Watch Video

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today introduced a resolution calling on President Bush to immediately propose new candidates for the positions of U.S. Attorney General and President of the World Bank, currently being filled by Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz, respectively.  Senator Dodd characterized Mr. Gonzales as unfit to serve as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, citing cronyism, misleading Congressional testimony, and an inability to defend and protect the Constitution.  Mr. Wolfowitz’s violation of the World Bank’s ethical and governance rules, as well as a World Bank ethics committee investigation, conflicts with the Bank’s global mission of reducing poverty, aid development, and promoting good governance in all nations in which it operates.

Watch Video

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today addressed his colleagues on the Senate floor, and urged them to support the Feingold-Reid-Dodd amendment, which calls on the Congressional power of the purse to require the President to safely redeploy U.S. combat troops from Iraq.  The amendment would set a hard deadline for withdrawal and bring a responsible end to the war within ten months, and is expected to be brought to a cloture vote in the Senate tomorrow. 

Watch Video

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) today commemorated the 100^th anniversary of the birth of his father, Senator Thomas Dodd, by sharing remarks about his father’s life and remarkable accomplishments.  Present while Senator Dodd paid tribute to Tom Dodd’s longstanding dedication to public service were his two daughters, Grace, 5, and Christina, 2, and his wife Jackie.  The elder Dodd began his career as an FBI agent, then served as a prosecutor.  After WWII, he was a prosecutor for the United States Chief of Counsel during the war crimes tribunals in Nuremberg, Germany; inspired by his father’s legacy, Senator Chris Dodd has worked diligently to advance the principles of international justice first established by the Nuremberg trials.  Tom Dodd was then elected to represent Connecticut first as a Representative from 1953-1957, and then as a two-term Senator from 1959-1971.  Chris Dodd is the first Connecticut son to follow his father into the Senate and the youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate in Connecticut history.

Watch Video

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today led his Senate colleagues in the defeat of an amendment that would have eliminated an important component of his legislation, the Better/Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA), which is included in the Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act (S. 1082) being considered by the Senate this week.  Dodd’s bill reauthorizes the BPCA, which he originally authored in 1997 and reauthorized in 2002.  The amendment, defeated by a vote of 41 to 53, would have eliminated a provision in the BPCA that adjusts the patent extension awarded to pharmaceutical companies with U.S. drug sales over $1 billion from 6 to 3 months.  Defeat of this amendment will ensure savings of $50 million over 10 years under Dodd's bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

Watch clip

Establishes common ground among stakeholders in subprime market

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today convened a meeting of leaders of some of the largest subprime mortgage lenders, securitizers, and servicers, as well as consumer and civil rights groups, to discuss ideas and develop solutions to the subprime mortgage market crisis which is currently threatening millions of Americans to foreclose on their homes in the near future.  The leaders met in a closed-door session which Dodd moderated.