[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 21 (Monday, May 24, 2004)]
[Pages 907-908]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7787--Small Business Week, 2004

 May 14, 2004

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    The dedication and entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners 
are vital to our Nation's economic growth and prosperity. We celebrate 
Small Business Week to applaud the efforts of America's small business 
men and women in our communities.
    Small businesses are a central part of America's economy. They 
create approximately 70 percent of new private sector jobs in this 
country. As our Nation's economy continues to grow stronger, we must 
encourage their spirit of enterprise.
    To help small businesses invest and create more jobs, we have 
decreased the tax burden. We have given small business men and women a 
fair chance to bid on government contracts. We have a plan to create 
more opportunity for America's small businesses and workers by making 
health care costs more affordable and predictable; streamlining 
regulations and paperwork requirements; reducing frivolous lawsuits; 
making America less dependent on foreign sources of energy; and 
permanently eliminating the death tax.
    In this Small Business Week, we salute America's small business 
owners and entrepreneurs and workers for their contributions to 
America's prosperity and for making our Nation better and stronger.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, 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 16 through May 22, 
2004, as Small Business Week. I call upon 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 
their employees and encourage and foster the development of new small 
businesses.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day 
of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., May 18, 
2004]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on May 15, and it was published in the Federal Register on May 
19.

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