II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2250 

To award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2006 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. HARKIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Norman E. 

Borlaug. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Tribute 

5 to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, was born in Iowa 

9 where he grew up on a family farm, and received his 

10 primary and secondary education. 
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1 (2) Dr. Borlaug attended the University of 

2 Minnesota where he received his B.A. and Ph.D. de3 grees and was also a star NCAA wrestler. 

4 (3) For the past 20 years, Dr. Borlaug has 

5 lived in Texas where he is a member of the faculty 

6 of Texas A&M University. 

7 (4) Dr. Borlaug also serves as President of the 

8 Sasakawa Africa Association. 

9 (5) Dr. Borlaug’s accomplishments in terms of 

10 bringing radical change to world agriculture and up11 lifting humanity are without parallel. 

12 (6) In the immediate aftermath of World War 

13 II, Dr. Borlaug spent 20 years working in the poor14 est areas of rural Mexico. It was there that Dr. 

15 Borlaug made his breakthrough achievement in de16 veloping a strand of wheat that could exponentially 

17 increase yields while actively resisting disease. 

18 (7) With the active support of the governments 

19 involved, Dr. Borlaug’s ‘‘green revolution’’ uplifted 

20 hundreds of thousands of the rural poor in Mexico 

21 and saved hundreds of millions from famine and 

22 outright starvation in India and Pakistan. 

23 (8) Dr. Borlaug’s approach to wheat production 

24 next spread throughout the Middle East. Soon there25 after his approach was adapted to rice growing, in-
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1 creasing the number of lives Dr. Borlaug has saved 

2 to more than a billion people. 

3 (9) In 1970, Dr. Borlaug received the Nobel 

4 Prize, the only person working in agriculture to ever 

5 be so honored. Since then he has received numerous 

6 honors and awards including the Presidential Medal 

7 of Freedom, the Public Service Medal, the National 

8 Academy of Sciences’ highest honor, and the Rotary 

9 International Award for World Understanding and 

10 Peace. 

11 (10) At age 91, Dr. Borlaug continues to work 

12 to alleviate poverty and malnutrition. He currently 

13 serves as president of Sasakawa Global 2000 Africa 

14 Project, which seeks to extend the benefits of agri15 cultural development to the 800,000,000 people still 

16 mired in poverty and malnutrition in sub-Saharan 

17 Africa. 

18 (11) Dr. Borlaug continues to serve as Chair19 man of the Council of Advisors of the World Food 

20 Prize, an organization he created in 1986 to be the 

21 ‘‘Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture’’ and which 

22 presents a $250,000 prize each October at a Cere23 mony in Des Moines, Iowa, to the Laureate who has 

24 made an exceptional achievement similar to Dr. 

25 Borlaug’s breakthrough 40 years ago. In the almost 
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1 20 years of its existence, the World Food Prize has 

2 honored Laureates from Bangladesh, India, China, 

3 Mexico, Denmark, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the 

4 United Kingdom, and the United States. 

5 (12) Dr. Borlaug has saved more lives than any 

6 other person who has ever lived, and likely has saved 

7 more lives in the Islamic world than any other 

8 human being in history. 

9 (13) Due to a lifetime of work that has led to 

10 the saving and preservation of an untold amount of 

11 lives, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug is deserving of Amer12 ica’s highest civilian award: the congressional gold 

13 medal. 

14 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

15 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The President 

16 Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House 

17 of Representatives are authorized to make appropriate ar18 rangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, 

19 of a gold medal of appropriate design, to Dr. Norman E. 

20 Borlaug, in recognition of his enduring contributions to 

21 the United States and the world. 

22 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

23 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

24 of the Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec25 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
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1 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec2 retary. 

3 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

4 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre5 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

6 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 at a price 

7 sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, mate8 rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 

9 the cost of the gold medal. 

10 SEC. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS. 

11 (a) NATIONAL MEDAL.—The medal struck under this 

12 Act is a national medal for purposes of chapter 51 of title 

13 31, United States Code. 

14 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

15 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all duplicate medals 

16 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

17 items. 

18 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

19 SALE. 

20 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There 

21 are authorized to be charged against the United States 

22 Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such sums as may be nec23 essary to pay for the cost of the medals struck under this 

24 Act. 
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1 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

2 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 

3 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

4 Fund. 

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