Chris Dodd

President Praises Dodd leadership on Health Care Reform

June 22, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Chairman Kennedy’s chief deputy for Health Care Reform, released the following statement today after joining President Obama, Senator Max Baucus, and AARP CEO A. Barry Rand to announce that the Administration has a reached a deal with the Pharmaceutical industry to reduce the gap in coverage in the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit program. The agreement is expected to save an estimated $80 billion.    » read more »

June 18, 2009 -- Citing a story in this morning’s Washington Post, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today slammed financial industry groups who have expressed opposition to the Obama Administration’s proposal to create an independent consumer financial protection agency.

Dodd is an outspoken advocate for the creation of such an agency, and reiterated his strong support for the idea at today’s Banking Committee hearing where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified about the Administration’s proposal to modernize the framework of American financial regulation and supervision.    » read more »

16-Jun-2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) today issued a letter requesting their Senate colleagues support the Paycheck Fairness Act, which builds on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Equal Pay Act to help end gender discrimination in the workplace.    » read more »

June 17, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) released the following statement today following Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s announcement that the Department of Education will commit up to $350 million of the Race to the Top program to support common education standards initiatives. The Race to the Top program, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will award competitive grants to states that are working to use innovation to improve their education systems.    » read more »

June 17, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today released the following statement after President Obama unveiled his plan to modernize financial regulation and supervision:

“The proposal President Obama laid out today sets the stage for what will be a historic undertaking – building the foundation for a safer, stronger financial system. Consumer protection must be at the center of this effort, and I applaud the President for making an independent consumer financial protection agency one of the pillars of his proposal.    » read more »

Tri-City Corridor Project Could Qualify for Federal Funds Under New Guidelines

June 17, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, welcomed news that the Tri-City Corridor project could qualify for federal grant funding under new guidelines announced today by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Under these guidelines, states and regions may now apply for the $8 billion in grants for high speed rail projects provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.    » read more »

Senator Chris Dodd Statement on Obama Administration's Executive Compensation Proposals

June 10, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today released the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s proposals to curb executive compensation:    » read more »

Bipartisan Talks Continue on Outstanding Key Issues

June 9, 2009 -- For the past year, Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Democratic Members and staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) have been working to develop legislation that reduces health care costs, allows Americans to keep the coverage they have if they want it, and makes health insurance affordable to those who do not have it today.

Today, while discussions between HELP Committee Democrats and Republicans on key outstanding issues continue, Senator Dodd joined Chairman Kennedy in releasing the landmark “Affordable Health Choices Act.” Click here for a copy of the bill, http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf.    » read more »

Proposes that Fed Adopt "Opt-In" Approach to Overdraft Fees, Preventing Companies from Charging Consumers Without Their Permission

June 9, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, urged the Federal Reserve to act as soon as possible to protect consumers from abusive overdraft fees. In a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Dodd called on the Fed to finalize a proposed rule that would curb the use of excessive and unfair fees when consumers overdraw their bank accounts.

Dodd further pressed the Fed to implement an “opt-in” approach to overdraft fees, which would ensure that banks would be prohibited from charging consumers an overdraft fee without their consent.    » read more »

June 8, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, called on Senate Appropriations Committee members as well as members of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development to provide ample funding for housing and community development activities in the Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.    » read more »

Asks Treasury Nominee to Provide Data about Program's Effectiveness, Make Loan Servicers Accountable

June 4, 2009 -- Citing a report in yesterday’s New York Times, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) questioned Herb Allison, the nominee to be the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, about the effectiveness of the Administration’s foreclosure mitigation program at Mr. Allison’s confirmation hearing today.    » read more »

June 4, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today put banks on notice after recent reports of consumers being gouged by increased, excessive and deceptive fees imposed on their bank accounts.

Senator Dodd pledged to work to protect consumers and cautioned the banks against excessive fees and the use of other deceptive practices that unfairly inflate the cost of bank accounts.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- State Dining Room -- THE PRESIDENT: I want to -- thanks -- I want to say thank you to all of my former colleagues for taking the time to visit here today at the White House. I want to particularly thank Senators Baucus, Senator Dodd, all the senators who have been fighting tirelessly on behalf of health care reform -- for many years, in some cases.

I want to mention, by the way, that I spoke to Senator Kennedy earlier this morning. He is gung-ho, ready to go. He had a whole range of ideas in terms of about how he'd like to see this move, and he's grateful that Chris has been taking on a lot of the work in the health committee, but he is very enthusiastic about our progress.    » read more »

June 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic Senators Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin, Chris Dodd and Jack Reed joined Matt Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, at a press conference this morning to discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The legislation will give the Food and Drug Administration legal authority to regulate the sale, distribution and advertising of cigarettes in order to stop tobacco companies from targeting children and misleading the public.    » read more »

Holds Press Conference to Discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

June 3, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Chairman Edward Kennedy’s chief deputy for health care reform, held a press conference today with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Jack Reed (D-RI) to discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Dodd was also joined by Matt Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.    » read more »