[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H6960-H6963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        AWARDING CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL TO DR. MUHAMMAD YUNUS

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (S. 846) to award a congressional gold medal to Dr. 
Muhammad Yunus, in recognition of his contributions to the fight 
against global poverty.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 846

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds that--
       (1) Dr. Muhammad Yunus is recognized in the United States 
     and throughout the world as a leading figure in the fight 
     against poverty and the effort to promote economic and social 
     change;
       (2) Muhammad Yunus is the recognized developer of the 
     concept of microcredit, and Grameen Bank, which he founded, 
     has created a model of lending that has been emulated across 
     the globe;
       (3) Muhammad Yunus launched this global movement to create 
     economic and social development from below, beginning in 
     1976, with a loan of $27 from his own pocket to 42 crafts 
     persons in a small village in Bangladesh;
       (4) Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated the life-changing 
     potential of extending very small loans (at competitive 
     interest rates) to the very poor and the economic feasibility 
     of microcredit and other microfinance and microenterprise 
     practices and services;
       (5) Dr. Yunus's work has had a particularly strong impact 
     on improving the economic prospects of women, and on their 
     families, as over 95 percent of microcredit borrowers are 
     women;
       (6) Dr. Yunus has pioneered a movement with the potential 
     to assist a significant number of the more than 1,400,000,000 
     people, mostly women and children, who live on less than 
     $1.25 a day, and the 2,600,000,000 people who live on less 
     than $2 a day, and which has already reached 155,000,000, by 
     one estimate;
       (7) there are now an estimated 24,000,000 microenterprises 
     in the United States accounting for approximately 18 percent 
     of private (nonfarm) employment and 87 percent of all 
     business in the United States, and the Small Business 
     Administration has made over $318,000,000 in microloans to 
     entrepreneurs since 1992;
       (8) Dr. Yunus, along with the Grameen Bank, was awarded the 
     Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to promote economic 
     and social opportunity and out of recognition that lasting 
     peace cannot be achieved unless

[[Page H6961]]

     large population groups find the means, such as microcredit, 
     to break out of poverty; and
       (9) the microcredit ideas developed and put into practice 
     by Muhammad Yunus, along with other bold initiatives, can 
     make a historical breakthrough in the fight against poverty.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

       (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
     Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate 
     shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on 
     behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design 
     to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in recognition of his many enduring 
     contributions to the fight against global poverty.
       (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation 
     referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
     (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
     shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 
     inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

     SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

       The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of 
     the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2, under such 
     regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price 
     sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
     materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 
     the cost of the gold medal.

     SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS.

       (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this 
     Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 
     31, United States Code.
       (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 
     5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under 
     this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.

     SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

       (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There are authorized to 
     be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
     Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs 
     of the medals struck pursuant to this Act.
       (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of 
     duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 3 shall be 
     deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Carson) and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous 
material thereon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of Senate bill 846, a 
bill to award Dr. Muhammad Yunus with a Congressional Gold Medal in 
recognition of his contributions to the fight against global poverty.

                              {time}  1810

  Credited with developing the concept of microlending--the extension 
of very small loans to very poor people without requiring collateral--
Dr. Yunus has revolutionized global efforts to eliminate extreme 
poverty. By making small loans available to entrepreneurs that lack 
access to the resources of traditional banks, Dr. Yunus has given many 
people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.
  In 1976, Dr. Yunus made his first successful microloan to 42 women 
from a small village in Bangladesh who made crafts out of bamboo using 
$27 out of his own pocket. When that first loan was made, it would have 
been difficult to imagine that it would launch a revolution in the 
fight against international poverty.
  Based on this methodology, Dr. Yunus founded Grameen Bank, which has 
loaned over $7 billion to over 7.5 million small borrowers. His work 
has had a particularly profound impact on the lives of women, who have 
received over 95 percent of these microcredit loans.
  This successful model has been implemented in over 100 countries, in 
both developing nations and prosperous nations like the United States. 
In the United States, the Small Business Administration is based on the 
same model and has made over $380 million in microloans to 
entrepreneurs since 1992. Internationally, it is estimated that over 
155 million people have already benefited from these types of loans. 
And today, the movement has the potential of reaching many of the 2.6 
billion men, women, and children that currently live on less than $2 a 
day.
  Dr. Yunus has received a multitude of recognitions for his work, 
including the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 and the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom in 2009. Currently, the House companion bill offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt) has the cosponsorship of over two-
thirds of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  In light of the strong support we have already shown for this 
legislation, I urge my colleagues to support Senate bill 846 to award 
Dr. Yunus the honor of a Congressional Gold Medal.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BACHUS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 846, a bill that would 
authorize the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to one of the great 
humanitarians of our time, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
  Over the last couple of years, we have talked on the floor of this 
Chamber and in committees about the effects of the recent economic 
crisis and how it has limited our ability to procure loans in this 
country. We all know that credit is the lifeblood of both business and 
daily life and that businesses need capital to invest in tools, labor, 
and raw materials, and that individuals need credit for both short-term 
needs and long-term investments such as college educations or to buy a 
house or a car.
  The need to free up credit in the United States is important, but in 
this great country that offers so much for us to enjoy, it is easy to 
lose sight of how serious the need for credit is elsewhere. There it's 
sometimes a matter of surviving or being able to eke out a living. 
Americans may need a loan to purchase a new car, whereas a person in 
Bangladesh may need a loan to merely survive.
  Madam Speaker, it is a testament to a man we honor today that he both 
recognized the needs of many for loans of very small amounts of money 
and devised a system, a system that can be replicated anywhere, to 
address that need.
  Dr. Yunus, born in Bangladesh and the holder of a doctorate from 
Vanderbilt, made his first step toward solving this problem in 1976 in 
his native country--and Mr. Carson mentioned this--when he loaned an 
equivalent of $27 to 42 women and made each a co-guarantor with the 
responsibility of ensuring that the money was paid back in full. These 
women then used the money to make bamboo furniture. Previously to buy 
bamboo, they had been forced to borrow at interest rates that we would 
consider criminal and certainly usurious. With the loans, they were 
able to make furniture at a small profit.
  Soon, with a small grant from the government of his newly independent 
country, Dr. Yunus founded what became the Grameen Bank, and lenders, 
using that model, have made billions of dollars of so-called microloans 
to millions of people.
  I know Chairman Waters has spoken about this and many other Members 
as to what this has meant to men and women in poor countries around the 
world. More than 90 percent of the borrowers are said to have been 
women.
  In the year since the founding of the bank, the Grameen model has 
blossomed, spawning variations that include nonprofits and for-profit 
investments in projects ranging from information technology and 
communications to food production with partners ranging from small 
local companies to giant multinationals. One project has funded the 
installation of nearly half a million small solar electrical plants 
producing power for off-the-grid people in Bangladesh.
  I remember reading Robert Caro's book about Lyndon Johnson and what 
electricity meant to the hill country of Texas. The miracle that we saw 
in America a century ago is being repeated in these countries now--the 
miracle of electricity.
  But this microlending model is not confined to small, poor, 
developing countries. It's found its way to Canada and even to the 
United States.
  Dr. Yunus holds out the possibility that another offshoot he calls 
``social

[[Page H6962]]

business'' might be a way to help redevelop Haiti and bring its people 
out of poverty, as well as in developed countries to provide a path to 
help the poor become self-supporting without the need for welfare.
  Through all of this, Dr. Yunus has been not only a visionary 
innovator but a tireless advocate for the model that he believes can 
ease and even end poverty. For this he's been recognized several times 
and in many ways. He and the Grameen Bank were co-recipients of the 
Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. And in 2009, Dr. Yunus received the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.
  It is now time that Congress in a bipartisan way honors such a 
devoted and selfless individual. And that's what we do today with 296 
cosponsors.
  I commend Senator Durbin for introducing this bill. I commend the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), who introduced the House 
companion bill, H.R. 2000. With passage today, this bill will go 
directly to the President's desk.
  This is just one of many examples of how a small amount of money 
changed the lives and the fortunes and the futures of families in 
countries around this world.
  I think of a book I just completed in the last year, Greg Mortenson's 
``Three Cups of Tea,'' where a gentleman from California went to really 
the tribal areas of Pakistan and helped build a school and educate 
children for just, what we would call an insignificant amount. And it 
truly is, I think, an inspiring thing to read of people of this 
character and this commitment.
  Madam Speaker, let me close by saying this is an overdue recognition 
of a vastly important concept and the man who devised it. I urge 
immediate passage.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1820

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).
  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Indiana, and I rise 
in strong support of this legislation to award Dr. Muhammad Yunus a 
Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts to fight global poverty.
  This bill already has passed by unanimous consent in the other body. 
I am pleased to have introduced the House version of this bill, which 
garnered 297 bipartisan cosponsors, an indication of the remarkable 
impact of Dr. Yunus's work.
  Muhammad Yunus is widely known as the banker to the poor, and is one 
of the world's great humanitarians and an economic genius. In 1974, as 
Bangladesh was struggling with a terrible famine, this professor of 
economics led his students out of the classroom and into a village 
nearby. There they discovered that impoverished people could not get 
ahead because of the oppressive business practices of money lenders who 
exploited their poverty and desperation.
  With just $27, as we have heard today, of his own money, Professor 
Yunus liberated 42 victims of these unfair practices from their debt 
burdens. And from that first experience with the power of a small 
amount of money, Dr. Yunus developed the concept of microcredit.
  With just a few dollars to work with, the poor are able to become 
entrepreneurs. They sell vegetables or clothing or handmade goods and 
other products in order to slowly generate and accumulate profits, or 
they devise clever service industries with a cell phone or a computer 
that they can buy with their microloan. And it turns out that the poor 
are wary of debt and are careful stewards of money. Repayment rates for 
microloans are consistently near 97 percent. And step by step, these 
borrowers build individual ladders on which they can climb out of 
poverty and into the mainstream economy.
  Within a few years of his first trip to that destitute village, 
Professor Yunus created the Grameen Bank to act as a bank to the poor 
in Bangladesh. Today, Grameen Bank has over 2,500 branches. It serves 
over 8.3 million people in 81,000 villages. It has disbursed nearly $10 
billion to the poor, with a recovery rate around 97 percent. Most 
importantly, it is estimated that nearly 60 percent of Grameen Bank's 
borrowers have crossed the poverty line. Many of these are women.
  Over the last three decades, Dr. Yunus has made the elimination of 
poverty his life's work. And the concept of microcredit has been widely 
adopted as an idea. And the idea has evolved from microcredit into the 
field of microfinance, which now serves the poor with a portfolio of 
financial services, including savings accounts and insurance and fund 
transfers, educational loans, and pension plans.
  The World Bank estimates that microfinance institutions now serve 160 
million people in developing countries. Women, who make up 60 percent 
of the world's poorest citizens and disproportionately shoulder the 
burdens of poverty, receive over 95 percent of the microloans. The 
funds allow them to increase their independence and improve the quality 
of life for their entire families. Children of borrowers are more 
likely to attend school and enjoy better nutrition.
  Yet even with these accomplishments, there is more to be done. There 
are 2.6 billion people around the world who live on less than $2 a day. 
And the poorest 1.4 billion live on less than $1.25 per day. 
Microfinance still needs to take deeper root in Africa, where 75 
percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day. We must commit 
ourselves to addressing their needs, and microfinance can be a key 
component of that work. Muhammad Yunus and those who have followed in 
his footsteps have made it possible for the working poor to transform 
themselves into an entrepreneurial middle class and for beggars to 
become business people.
  Professor Yunus has been recognized with the Nobel Prize for Peace 
and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. He continues to challenge 
economic preconceptions and to challenge the acceptance of poverty 
around the world. We, with this, further honor his achievements and his 
extraordinary vision of making poverty, as he spoke in Oslo, a concept 
that future generations may understand only by visiting a museum.
  Finally, I would like to acknowledge some of the people who helped 
bring this bill to the floor. My colleagues Representative Moran of 
Virginia, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Representative Carter, 
Representative McDermott have been instrumental. Grassroots members of 
the RESULTS advocacy organization from around the country have helped 
raise awareness about microfinance and the effort to recognize Muhammad 
Yunus for his efforts. I commend Senators Durbin and Bennett for their 
leadership in moving this bill through the Senate, and I thank Chairman 
Frank for his assistance in expediting consideration here in the House.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott).
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman, and I want to 
acknowledge Congressman Holt. Rush came to me and said, Will you help 
me gather signatures to get this thing before the House? I've got to 
have two-thirds of the Members sign this thing. And I said, Sure, I 
will be glad to help you. He immediately handed me a long list of 
people. And this is not an easy thing to get done in the House of 
Representatives, to get 290 Members to sign to bring something forward.
  However, the object of this gold medal, Dr. Yunus, is clearly 
somebody who it's worth working for. He is a marvelous symbol. I got to 
know him. I have been out to Bangladesh. I have been out in the 
villages. I have actually sat on the ground when the women were paying 
their debts and deciding who got how much money in the next week, and 
watched the whole process go on at the grassroots level. I also had the 
opportunity to introduce him when he came to Seattle to a RESULTS 
dinner, where there were about 500 people.
  The impact of Dr. Yunus goes far beyond the Grameen Bank. Seattle 
has, I don't know, probably 40 or 50 microcredit operations working 
worldwide all through Central America and South America and Africa, 
where this idea that this man created was taken by other people. And it 
works everywhere, and anybody can do it.
  What's amazing about this is to think about how one man, faced with 
the poverty in the most densely populated country in the world, 
Bangladesh,

[[Page H6963]]

could say to himself, you know, I think I can change this. And then not 
only did he think that; he went out and he did it. And I think that's 
really why a gold medal for Dr. Yunus is such an important part for us 
to remember in the Congress.
  We often think that, you know, we've got to give $100 million or $80 
billion or whatever. This man started with $27 and created something 
that has affected millions and millions of people.
  The last thing I want to say is that it's affected the lives of 
women. Women in the world, their status clearly is below that of men in 
most countries. But the access to credit for these women of Bangladesh 
gave them the ability to begin to develop a little business, and 
accumulate a little capital, and then to buy some school uniforms for 
their children and pay their school fees. Any country that educates 
their women, begins to educate the children, begins the development of 
a country. And Dr. Yunus knew that, that if he could give women a 
chance to have access to credit--a lot of people laughed at him--but a 
97 percent payback rate will match Citibank any day of the week. And 
this is the work of a man who had an idea and proved that if you have 
an idea and you are willing to work and believe in people, you can make 
it work.
  So it's a great honor to have a chance to say a few words about 
Muhammad Yunus. He is a great man, and a gold medal is little enough to 
give him.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
  (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from Indiana (Mr. Carson) for yielding time. I also want to commend my 
good friend Representative Holt from New Jersey and the Senator from my 
State, Senator Durbin, for the work that they have done in advancing 
this recognition and advancing this legislation. I don't think that 
there is any doubt in anybody's mind that Professor Yunus is deserving 
of such an honor. But it's not really just about honoring Professor 
Yunus. It's really about advancing the concept that he created, 
microlending, that not only has been a boon to underdeveloped nations, 
some of the millions of people who live in poverty each and every day 
of their lives wondering how they're going to be able to etch their way 
out of it; but we also see it in our country, in the United States of 
America, where just today we increased the limits on our microlending 
program through the Small Business Administration in the bill that we 
passed earlier from $35,000 to $50,000.
  I grew up in rural America, where if an individual could gather a 
thousand dollars, they could purchase themselves a load of vegetables, 
and rather than just having a few to get rid of, they really could get 
rid of quite a few. There is a woman in the basement of the building 
where my district office is located. She operates a small belt-making, 
jewelry-making shop. Five thousand dollars was enough to get her 
started and now she actually has a thriving business where she earns a 
living and employs two or three other people. Not far from where I live 
is the number one shoeshine shop in America. As a matter of fact, it's 
called Shine King. It's no bigger than just a little opening. But the 
man who started it actually started shining shoes with a kit on the 
streets and now, of course, he's part owner of the bank around the 
corner, he owns real estate, he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. 
He provides training and work opportunities for young boys. As a matter 
of fact, the famed basketball player, Isiah Thomas, used to shine shoes 
in his shop.
  And so microlending is actually the beginning for millions of people. 
I join with my colleagues in honoring Dr. Yunus, again commend all of 
them for advancing this legislation, look forward to its passage but 
look more forward to greater utilization of the microlending concept as 
a part of the American economy.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the 
Senate bill before us today, which would award Dr. Muhammad Yunus a 
gold medal for his exceptional work in the field of micro-finance 
assistance to the most impoverished people around the world.
  As this measure notes, Dr. Yunus first tested his belief thirty-four 
years ago that very small-scale, low-interest loans to the ``poorest of 
the poor'' could have a major and positive impact on their lives.
  He leant $27 of his own money to 42 craftsmen and craftswomen in a 
small village in Bangladesh.
  He went on to establish the Grameen Bank, which created a model for 
providing on a larger-scale what we now commonly know as micro-
enterprise loans.
  Today, it is estimated that such assistance--which is low-cost, 
targeted to those most in need, and expected to be repaid by its 
recipients so that it can be used again and again to help others--has 
positively impacted the lives of over 150 million people around the 
world.
  Dr. Yunus has shown us that innovative thinking such as this can 
result in major beneficial changes for those around the world who 
survive on less than one or two dollars a day in income.
  He has also shown that we don't always need to think in terms of huge 
amounts of assistance--or expensive agencies and contractors--to carry 
out such important work.
  In many cases, communities assisted by micro-loans are asked to set 
up groups that help to oversee and manage the loan programs, and they 
work not only to ensure repayment of the loans but also to give an 
important sense of community engagement in the effort.
  Therefore, micro-loans help provide long-term, sustainable change and 
are not just a one-time deal with a disappearing impact.
  We need more such low-cost innovations, especially now that we all 
face a global economic crisis and a growing budget crisis here at home.
  Madam Speaker, Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 
for his efforts to promote micro-finance.
  I believe that the Congress as well should award a gold medal to Dr. 
Yunus.
  I am pleased to be the lead co-sponsor, with my colleague, Mr. Holt, 
of the House version of this bill, which today has the support of 297 
cosponsors.
  In closing, I want to again express my support for the passage of 
this bill, which would honor not just Dr. Yunus, but also those who 
work hard to find new, innovative and low-cost ways to help those most 
in need.
  Mr. BACHUS. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 846.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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