Presidential Document2024-09551
National Small Business Week, 2024
Primary source
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Published
May 1, 2024
Signed
April 26, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 34945-34947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09551]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 1, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
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Proclamation 10733 of April 26, 2024
National Small Business Week, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Small businesses are the engine of our economy and the
heart and soul of our communities. They employ nearly
half of all private sector workers and contribute to
every industry. Getting them what they need to grow is
one of the best investments our country can make.
During National Small Business Week, we celebrate the
grit and strength of every entrepreneur who has chased
a dream and put in the hard work each day to see their
business and our Nation thrive.
When I took office, the pandemic was raging, and our
economy was reeling. Hundreds of thousands of small
businesses had closed forever, and millions more hung
on by a thread. Too many families faced the possibility
of losing not only their life's work but also their
hopes of leaving something behind for their kids. But
we turned that around. My Administration reformed the
landmark Paycheck Protection Program, which got quick
help to thousands of small businesses so they could
keep paying their workers. We delivered $450 billion in
relief to help 6 million small businesses cover their
bills and stay afloat. I signed the American Rescue
Plan, which provided additional support to 100,000
restaurants and to 225,000 child care centers, which so
many parents rely on to be able to work themselves.
Three years later, America is in the midst of a
historic small business boom. Americans have filed a
record 17 million new business applications--and every
one of them is an act of hope. The share of Black-owned
businesses has more than doubled between 2019 and 2022,
and Latino business ownership is growing at the fastest
pace in at least a decade, generating new jobs and new
wealth in local communities. In all, our economy has
added 15 million new jobs since I took office. Growth
is strong, wages are rising, and inflation is down. We
are witnessing a small business boom. Across the
country, we are experiencing a great comeback story--
and small businesses are playing a key part.
From day one, they have been at the heart of my plan to
grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up.
That is why--as my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes
the biggest investment in our Nation's infrastructure
in generations, rebuilding roads, bridges, ports,
public transit, and more--we are relying on America's
Main Street entrepreneurs to help us rebuild. We set a
goal of awarding $37 billion in these investments to
small businesses so they can benefit from these
projects and create good-paying jobs. We are making
sure every home and business in America has access to
affordable, high-speed internet by the end of the
decade so entrepreneurs everywhere can access more
customers and have a fair shot. We passed the CHIPS and
Science Act to expand semiconductor manufacturing and
ensure industries of the future are Made in America,
creating tens of thousands of jobs, strengthening
supply chains, and supporting small suppliers and
businesses across the country. As our Inflation
Reduction Act makes the most significant investment in
fighting climate change ever in the world, it is
creating new markets for small clean-energy companies.
Altogether, my Investing in America Agenda has
attracted $688 billion in private-sector investments
from companies that are bringing jobs back to America
where they
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belong, helping to rebuild our economy, our supply
chains, and our small businesses.
To help small businesses grow, we are also expanding
access to capital and to markets by using the power of
the Federal Government as both a lender and customer.
Mom and pop businesses with only a handful of employees
often need small loans of $100,000 or less, but not all
banks offer them. That is why the Small Business
Administration (SBA) is expanding access to low-cost
small-dollar loans and increasing the number of lenders
that offer affordable guaranteed loans. The SBA
finalized rules that will provide rural and minority-,
women-, and veteran-owned small businesses with more
affordable loan options by authorizing more non-
traditional lenders, like Community Development
Financial Institutions, to offer guaranteed loans.
Because the Federal Government buys more goods and
services than any entity in the world, we set a goal of
increasing the share of Federal contracting dollars
that must go to small disadvantaged businesses from
less than 10 percent before I took office to 15
percent. Last year, we awarded a record-setting $76
billion to these businesses, helping level the playing
field and close the racial wealth gap.
Meanwhile, we invested $10 billion in State-level
small-business programs, which will catalyze tens of
billions in private investments to expand access to
capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Further, my Administration has invested nearly $70
million in the Women's Business Centers network, which
is designed to promote and support women-owned
businesses and can now be found in all 50 States, the
District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Small businesses may only employ a few people instead
of thousands, but together they make up 40 percent of
our economy and 99.9 percent of all American
businesses. They are the glue that helps hold our
Nation together. In their dedication to their
communities and in their courage, hope, sweat, and
drive, small business owners embody the spirit of
America and our boundless possibilities. This week, we
recommit to making that future real and leaving no one
behind.
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 28
through May 4, 2024, 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 34947]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-09551
Filed 4-30-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 1, 2024.
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