II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 903 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in 

recognition of his contributions to the fight against global poverty. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2007 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. BENNETT, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. KERRY, 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. Muhammad 

Yunus, in recognition of his contributions to the fight 

against global poverty. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds that— 

5 (1) Dr. Muhammad Yunus is recognized in the 

6 United States and throughout the world as a leading 

7 figure in the fight against poverty and the effort to 

8 promote economic and social change; 


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1 (2) Muhammad Yunus is the recognized devel2 oper of the concept of microcredit, and Grameen 

3 Bank, which he founded, has created a model of 

4 lending that has been emulated across the globe; 

5 (3) Muhammad Yunus launched this global 

6 movement to create economic and social development 

7 from below, beginning in 1976, with a loan of $27 

8 from his own pocket to 42 crafts persons in a small 

9 village in Bangladesh; 

10 (4) Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated the 

11 life-changing potential of extending very small loans 

12 (at competitive interest rates) to the very poor and 

13 the economic feasibility of microcredit and other 

14 microfinance and microenterprise practices and serv15 ices; 

16 (5) Dr. Yunus’s work has had a particularly 

17 strong impact on improving the economic prospects 

18 of women, and on their families, as over 95 percent 

19 of microcredit borrowers are women; 

20 (6) Dr. Yunus has pioneered a movement with 

21 the potential to assist a significant number of the 

22 more than 1,000,000,000 people, mostly women and 

23 children, who live on less than $1 a day, and the 

24 nearly 3,000,000,000 people who live on less than 


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1 $2 a day, and which has already reached 

2 125,000,000 households, by one estimate; 

3 (7) there are now an estimated 21,000,000 

4 microentrepreneurs in the United States (accounting 

5 for approximately 16 percent of private (nonfarm) 

6 employment in the United States), and the Small 

7 Business Administration has made over 

8 $318,000,000 in microloans to entrepreneurs since 

9 1992; 

10 (8) Dr. Yunus, along with the Grameen Bank, 

11 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his 

12 efforts to promote economic and social opportunity 

13 and out of recognition that lasting peace cannot be 

14 achieved unless large population groups find the 

15 means, such as microcredit, to break out of poverty; 

16 and 

17 (9) the microcredit ideas developed and put into 

18 practice by Muhammad Yunus, along with other 

19 bold initiatives, can make a historical breakthrough 

20 in the fight against poverty. 

21 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

22 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

23 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem24 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

25 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 


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1 medal of appropriate design, to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, 

2 in recognition of his many enduring contributions to the 

3 fight against global poverty. 

4 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

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

6 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec7 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

8 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec9 retary. 

10 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

11 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

12 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, 

13 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

14 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

15 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

16 and the cost of the gold medal. 

17 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

18 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu19 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

20 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

21 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

22 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

23 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

24 items. 


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

2 SALE. 

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

4 are authorized to be charged against the United States 

5 Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be 

6 necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursu7 ant to this Act. 

8 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

9 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

10 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

11 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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