Proclamation 6896

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Americans derive daily benefits from the finest transportation system in the world. Our Nation's network of land, sea, and air travel allows for the efficient movement of goods and people, strengthening our economy, uniting our citizens, and linking us to other countries around the globe. As we strive to compete in an international marketplace, we must deepen our commitment to this infrastructure and continue the long-standing partnership between government and industry that has made our successes possible.

Transportation has played a vital role in America's recent economic recovery, creating some 400,000 new jobs in the last 3 years. Fields that faced financial difficulties just a short time ago, such as aerospace, shipbuilding, and airlines, are now profitable and growing. My Administration has been proud to sign more than 30 new market-opening aviation agreements, including an agreement with Canada, our biggest trading partner, that has generated significant economic activity in just one year and facilitated air travel between our two countries.

In an effort to build on this progress and further improve efficiency, we have increased our national investment in infrastructure-by some 11 percent a year over early 1990s levels-while streamlining the Department of Transportation by 10,000 employees and cutting red tape to speed the financing and construction of highway projects. Safety remains a top priority in these efforts, and communities across the country are working to protect drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Sophisticated communications technology helps relieve traffic congestion in urban areas and expanded mass transit systems move people more quickly and safely with minimal environmental impact.

To celebrate these accomplishments and to honor the millions of men and women, both government and private sector employees, who maintain America's transportation system and contribute so much to our Nation's activities, the Congress, by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957 (36 U.S.C. 160), has designated the third Friday in May of each year as "National Defense Transportation Day" and, by joint resolution approved May 14, 1962 (36 U.S.C. 166), declared that the week within which that Friday falls be designated "National Transportation Week."

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Friday, May 17, 1996, as National Defense Transportation Day and May 12 through May 18, 1996, as National Transportation Week. I urge all Americans to observe these occasions with appropriate ceremonies and activities, giving due recognition to the countless individuals and organizations that build, secure, and operate this country's modern transportation system.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:05 p.m., May 16, 1996]