Political Quotes

“as has been the tradition for the past 38 years, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of Small Business Week. Today, we are in the middle of Small Business Week 2001, which is being sponsored by the Small Business Administration. The purpose of this week's celebration is to honor over 25 million businesses that make up the U.S. small business community. It is very appropriate for us, today, to recognize the importance of America's small businesses, and the significant role played by the Small Business Administration, SBA, in our Nation's economic growth. Congress established the SBA in 1953 to provide financial and management assistance to start-up and growing small businesses. Over the past 48 years, the success of SBA in meeting its missions is legend. It maintains a portfolio of guaranteed small business loans and disaster loans totaling more than $45 billion. And the Agency has guaranteed another $13 billion in venture capital investments to small businesses. To compliment it successful credit programs, the SBA's management assistance programs were delivered to more than one million small businesses during the past fiscal year. Over the past decade of record economic growth and prosperity, U.S. small businesses have been the engine driving our economy. More than 99% of all employers in the United States are small businesses, providing nearly 75% of the net new jobs added to our workforce.”