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.