Awarding A Congressional Gold Medal To Dr. Muhammad Yunus

Floor Speech

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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 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.

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