[109th Congress Public Law 395]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


[DOCID: f:publ395.109]

[[Page 2707]]

                        CONGRESSIONAL TRIBUTE TO 
                    DR. NORMAN E. BORLAUG ACT OF 2006

[[Page 120 STAT. 2708]]

Public Law 109-395
109th Congress

                                 An Act


 
          To award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Norman E. 
             Borlaug. <<NOTE: Dec. 14, 2006 -  [S. 2250]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Congressional 
Tribute to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Act of 2006. 31 USC 5111 note.>> 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Congressional Tribute to Dr. Norman 
E. Borlaug Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, was born in Iowa where he grew up 
        on a family farm, and received his primary and secondary 
        education.
            (2) Dr. Borlaug attended the University of Minnesota where 
        he received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees and was also a star NCAA 
        wrestler.
            (3) For the past 20 years, Dr. Borlaug has lived in Texas 
        where he is a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University.
            (4) Dr. Borlaug also serves as President of the Sasakawa 
        Africa Association.
            (5) Dr. Borlaug's accomplishments in terms of bringing 
        radical change to world agriculture and uplifting humanity are 
        without parallel.
            (6) In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Dr. Borlaug 
        spent 20 years working in the poorest areas of rural Mexico. It 
        was there that Dr. Borlaug made his breakthrough achievement in 
        developing a strand of wheat that could exponentially increase 
        yields while actively resisting disease.
            (7) With the active support of the governments involved, Dr. 
        Borlaug's ``green revolution'' uplifted hundreds of thousands of 
        the rural poor in Mexico and saved hundreds of millions from 
        famine and outright starvation in India and Pakistan.
            (8) Dr. Borlaug's approach to wheat production next spread 
        throughout the Middle East. Soon thereafter his approach was 
        adapted to rice growing, increasing the number of lives Dr. 
        Borlaug has saved to more than a billion people.
            (9) In 1970, Dr. Borlaug received the Nobel Prize, the only 
        person working in agriculture to ever be so honored. Since then 
        he has received numerous honors and awards including the 
        Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Public Service Medal, the 
        National Academy of Sciences' highest honor, and the Rotary 
        International Award for World Understanding and Peace.

[[Page 120 STAT. 2709]]

            (10) At age 91, Dr. Borlaug continues to work to alleviate 
        poverty and malnutrition. He currently serves as president of 
        Sasakawa Global 2000 Africa Project, which seeks to extend the 
        benefits of agricultural development to the 800,000,000 people 
        still mired in poverty and malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.
            (11) Dr. Borlaug continues to serve as Chairman of the 
        Council of Advisors of the World Food Prize, an organization he 
        created in 1986 to be the ``Nobel Prize for Food and 
        Agriculture'' and which presents a $250,000 prize each October 
        at a Ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, to the Laureate who has made 
        an exceptional achievement similar to Dr. Borlaug's breakthrough 
        40 years ago. In the almost 20 years of its existence, the World 
        Food Prize has honored Laureates from Bangladesh, India, China, 
        Mexico, Denmark, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, 
        and the United States.
            (12) Dr. Borlaug has saved more lives than any other person 
        who has ever lived, and likely has saved more lives in the 
        Islamic world than any other human being in history.
            (13) Due to a lifetime of work that has led to the saving 
        and preservation of an untold amount of lives, Dr. Norman E. 
        Borlaug is deserving of America's highest civilian award: the 
        congressional gold medal.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President Pro Tempore of the 
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are authorized to 
make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of 
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, to Dr. Norman E. 
Borlaug, in recognition of his enduring contributions to the United 
States and the world.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (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. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary 
may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under 
section 3 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. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

    (a) National Medal.--The medal struck under this Act is a national 
medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, 
United States Code, all duplicate medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.

SEC. 6. 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 sums 
as may be necessary to pay for the cost of the medals struck under this 
Act.

[[Page 120 STAT. 2710]]

    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

    Approved December 14, 2006.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 2250:
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 152 (2006):
            Sept. 27, considered and passed Senate.
            Dec. 6, considered and passed House.

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