Congressional Tribute to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Act of 2006
PL 109-395 (S.2250), enacted 12/14/2006

120 STAT. 2708
PUBLIC LAW 109–395—DEC. 14, 2006
Public Law 109–395
109th Congress
An Act
To award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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 sec-
ondary 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.
Congressional
Tribute to
Dr. Norman E.
Borlaug Act
of 2006.
31 USC 5111
note.
Dec. 14, 2006
[S. 2250]
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120 STAT. 2709
PUBLIC LAW 109–395—DEC. 14, 2006
(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 Agri-
culture’’ 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 exist-
ence, the World Food Prize has honored Laureates from Ban-
gladesh, India, China, Mexico, Denmark, Sierra Leone, Switzer-
land, 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 presen-
tation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design,
to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, in recognition of his enduring contribu-
tions 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.
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120 STAT. 2710
PUBLIC LAW 109–395—DEC. 14, 2006
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2250:
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 152 (2006):
Sept. 27, considered and passed Senate.
Dec. 6, considered and passed House.
(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.
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