A bill to award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in recognition of his contributions to the fight against global poverty.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the well-being of our children, both now, today, and also into the future. That is why today I am reintroducing my bill, Prepare All Kids, along with Senator Kaufman of Delaware and Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

I believe--and I know this is a belief shared by many people in our country--every child in America is born with a light inside and it is our responsibility to keep that light burning ever brightly. This bill will help States to provide at least 1 year of voluntary prekindergarten education to children between the ages of 3 and 5. The Prepare All Kids Act will also provide funding for important programs that serve the needs of children from birth to age 3, a most critical time in the development of children.

The research is irrefutable. Investing in children in their earliest years greatly improves their life outcomes, and conservative estimates put the savings to our economy at about $7 for every $1 we invest. So this is about two things: It is certainly about our obligation, our abiding obligation to our children, but it is also about our economy, the obligation to our economy that we have to develop skilled workers to compete in a world economy.

There is no question that for some of the most disadvantaged children there is an achievement gap between them and their more privileged peers that sometimes never closes. One study shows that before entering kindergarten, the average cognitive scores of preschool-age children in the highest socioeconomic group were 60 percent above the average scores of children in the lowest socioeconomic group. I believe investing in children is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do. Sometimes the oldest sayings are the truest because years of scientific research on early childhood programs has proven without a doubt that an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure-- certainly when it comes to investing in our children.

Earlier this year, I was proud to advocate for investments in our children in this year's recovery bill and prouder still when those investments remained intact with passage. Programs such as Early Head Start, Head Start, and childcare programs are receiving desperately needed increases right now, as working parents all across the country struggle to maintain jobs, keep their homes, and ensure their children are well cared for while they take care of their responsibilities. It is critical that working families can depend upon these investments in the years to come.

The Presidency, the administration of Barack Obama, has an important budget blueprint for further recognizing the wisdom of investing in our children. In addition to the recovery bill investments, the President's Zero to Five initiative highlights the importance of investments during the critical period of time between birth and age 5: investments in early learning, nurse home visitation, and creating neighborhoods in which low-income and disadvantaged children can receive the help and assistance they need to succeed in life.

I want to emphasize very clearly today as it relates to the bigger picture of giving children what they need in the early years, my bill, the Prepare All Kids Act, focuses on prekindergarten, but it also focuses on programs that serve infants and toddlers. It is also about investing in and preparing all kids--not just some but all--who are about to enter kindergarten. It is absolutely imperative that we don't see children in pieces, that we not create silos as we begin to focus on the kinds of investments our children need. We cannot allow that to be ``siloed'' that way, not childcare versus Head Start versus prekindergarten. These programs should not have to compete with one another, and in my bill I make sure they don't.

We also have to remember that investing in children cannot suddenly begin when they are 3 or 4 years old. It must begin from the earliest days of a child's life, literally beginning before they are born. The Obama administration, in outlining its vision of early childhood, shows a wise commitment to streamlining and coordinating a system of early childhood programs and investments. I could not agree more with the need for such streamlining.

We are also fortunate indeed to have Secretary Duncan and, hopefully very soon, the confirmation of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services--both of whom really get it, as the President said to a joint session in speaking of another part of our priorities in terms of getting it, understanding what we have to do. When it comes to the continuum of early childhood development and education, both of these officials, as well as the President and Vice President and their team, all get this, and they understand it. That is why they have made Zero to Five such a high priority.

Let me turn to an economic summary of the Prepare All Kids Act. First of all, in this bill we assist States in providing at least 1 year of high-quality prekindergarten education to children. Under my bill, prekindergarten programs must adhere to high-quality standards. That includes a research-based curriculum that supports children's cognitive, social, emotional, and

physical development and individual learning styles. Experts tell us that at the preschool stage, social and emotional learning can be as important and perhaps even more important than cognitive learning. That is where early socialization takes place--learning to share, pay attention, work independently, and express feelings. All these are critical to successful childhood development.

Classrooms in our bill will have a maximum of 20 children and children-to-teacher ratios of no more than 10 to 1. Children need individualized and quality attention to thrive, and these requirements provide that. The bill helps States that want to expand pre-K programs to full-day programs as well as extend their programs year round. This supports both children and working parents who need high-quality programs for their children during the workday and in the summer.

Prekindergarten teachers will be required to have a bachelor's degree at the time they are employed, but we give them sufficient time, 6 years, in order to get it. We also allow States to use funds for professional development for teachers. But we want highly qualified and committed teachers in our pre-K programs.

States must create a monitoring plan that will appropriately measure individual program effectiveness. And, one more point: infant and toddler programs will receive a significant portion of the funding--15 percent. These programs typically receive the lowest dollars of all early childhood programs, making it difficult for parents, many of them single moms, to find quality childcare for the youngest of our children.

We have to recognize in this bill and other places as well the critical role of parents in the education of their young children by strongly encouraging parental involvement in programs and assisting families in getting the supportive services they may need.

Children come in families. To truly help children, we have to involve and support their parents. We have to involve the whole family. More important, children cannot succeed without the active involvement of their parents. I believe we have an obligation to our children and to our future workforce.

Compared to children who attend high-quality preschool, those who do not attend such programs are five times more likely to be chronic lawbreakers as adults and more likely to abuse illegal drugs. Children who attend high-quality preschool are more successful in school, more likely to graduate from high school, and thus more likely to become productive adults who contribute to the U.S. economy.

But for anyone who needs additional reasons, decades of research on life outcomes of children who have attended early childhood programs proves the wisdom of this investment. Conservative estimates are that we save $7 for every $1 invested--in crime, welfare, and education costs. Some studies have shown as much as $17 in savings.

We must ensure that the light in every child--really, their potential--burns brightly. It is my deep conviction that as elected public servants we have a sacred responsibility to ensure we invest in our children by providing early learning and development, nutrition and health care--these three: nutrition, health care, and early learning. That is why I am committed to serving the children of this Nation and why I am reintroducing the Prepare All Kids Act.

I look forward to working with President Obama and Democrats and Republicans in the Congress who share these priorities. I look forward to giving our children the good start they deserve, to keep their light shining brightly.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise because yesterday marks 10 years since the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, and on this 10th anniversary, we need to speak about the problems with our Nation's gun laws.

Whether it is Columbine, Virginia Tech, Mexican gun trafficking or the recent killings in Pittsburgh, Binghamton, and Oakland we are reminded over and over again that our gun laws are not strong enough, and it is time we said--not another day.

Not another day should we allow the gun show loophole to stand.

Not another day should we allow gun dealers to sell firearms without conducting a background check.

Not another day should we allow terrorists, criminals, gun traffickers and the mentally ill to buy firearms.

It is as easy as ever for criminals to buy guns--easier, in fact, than it is to get a library card.

What happened at Columbine High School 10 years ago was a tragedy none of us can forget.

Two shooters went on a rampage and killed 12 students and 1 teacher.

But here is what a lot of people do not realize: all of the firearms used by the shooters were bought at gun shows.

That means, because of the gun show loophole, they were bought without a background check, and they were bought ``cash and carry,'' no questions asked.

Those 13 people never should have died because those teenagers never should have had those guns.

Just think: the young woman who bought the guns for the shooters said she wouldn't have done it had a background check been required.

In 1999, I introduced legislation to close the gun show loophole and keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.

In the aftermath of Columbine, the Senate passed my legislation, with Vice President Al Gore casting the tie-breaking vote.

It was a great victory, but it was short lived. The gun lobby stripped my legislation in conference.

Ten years later, this gap in our law still remains.

We were reminded of that last Thursday when we marked the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

In that tragedy, a mentally deranged man killed 32 students and faculty in the worst mass shooting in American history.

The Virginia Tech shooter was able to obtain his guns from licensed gun dealers because the records of his mental illness were not in the background check database as they were supposed to be. But if a background check stopped him from buying his guns from a gun dealer, he could have walked to a gun show and purchased the guns with no background check.

Yesterday we marked the 14th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing--the Nation's worst domestic terrorist attack.

The men responsible for that despicable act frequently bought and sold firearms at gun shows.

Gun trafficking to Mexico is another reminder of the dangers of the gun show loophole.

We know that as many as 30 percent of the firearms traveling across our border into Mexico originate from gun shows.

We have an opportunity to save lives--and that is why I am reintroducing legislation today to close the gun show loophole once and for all.

Closing the gun show loophole will not adversely affect licensed gun sellers and it will not place a burden on law-abiding gun owners.

It simply ends a dangerous, unnecessary exemption so that the Brady Law is applied equally.

But that difference--the difference between buying a gun with a background check and not--is everything.

It is the difference between saving lives and putting more at risk, between keeping guns out of the wrong hands and letting terrorists and others have easy access to guns, and the difference between upholding the rule of law or allowing loopholes to undermine it.

Specifically, my legislation would take several steps to make gun show transactions safer for all Americans: gun shows are defined to include any event at which 50 or more firearms are offered or exhibited for sale. This definition includes not only those events where firearms are the main commodity sold, but also other events where a significant number of guns are sold, such as flea markets or swap meets.

Gun show promoters would be required to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, ATF, maintain a list of vendors at all gun shows, and ensure that all vendors acknowledge receipt of information about their legal obligations.

The bill requires that all firearms sales at gun shows go through a Federal Firearms Licensee, FFL. If a nonlicensed person is selling a weapon, they would use an FFL at the gun show to complete the transaction. The FFL would be responsible for conducting a Brady check on the purchaser and maintaining records of the transaction.

FFLs would be required to submit information including the manufacturer/importer, model, and serial number of firearms transferred at gun shows to the ATF's National Tracing Center, NTC. However, no personal information about either the seller or the purchaser would be given to the ATF. Instead, as under current law, FFLs would maintain this information in their files. The NTC would request this personal information from an FFL only in the event that a firearm subsequently becomes the subject of a law enforcement trace request.

I am proud to be joined in introducing this legislation by Senators Reed, Whitehouse, Schumer, Kerry, Kennedy, Durbin, Levin, Cardin, Gillibrand, Feinstein, and Menendez.

Ten years ago we lost 12 students and a teacher to gun violence in Littleton, CO.

One of the best ways to honor those we lost and those who have suffered is

to make sure a tragedy like Columbine never happens again.

We owe that--and nothing less--to the young people who died 10 years ago and the young people who count on us today.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 846, a bill that would authorize the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to one of the great humanitarians of our time, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

Over the last couple of years, we have talked on the floor of this Chamber and in committees about the effects of the recent economic crisis and how it has limited our ability to procure loans in this country. We all know that credit is the lifeblood of both business and daily life and that businesses need capital to invest in tools, labor, and raw materials, and that individuals need credit for both short-term needs and long-term investments such as college educations or to buy a house or a car.

The need to free up credit in the United States is important, but in this great country that offers so much for us to enjoy, it is easy to lose sight of how serious the need for credit is elsewhere. There it's sometimes a matter of surviving or being able to eke out a living. Americans may need a loan to purchase a new car, whereas a person in Bangladesh may need a loan to merely survive.

Madam Speaker, it is a testament to a man we honor today that he both recognized the needs of many for loans of very small amounts of money and devised a system, a system that can be replicated anywhere, to address that need.

Dr. Yunus, born in Bangladesh and the holder of a doctorate from Vanderbilt, made his first step toward solving this problem in 1976 in his native country--and Mr. Carson mentioned this--when he loaned an equivalent of $27 to 42 women and made each a co-guarantor with the responsibility of ensuring that the money was paid back in full. These women then used the money to make bamboo furniture. Previously to buy bamboo, they had been forced to borrow at interest rates that we would consider criminal and certainly usurious. With the loans, they were able to make furniture at a small profit.

Soon, with a small grant from the government of his newly independent country, Dr. Yunus founded what became the Grameen Bank, and lenders, using that model, have made billions of dollars of so-called microloans to millions of people.

I know Chairman Waters has spoken about this and many other Members as to what this has meant to men and women in poor countries around the world. More than 90 percent of the borrowers are said to have been women.

In the year since the founding of the bank, the Grameen model has blossomed, spawning variations that include nonprofits and for-profit investments in projects ranging from information technology and communications to food production with partners ranging from small local companies to giant multinationals. One project has funded the installation of nearly half a million small solar electrical plants producing power for off-the-grid people in Bangladesh.

I remember reading Robert Caro's book about Lyndon Johnson and what electricity meant to the hill country of Texas. The miracle that we saw in America a century ago is being repeated in these countries now--the miracle of electricity.

But this microlending model is not confined to small, poor, developing countries. It's found its way to Canada and even to the United States.

Dr. Yunus holds out the possibility that another offshoot he calls ``social

business'' might be a way to help redevelop Haiti and bring its people out of poverty, as well as in developed countries to provide a path to help the poor become self-supporting without the need for welfare.

Through all of this, Dr. Yunus has been not only a visionary innovator but a tireless advocate for the model that he believes can ease and even end poverty. For this he's been recognized several times and in many ways. He and the Grameen Bank were co-recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. And in 2009, Dr. Yunus received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.

It is now time that Congress in a bipartisan way honors such a devoted and selfless individual. And that's what we do today with 296 cosponsors.

I commend Senator Durbin for introducing this bill. I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), who introduced the House companion bill, H.R. 2000. With passage today, this bill will go directly to the President's desk.

This is just one of many examples of how a small amount of money changed the lives and the fortunes and the futures of families in countries around this world.

I think of a book I just completed in the last year, Greg Mortenson's ``Three Cups of Tea,'' where a gentleman from California went to really the tribal areas of Pakistan and helped build a school and educate children for just, what we would call an insignificant amount. And it truly is, I think, an inspiring thing to read of people of this character and this commitment.

Madam Speaker, let me close by saying this is an overdue recognition of a vastly important concept and the man who devised it. I urge immediate passage.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Indiana, and I rise in strong support of this legislation to award Dr. Muhammad Yunus a Congressional Gold Medal for his efforts to fight global poverty.

This bill already has passed by unanimous consent in the other body. I am pleased to have introduced the House version of this bill, which garnered 297 bipartisan cosponsors, an indication of the remarkable impact of Dr. Yunus's work.

Muhammad Yunus is widely known as the banker to the poor, and is one of the world's great humanitarians and an economic genius. In 1974, as Bangladesh was struggling with a terrible famine, this professor of economics led his students out of the classroom and into a village nearby. There they discovered that impoverished people could not get ahead because of the oppressive business practices of money lenders who exploited their poverty and desperation.

With just $27, as we have heard today, of his own money, Professor Yunus liberated 42 victims of these unfair practices from their debt burdens. And from that first experience with the power of a small amount of money, Dr. Yunus developed the concept of microcredit.

With just a few dollars to work with, the poor are able to become entrepreneurs. They sell vegetables or clothing or handmade goods and other products in order to slowly generate and accumulate profits, or they devise clever service industries with a cell phone or a computer that they can buy with their microloan. And it turns out that the poor are wary of debt and are careful stewards of money. Repayment rates for microloans are consistently near 97 percent. And step by step, these borrowers build individual ladders on which they can climb out of poverty and into the mainstream economy.

Within a few years of his first trip to that destitute village, Professor Yunus created the Grameen Bank to act as a bank to the poor in Bangladesh. Today, Grameen Bank has over 2,500 branches. It serves over 8.3 million people in 81,000 villages. It has disbursed nearly $10 billion to the poor, with a recovery rate around 97 percent. Most importantly, it is estimated that nearly 60 percent of Grameen Bank's borrowers have crossed the poverty line. Many of these are women.

Over the last three decades, Dr. Yunus has made the elimination of poverty his life's work. And the concept of microcredit has been widely adopted as an idea. And the idea has evolved from microcredit into the field of microfinance, which now serves the poor with a portfolio of financial services, including savings accounts and insurance and fund transfers, educational loans, and pension plans.

The World Bank estimates that microfinance institutions now serve 160 million people in developing countries. Women, who make up 60 percent of the world's poorest citizens and disproportionately shoulder the burdens of poverty, receive over 95 percent of the microloans. The funds allow them to increase their independence and improve the quality of life for their entire families. Children of borrowers are more likely to attend school and enjoy better nutrition.

Yet even with these accomplishments, there is more to be done. There are 2.6 billion people around the world who live on less than $2 a day. And the poorest 1.4 billion live on less than $1.25 per day. Microfinance still needs to take deeper root in Africa, where 75 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day. We must commit ourselves to addressing their needs, and microfinance can be a key component of that work. Muhammad Yunus and those who have followed in his footsteps have made it possible for the working poor to transform themselves into an entrepreneurial middle class and for beggars to become business people.

Professor Yunus has been recognized with the Nobel Prize for Peace and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. He continues to challenge economic preconceptions and to challenge the acceptance of poverty around the world. We, with this, further honor his achievements and his extraordinary vision of making poverty, as he spoke in Oslo, a concept that future generations may understand only by visiting a museum.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge some of the people who helped bring this bill to the floor. My colleagues Representative Moran of Virginia, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Representative Carter, Representative McDermott have been instrumental. Grassroots members of the RESULTS advocacy organization from around the country have helped raise awareness about microfinance and the effort to recognize Muhammad Yunus for his efforts. I commend Senators Durbin and Bennett for their leadership in moving this bill through the Senate, and I thank Chairman Frank for his assistance in expediting consideration here in the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 846 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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.