Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a Returned Peace Corps volunteer and one of the Senate’s leading champions of national service, today attended the ServiceNation Summit in New York City.   Dodd spoke about his current efforts to expand volunteer opportunities for Americans of all ages.

The full text of Senator Dodd’s remarks as prepared for delivery is below:

Prepared Remarks: I want to take a minute to thank my friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy.  While he may not be here today – he’s here today, believe me.  There is no greater champion of the ideals and goals we are discussing this week.  And he’ll be fighting with us every step of the way to turn them into a reality.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) made the following opening statement at today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on protocols making Croatia and Albania members of NATO. Dodd, who is a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs, chaired the hearing at the request of Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE)

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today spoke on the Senate floor on the state of our nation’s infrastructure and the importance of long-term investment in our roads, bridges, mass transit, drinking water, and wastewater removal systems.  Dodd’s speech comes on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the tragic I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Tomorrow also marks one year since Dodd introduced the National Infrastructure Bank Act along with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE).  Dodd has held two hearings on the legislation, which has 12 co-sponsors.

Remarks as Prepared: We meet today in an unusual and extraordinary moment for our country and this Committee.  We are conducting two hearings consecutively.  The first hearing will be to receive the semi-annual monetary policy report from the Federal Reserve, as previously scheduled.  After the conclusion of that hearing, we will convene a second hearing on recent developments in the U.S. financial markets and regulatory responses to them.  This second hearing was noticed yesterday with the consent of Ranking Member Shelby due to the special and exigent circumstances in our nation’s financial markets.

As the Senate prepares for a final vote on the FISA Amendments Act today, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) took to the floor again to implore his colleagues to reject the bill, which would grant retroactive immunity to the telecommunication companies that participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.  Dodd has fought alongside his colleagues Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to prevent any bill that provides retroactive immunity from passing the Senate.  The Senate today considered Dodd’s amendment to strike the retroactive immunity provision from the FISA bill.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) went to the Senate floor tonight to speak in opposition to the FISA legislation currently being considered by the Senate.  Dodd, a staunch opponent of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies, has offered an amendment that would strip the retroactive immunity provision from the bill. 

Remarks as Prepared - Mr. President: I rise—once again—to voice my strong opposition to the misguided FISA legislation before us today.  I have strong reservations about the so-called improvements made to Title I.  But more than that, this legislation includes provisions which would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that apparently have violated the privacy and the trust of millions of Americans by participating in the president’s warrantless wiretapping program.  If we pass this legislation, the Senate will ratify a domestic spying regime that has already concentrated far too much unaccountable power in the president’s hands and will place the telecommunications companies above the law. 

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs, yesterday spoke on the Senate floor about the Merida Initiative, a bilateral proposal between the U.S. and Mexico designed to combat the drastic increase in drug related violence in Mexico. 

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs, last Friday delivered the Keynote address to the Andean Forum for Regional Security to lay out a blueprint for how the United States can change course and take a new direction in regards to our Latin America policies by addressing issues of mutual concern: Public Security and the Rule of Law, Poverty and Inequality, and Energy Integration.