WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chris Dodd hopes to bring the nation's next health care czar to Connecticut later this month as Democrats look to improve access and affordability to a system they have long sought to reform.

Dodd said Wednesday that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has agreed, if scheduling permits, to join him on a "listening tour" in Connecticut to hear what the state's insurance, businesses and health care leaders as well as ordinary citizens may recommend.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) who has been asked by Chairman Kennedy to serve as his chief deputy for health reform, submitted the following statement for the record at this morning’s HELP Committee hearing for the nomination of Secretary of Health and Human Services-Designate Tom Daschle:

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) who has been asked by Chairman Kennedy to serve as his chief deputy for health reform, announced today that he will be kicking off his Connecticut Prescriptions for Change listening tour later this month with a town hall meeting in East Hartford.  The listening tour will take him throughout Connecticut where he will host a series of town hall meetings to hear first hand from the people of Connecticut about their views and ideas for reforming our nation’s health care system.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) who has been asked by Chairman Kennedy to serve as his chief deputy for health reform, today met with former Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle, President-Elect Obama’s nominee to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  He released the following statement after their meeting:

Bingaman Replaces Clinton, Joins Dodd, Harkin and Mikulski in Expanded Roles

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), today announced that Senator Jeff Bingaman will lead the committee’s health care reform working group on insurance coverage. Senator Bingaman replaces Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, today issued the following statement on President-Elect Obama’s announcement of the nomination of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Daschle will also serve as Director of a new White House Office on Health Care Reform and Jeanne Lambrew will serve as its Deputy Director:

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today introduced the Best Buddies Empowerment for People with Intellectual Disabilities Act of 2008.  This bill seeks to expand the acclaimed Best Buddies program through federal grants, allowing the organization to raise awareness of their services and ultimately help many more Americans living with intellectual disabilities learn valuable social skills, obtain job coaching, and become more independent members of their communities.

Baucus, Kennedy, Grassley, Enzi, Rockerfeller, Hatch, Dodd met today to discuss prospects for advancing legislation in 111th Congress

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee committed today to work together early in the 111^th Congress toward comprehensive health care reform.  Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and HELP Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) were joined at an afternoon discussion in the U.S. Capitol by Finance Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and HELP Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), as well as Finance Health Care Subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Health Care Subcommittee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and HELP Children and Families Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).  The Senators issued a brief statement following the meeting today:

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, released the following statement today on a new study by researchers at the University of Missouri indicating that obese children and teens are at risk of heart disease at an earlier age.

Senator Chris Dodd and his wife Jackie Clegg Dodd participated in the Connecticut Walk for Food Allergy in Killingworth on Saturday.  Ms Clegg Dodd was the honorary chair of the walk, which is supported by the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

Senator Dodd is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families.  He is the author of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act, a bill that addresses the critical need for uniform food allergy policies in our schools and early childhood centers while providing the resources schools need to implement them.