Presidential Document2023-09539
National Small Business Week, 2023
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 3, 2023
Signed
April 28, 2023
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 85 (Wednesday, May 3, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 3, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 27677-27679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09539]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 3, 2023 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 27677]]
Proclamation 10567 of April 28, 2023
National Small Business Week, 2023
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
From barber shops, beauty salons, and pizza parlors to
manufacturing companies and mom-and-pop shops,
Americans have applied to form a record 10.5 million
small businesses in the past 2 years. This week, we
celebrate the backbone of our economy and the glue of
our communities: our small businesses, which help make
our Nation strong.
Nearly half of all private sector workers in our
country are employed by small businesses. These
businesses also account for almost half of our Nation's
gross domestic product. They create many of the goods
and services Americans rely on to sustain their
everyday lives. For many families, owning a small
business is also the fulfillment of their dreams, their
path to a better life, their chance to build a family
legacy, and a source of community enrichment. But as so
many entrepreneurs know well, success can never be
taken for granted.
Success requires access to capital to meet payroll, pay
rent, buy inventory, and grow. Small businesses need
resilient supply chains so products can get out the
door and arrive on time, and they need high-speed
Internet to process transactions and connect with
customers around the world. They also need the
confidence that, when the going gets tough, support is
close by.
When companies were shuttering their doors and laying
off workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my
Administration delivered a capital infusion of more
than $450 billion to the small business sector to keep
Main Streets across America operating and employees on
the payroll. To create long-term benefits for our
economy, I signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction
Act. Together, these new laws are creating billions of
dollars in contracting opportunities for America's
small businesses and investing hundreds of billions of
Federal dollars to rebuild our infrastructure, bring
manufacturing back to America, and launch a clean
energy revolution right here in the United States.
Our historic investment in semiconductors--the tiny
computer chips that power everything from smartphones
to cars--will create a manufacturing boom, including
for small businesses throughout the semiconductor
supply chain. Record funding for clean energy
development means small businesses have the opportunity
to build electric and other fuel cell vehicles and
charging stations. My Administration is committed to
investing in America and empowering its small
businesses to thrive. I underscored that during my
State of the Union Address when I announced new
standards that require all construction materials used
in these new Federal infrastructure projects to be made
in America--ensuring our country's future is built
right here at home.
[[Page 27678]]
We need to make sure all American small business owners
benefit from these investments. That is why I am
committed to improving access to capital, contracts,
technical expertise, and financial and legal assistance
for small business owners from historically
underrepresented communities. Through our State Small
Business Credit Initiative, States, territories, and
Tribal governments are helping small business owners,
including socially and economically disadvantaged
entrepreneurs, access billions of dollars in loans and
investments. The Small Business Administration is
revamping its existing loan programs to expand access
to small-dollar loans and increase the number of
lenders that offer guaranteed loans, both of which can
make a major difference for the smallest businesses and
minority- and women-owned businesses that may have
trouble accessing capital.
One of the first actions taken by my Administration was
to make the Minority Business Development Agency a
permanent part of the Department of Commerce. In March,
I hosted the second annual Women's Small Business
Summit at the White House, where I announced the
establishment of the largest network of Women's
Business Centers ever across America. My Administration
has invested nearly $70 million in this network,
expanding it to all 50 States for the first time in our
history. The centers offer training and mentoring to
help women entrepreneurs develop business plans, launch
new businesses, and access credit and capital.
Vice President Kamala Harris has convened small
business owners and entrepreneurs across our Nation to
inform them about the resources, capital, and support
we are offering them. Last year she announced the
formation of the new Economic Opportunity Coalition, an
alliance of private sector companies and nonprofits
committing tens of billions of dollars of investments
in community financial institutions and small
businesses. In April of this year, she and the Deputy
Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced our new
$1.73 billion investment in the Community Development
Financial Institutions Fund, which provides
historically underserved and often low-income
communities access to credit, capital, and financial
support to grow their businesses.
We are making progress, but I know there is more we can
do. I have set a goal to award 15 percent of all
Federal contracts to small disadvantaged businesses by
2025, which will bring an estimated additional $100
billion in Federal contracting money to these
companies. My new Budget calls for an additional $341
million for the Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund, and I am seeking an additional $30
million for the Community Navigators Pilot Program--
which we have already supported with $100 million--so
that local nonprofits, government agencies, and
organizations can help new entrepreneurs navigate the
complex paperwork involved in applying for small
business loans.
Building an economy from the middle out and bottom up,
not the top down, means investing in America's small
businesses. It means opening up doors of opportunity
for doers, dreamers, and job creators who represent the
restless, bold, and optimistic American spirit. When we
make these investments and support these innovators,
our Main Streets thrive, our families have good-paying
jobs, and America's future truly knows no bounds.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 30
through May 6, 2023, as National Small Business Week. I
call upon all Americans to recognize the contributions
of small businesses to the American economy, continue
supporting them, and honor the occasion with programs
and activities that highlight these important
businesses.
[[Page 27679]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2023-09539
Filed 5-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 3, 2023.
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