In response to the retirement of Fidel Castro, Sen. Dodd stated that the U.S.'s policy toward Cuba was "one of the most backwards and ineffective in history" Sen. Dodd then went on to state that this regime change was an opportunity for the U.S. to change as well, saying that the U.S. should open up to Cuba and to re-establish ties with the country. Wednesday a study of environmental voting in Congress, with the Conn. officials in the lead, except for Sen. Dodd who had a 60% due to missed question sessions from his time on the campaign trail. Sen. Dodd has announced that part of the legislative focus in the economy will be on homeowners and business insurance. Sen. Dodd has proposed that all high-school student do at least 100 hours of community service, but that the service be integrated in some manner with their academics and that the schools will be able to shape the community service program to the manner needed by the community- this program will hopefully instill a sense of patriotism in the youth at an impressionable time. Monday Sen. Dodd is visiting Bridgeport (who is discussing security) to talk to them about the state of the economy and what is being done. Sunday Sen. Dodd criticized the Navy's move from having an American company build the new presidential helicopter to an European company. Last Sunday, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would remove the immunity of the phone companies that aided in the illegal surveillance- Sen. Dodd was one of the leaders of this bill, Sen. Dodd also opposed a bill that would expand the ability of the government to spy on the populace- but the bill has been passed. Other bills by Sen. Dodd are held up in Congress, like one that would help Katrina victims move out from the FEMA trailers.

Dodd is Diligent in Congress...

This week, Senator Dodd was busy in Congress once again. On Tuesday, Dodd made his final attempt to strip immunity from the phone companies involved in government warrantless wiretapping, but he failed in this endeavor. Dodd was disheartened that the amendment he tried to add to a FISA provision to end “retroactive immunity” was crushed, remarking that warrantless wiretapping is “the single largest invasion of privacy in the history of the country.” However, on Wednesday, Dodd was resilient, making way for new bills on the Senate floor. He introduced legislation on the 13th called the Military Commission Act of 2006, which would restore habeas corpus rights for terrorist detainees as well as to place an outright ban on torture. Dodd tried to convince 45 senators who voted against the ban on waterboarding that it actually is torture, saying “Let me be clear: there is no such thing as simulated drowning. When a person is strapped to a board and water is poured into their mouth and nose with no way to get air, that is drowning; that is torture.” Not only did Dodd speak out against waterboarding on Wednesday, he was involved in other matters in Senate as well. He spoke about the Family and Medical Leave Act, and said that the changes proposed by the Department of Labor to the act would weaken it entirely. At the same time, Dodd has been also working diligently as the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee in an effort to skirt a recession, although he is reluctant to even label the current crisis as such, noting “It would be inappropriate for the secretary and the chairman to start putting a label” on the subprime crisis.

Wednesday, Senator Dodd (Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee) had meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake to discuss the mortgage crisis and the actions taken to rectify the situation. Thursday Sen. Dodd met with Shelia Blair, the chair women of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, to discuss her opinion. Sen. Dodd also plan to meet with each member of the Senate Banking Committee to discuss their ideas, their plans of action they take to solve the crisis. At the moment Sen. Dodd states the best course of action would be a short-term stimulus package and then planning longer-term solutions. There is speculation the Dodd may be nominate for Vice President, especially after Sen. Obama's remark about seeking Dodd's counsel if elected president.
On Bush's remark about the delaying of the conformations of his nominees, Sen. Dodd stated that the economy must first be fixed and then the nominees will be tested about their views. In an alternate solution to public works (The decaying infrastructure of America ), Sen. Dodd has proposed the creation of an independent National Infrastructure Bank which project seeking grants of at least 75 million would submit to to be judged- though existing projects, earmarks and grants would not be affected by this bank.