[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 24590-24591]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       AWARDING A CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL TO DR. MUHAMMAD YUNUS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 846 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 846) to award the Congressional Gold Medal to 
     Dr. Muhammad Yunus in recognition of his contributions to the 
     fight against global poverty.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Professor Muhammad Yunus is one of the 
world's leading figures in the fight against poverty. He has dedicated 
his life to economic and social change, and in doing so has transformed 
the lives of millions of people around the world.
  He is affectionately called the ``banker to the poor,'' largely 
because he is the father of the microcredit movement, as we know it 
today. Microcredit means small loans at competitive interest rates to 
very poor people. The loaned money can be used to buy basic tools and 
equipment or supplies that can be used to make an income or livelihood 
or generate revenue.
  It was 1976 when Dr. Yunus began his innovative effort with loans of 
just $27 from his own pocket to 42 craftspeople in a small village in 
his native Bangladesh. From that small start, he launched what has 
become a global movement to create economic and social development from 
the ground up.
  In 1983, Dr. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank to carry out his model on 
a much larger scale. With thousands of very small loans, the bank has 
given millions of people living in extreme poverty a chance to start a 
small business or buy a few things to sell at the local market. Today, 
the Grameen Bank operates in more than 84,000 villages around the 
world. It has provided more than $8 billion in low-interest loans to 
nearly 8 million people. And its borrowers, who are among the poorest 
of the poor and are not required to provide any collateral, repay their 
loans at the remarkable rate of 98 percent.
  Over the past 30 years, Dr. Yunus's microcredit concept has been 
emulated in more than 100 countries over 5 continents affecting the 
lives of as many as 155 million people. This simple economics professor 
from Bangladesh came up with an idea that has touched positively the 
lives of over 155 million people on Earth.
  Dr. Yunus's work has been particularly dramatic when it comes to its 
impact on women, who represent 95 percent of his bank's borrowers. 
Economic, legal, and social inequities in the developing world make it 
much harder for women to earn an adequate living and support their 
families. Women make up 60 percent of the world's working poor, 70 
percent of the hungry, and 67 percent of the illiterate.
  When I visited Uganda many years ago and visited a microcredit 
operation, I asked the ladies who were there, through an interpreter, 
how microcredit had changed their lives. One lady said: My knees have 
gone soft. I asked for a translation--an explanation--and she explained 
that before she got the microcredit loan that gave her a chance to go 
to the market to make a little money to feed her family, she used to 
have to crawl on her knees to beg her husband for money to feed her 
children. She said she doesn't have to crawl on her knees anymore. Her 
knees have gone soft.
  By focusing its lending on women, Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank 
empower women both within their families and within their communities. 
The effect is remarkable: Babies are more likely to survive infancy and 
thrive; their children--especially daughters--are more likely to attend 
school; families are more likely to eat; and marriages postponed when 
an educated girl has a chance to look at life from a new perspective.
  In 2006, Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his ground-
breaking work. This award recognized that lasting peace and prosperity 
can be achieved only when large numbers of the world's poor have the 
means to

[[Page 24591]]

break out of poverty. In August, President Obama recognized him with 
the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  Earlier this year, Senator Bennett of Utah and I offered the Dr. 
Muhammad Yunus Gold Medal Act, S. 846, to honor his efforts. I thank 
Senator Bennett for his leadership on this bill and our 70 colleagues 
who have cosponsored it.
  Saturday, October 17, is International Day for the Eradication of 
Poverty. Few people have done as much as Dr. Muhammad Yunus to 
eradicate poverty among the more than 1 billion people worldwide who 
survive on about a dollar a day. We honor his commitment and recognize 
his work and his remarkable achievements as an individual.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third 
time and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with 
no intervening action or debate; and any statements related to the bill 
be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 846) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, 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 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.

                          ____________________