Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/2661

 124 STAT. 2635 PUBLIC LAW 111–253—OCT. 5, 2010 Public Law 111–253 111th Congress An Act To award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in recognition of his contributions to the fight against global poverty. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FINDINGS. The Congress finds that— (1) Dr. Muhammad Yunus is recognized in the United States and throughout the world as a leading figure in the fight against poverty and the effort to promote economic and social change; (2) Muhammad Yunus is the recognized developer of the concept of microcredit, and Grameen Bank, which he founded, has created a model of lending that has been emulated across the globe; (3) Muhammad Yunus launched this global movement to create economic and social development from below, beginning in 1976, with a loan of $27 from his own pocket to 42 crafts persons in a small village in Bangladesh; (4) Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated the life-changing potential of extending very small loans (at competitive interest rates) to the very poor and the economic feasibility of micro- credit and other microfinance and microenterprise practices and services; (5) Dr. Yunus’s work has had a particularly strong impact on improving the economic prospects of women, and on their families, as over 95 percent of microcredit borrowers are women; (6) Dr. Yunus has pioneered a movement with the potential to assist a significant number of the more than 1,400,000,000 people, mostly women and children, who live on less than $1.25 a day, and the 2,600,000,000 people who live on less than $2 a day, and which has already reached 155,000,000, by one estimate; (7) there are now an estimated 24,000,000 microenterprises in the United States accounting for approximately 18 percent of private (nonfarm) employment and 87 percent of all business in the United States, and the Small Business Administration has made over $318,000,000 in microloans to entrepreneurs since 1992; (8) Dr. Yunus, along with the Grameen Bank, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts to promote eco- nomic and social opportunity and out of recognition that lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find the means, such as microcredit, to break out of poverty; and 31 USC 5111 note. Oct. 5, 2010 [S. 846]