Political positions of Christopher Dodd

During his years in the House and Senate, Chris Dodd has built a long record of political positions on important issues to the citizens of the United States. His views became of national interest during Dodd's 2008 presidential campaign.

Dodd has repeatedly voted against further funding of the Iraq war. Dodd says that before signing any new free trade agreements, the nation "must take a 'strategic pause.'" He has introduced legislation to enact a Federal Shield law and voted against legislation permitting warrantless surveillance. He has proposed a carbon tax and mandatory community service for all high school students.

Rankings by voter groups

Dodd's rankings from Americans for Democratic Action have been 95 percent and above since 2000. Similarly, Dodd receives low ratings from conservative groups, such as the John Birch Society, the American Conservative Union, and the Christian Coalition of America.

Foreign policy

Dodd with Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont at the Department of Defense.

The Iraq War

Dodd voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002 but has since become an opponent of the war. Dodd has said the Iraq War has been waged “for all the wrong reasons” and that it is eroding both the nation's security and its moral leadership.

Dodd has criticized his congressional colleagues for failing to be more forceful penetrating President George W. Bush's Iraq War troop surge of 2007. "This was debating about debating. This was the House and the Senate at some of its worst. ... I think we missed an opportunity to put our foot down and stop [the surge]."

In May 2007, he voted in the Senate against continued funding for the Iraq war.

Of the 2008 presidential candidates, he was the only one to co-sponsor the Democrats' most aggressive anti-war bill.

On 16 November, he was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against a bill which would have funded the war while requiring the beginning of troops withdrawals, because, he said, the bill did not go far enough to end the war.

Trade policy

Dodd voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and said in 2003 that such trade agreements have "...brought increased cooperation and communication. They have been positive forces that promote political and economic stability, as well as growth and democracy." He believed then that "successful efforts to achieve a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and eventually in 2005, a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), will help further these goals. As well, the United States stands to benefit along with our neighbors from increased trade relations throughout the hemisphere."

However, on 9 November 2007, he came out against the Peru Free Trade Agreement, saying "Americans are looking for change - but there's nothing new in supporting the failed trade policy of the last six years, which is partially responsible for the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs. It's disappointing that Senators Clinton and Obama, in supporting this agreement, would support more of the same, which will only add to our deficit, taking jobs away from hardworking Americans and shipping them elsewhere."

He continued that the U.S. "must take a 'strategic pause' and not sign any new trade agreements until we have a model for trade that raises -- not lowers -- living standards for the vast majority of Americans and the people in countries with which we trade."

Latin American relations

Dodd's views on Latin America, especially with regard to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the Farabundo Martí rebels in El Salvador, has led to conflict with Republican administrations. He is highly critical of the United States embargo against Cuba. He favors more lenient U.S. immigration laws. In January 2005, he met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in an effort to mend the strained relations between the two countries. Dodd stressed the need for closer ties, both economically and in the "war on terror" and "war on drugs". On that occasion, he said that Chávez has “demonstrated he was Venezuela’s legitimate democratically elected president by winning a national referendum (on August 15, 2004)…We know there have been problems between the two countries, but today is a new year and we are here to find out if we can begin a new relationship... It is not worthwhile to continue speaking of what is in the past. I hope we can overcome this.”

Africa

In June 2007, Dodd expressed his support for unilateral military intervention in Darfur to help put an end to the genocide.

Domestic policy

Civil liberties

Dodd supported the interests of the American Civil Liberties Union between 60 and 80 percent of the time from 2000 to 2006.

In 2004, he introduced a bill to enact a Federal Shield law.

Dodd, along with Senators Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold, and Robert Menendez introduced the "Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007", which he claims "restores Habeas Corpus rights, bars evidence gained through torture or coercion and reinstates U.S. adherence to the Geneva Conventions in order to protect the nation’s military personnel abroad." The bill is supported by the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, The Center for Victims of Torture, Open Society Institute, and Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International.

Warrantless surveillance

See also: NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

On 18 October 2007, he placed a hold on a Senate bill revamping the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a procedural move that denies the party leadership the unanimous consent they need to bring a bill to the Senate floor. He objected to the bill's grant of amnesty to telecom companies who spied on their customers on behalf of the executive branch without a judicial warrant. "By granting immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the President's terrorist surveillance program, even though such participation may have been illegal, the FISA reform bill sets a dangerous precedent by giving the President sweeping authorization to neglect the right to privacy that Americans are entitled to under the Constitution," Dodd explained in a statement outlining his concerns.

Civil rights

Chris Dodd was rated 60% by the ACLU, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record. He voted for expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation but voted for prohibiting same-sex marriage in 1996. He voted against an Amendment to prohibit flag burning and legislation banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. As of 2007, he supports civil unions for gays and lesbians, but still opposes same-sex marriage.

Energy and Environmental issues

Dodd has pointed out that the U.S. borrows $1 billion per day to buy foreign oil, and has said that using nonrenewable energy sources such as oil "is an insane status quo policy... we will be indicted by history for this." Dodd has proposed a carbon tax on corporations as a measure to reduced carbon dioxide emissions and reduce global warming. Dodd believes the tax could provide about $50 billion in revenue annually and be used to develop renewable energy sources.

He also advocates increasing the fuel efficiency requirements for vehicles to 50 miles per gallon by 2017, and has noted that requirements were previously higher from [[1983-1984.

Dodd supported the interests of the League of Conservation Voters between 80 and 100 percent of the time from 1999 to 2006. Senator Dodd's record on environmental issues was rated 80 and 100% of the time from 1999 to 2006 by the League of Conservation Voters, indicating environmental-friendly views[1].

In April 2004, the Senator stated that the "EPA must do better on mercury clean-up"[2].

Despite his high ranking in environmental issues, Dodd voted for confirming Gale Norton as United States Secretary of Interior. Norton was frequently criticized for her policy.

National service

Dodd has proposed mandatory community service for all high school students. Dodd, a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in the Dominican Republic, has also proposed doubling the size of the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers by 2011 and expanding AmeriCorps to 1 million participants by the end of his presidency. Dodd says his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form by 2020.

Child care

Dodd is perhaps best known for bringing attention to children’s issues. He formed the first children’s caucus in the Senate and spent almost a decade fighting to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act.

He also authored legislation aimed at providing better access to safe and affordable child care. Dodd has received a 100 percent rating from the Children's Defense Fund each year since 2000.

Gun issues

Dodd was one of 16 senators who voted against the Vitter Amendment, which prohibits federal funding of the confiscation of legally owned firearms during a disaster.

Health care

As a senior member of the Senate committee responsible for health care, Dodd extended health insurance to 5 to 7 hundred uninsured children and has consistently supported community health centers and initiatives aimed at child nutrition, maternal and child health, and infant mortality prevention. He successfully led the effort to modernize the Food and Drug Administration approval process for drugs and medical devices. He authored legislation to protect the mentally ill from abusive and deadly restraint and seclusion practices in mental hospitals. He continues to push for a patient’s bill of rights. Dodd supports extending Medicaid to poorer families. He was rated 100% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record and he opposes the privatization of Social Security.

Marijuana decriminalization

During the HuffPo/Yahoo!/Slate Candidate Mashup (September 2007), Dodd responded to a surprise question regarding the legalization of marijuana. He stated "We're cluttering up our prisons, frankly, when we draw distinctions" between alcohol and marijuana, Dodd said. "So I would decriminalize, or certainly advocate as president, the decriminalization of statutes that would incarcerate or severely penalize people for using marijuana." Dodd does not support full legalization of marijuana, however. "I want to be careful, and I know there are a lot of people across the political spectrum who would just totally legalize [Marijuana]," he clarified. "I don't go that far."

Tort reform

While Dodd opposes immunity for telecom firms who cooperated in terrorist surveillance programs, he has favored tort reform measures, such as the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995(PSLRA) which he co-sponsored in the Senate. The PSLRA was originally developed as part of Newt Gingrich's Contract With America.

However, in August 2007 he urged the Bush administration not to side with defendants, bankers involved in a corporate takeover, who were being sued by investors who had lost their life savings in a case related to the collapse of Enron.

Immigration

On immigration reform policy, Dodd supports the United States–Mexico barrier and improving technology to secure the borders. As President, he would enforce penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and work with nations to the south to firm up their economies.

On a December 4, 2006 Democratic Hispanic radio address he said we need to "bring millions of undocumented workers out of the shadows." In May, Dodd expressed support for a version of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 and criticized Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain for abandoning the debate. The immigration reform bill ultimately failed a cloture vote on 28 June 2007, despite Dodd's vote to close debate.

In a Democratic presidential debate on 30 October, Dodd expressed opposition the proposal by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to allow illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses, calling a license a "privilege" and contrasting his position to the equivocations of Senator Hillary Clinton, who came out in support of the proposal the following day. Two weeks later, Clinton adopted Dodd's position and came out in opposition to the plan.

Consumer protection

Dodd has called credit cards "nothing less than wallet-sized predatory loans." He authored the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2005 (S. 409) which would have enacted a variety of consumer protections against predatory lenders, however the bill did not become law.

Crime

Dodd was rated 75% by CURE, indicating pro-rehabilitation crime votes. He is an opponent of capital punishment and supports a moratorium on the death penalty and more DNA testing. He also voted against rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals, limiting death penalty appeals. Dodd supports requiring DNA testing for all federal executions. Dodd voted "no" on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime and against increasing penalties for drug offenses.

Stem-cell research

Senator Dodd voted for expand embryonic stem-cell research in June 2004 and against banning human cloning in February 1998.

Dodd, with nearly all Senate Democrats, voted for Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (2005) [3]. Act was passed by House and Senate, but vetoed by President George W. Bush.

Dodd wasn't present during voting on Stem Cell Research Act in 2007 [4], but supported this legislation as he did in 2006.

Abortion

Senator Dodd, an outspoken advocate of pro-choice causes was rated 100% by NARAL. He voted against the ban on partial birth abortions, against parental notification of children who receive out-of-state abortions and against the maintaining of the ban of abortions on Military Bases.

Senatorial oversight

Judicial nominations

Dodd voted in favor of confirmation both President Bill Clinton Supreme Court nominations: Ruth Bader Ginsburg [5] and Stephen Breyer [6].

Dodd voted in favor of confirmation of Justice David Souter [7] and against Clarence Thomas's [8] - both nominated by President George H. W. Bush.

Dodd voted against nominations of both John Roberts (Chief Justice)[9] and Samuel Alito (Associate Justice)[10].

See Also

• Project Vote Smart candidate information including past voting records
• 2008 Presidential Candidate Positions Matrix of Issues and Presidential Candidates

External Links

Chris Dodd On The Issues, ontheissues.org, retrieved on 2007-12-06