the achievements of small business men and 
women and to express our appreciation for the vision, energy, and effort 
they bring to their enterprises.
    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 May 23 
through May 29, 1999, 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 twenty-second 
day of May, 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, 9:04 a.m., May 25, 1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 26. 
This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 
24.