Whereas this year marks the 54th anniversary of National Small Business Week and has been endorsed by every President since 1963; Whereas approximately 28,800,000 small businesses in the United States, comprising the leading force behind the United States economy, create nearly 7 out of every 10 new jobs and generate close to 50 percent of the Nation’s nonfarm gross domestic product; Whereas small firms account for 63 percent of the net new jobs created between 1993 and mid-2013, and 60 percent of the net new jobs created since the end of the recession; Whereas 24,800,000 small businesses are non-employer sole proprietorship firms; Whereas 2,500,000 veterans are small business owners and account for 9 percent of all United States businesses; Whereas the share of total businesses owned by women continues to increase, currently including over 9,900,000 small businesses; Whereas small businesses employ 48 percent of the country’s private sector workforce; Whereas small businesses represent 43 percent of high-tech employment; Whereas small businesses produce 16 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; Whereas small businesses represent 98 percent of all exporters and produce 33 percent of exported goods; Whereas, on July 30, 1953, Congress created the Small Business Administration to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small businesses by working to preserve free and competitive enterprise, to ensure that a fair proportion of the total sales of Government property are made to small businesses, and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of the United States; Whereas for more than 50 years, the Small Business Administration has helped over 10,000,000 entrepreneurs reach the American dream of creating and maintaining a small business, and has played a key role in fostering local and national economic growth; and Whereas the President has designated the week beginning on April 30, 2017, as National Small Business Week : Now, therefore, be it