June 22, 2006
Chairman Thomas, Vice Chairman Alexander, Senator Akaka, and members of the Subcommittee, I thank you for holding this hearing today. I appreciate the opportunity to offer testimony in support of the Quinebaug-Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor (Corridor) reauthorization.

June 20, 2006
Mr. President, let me begin again by thanking my colleague from Massachusetts and others who have fought so long and hard over the last decade to have an increase in the minimum wage in our country, from the $5.15 that was adopted about a decade ago to the suggestion today that we raise this some $2.10. I know $2.10 may -- apparently it's quite a bit of money to many of my colleagues here. To many, of course, it's nothing more than a cup of coffee at a high-priced coffee shop today or a few sodas or a sandwich along the way, but it makes a difference, Mr. President, that $2.10 increase after a decade in the minimum wage will add some $4,400 to the incomes of people who are -- who are depending upon the minimum wage to provide for themselves and their families.

June 20, 2006
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as I begin my remarks, by coincidence, I am following my good friend from Oregon, Gordon Smith. It is purely by coincidence that we are lined up to address our thoughts on this important and most critical issue facing our country. I say to my colleague from Oregon, my opening comments are exactly the Senator's closing comments.

I plead with my colleagues during the remaining hours of this debate to try to stay away from the personal attacks and the mindless use of labels that we are tempted to gravitate to in order to impassion our constituencies. Such approaches do little to contribute to an understanding of the important subject before the Senate.

June 7, 2006

June 7, 2006
Mr. President, if I can, I wanted to spend a couple of minutes on a matter that this body voted on this morning. I was unavoidably absent this morning at a family matter in Rhode Island, so I was not here for the vote. But I wanted to just take a minute or so here to say to my colleagues and to others that had I been present this morning, I would have voted no on the motion for cloture, and had cloture been invoked, I would have voted against the amendment. I am speaking of the proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriages.

May 18, 2006
Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues Senator Lugar and Senator Specter to speak in support of the Free Flow of Information Act of 2006.

A full transcript of this speech will be available shortly.

May 8, 2006
Mr. President, I rise today to voice my serious concerns about what is going on in the Senate right now. This is the fourth time that we have devoted floor time to legislation to restrict the rights of those injured by medical malpractice. Once again, this is being done without committee consideration, without hearings, and without an attempt to enter into meaningful negotiations with the minority to address our very legitimate concerns about this legislation.

April 25, 2006
Mr. President, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Each year, our nation commemorates this tragic event with a week long period of remembrance, and this Thursday, I will join several of my colleagues in a ceremony honoring the victims of the Holocaust in the Capitol Rotunda. The theme for this year’s “Days of Remembrance,” the “Legacies of Justice,” honors the courage and fortitude of those who testified during the trials of Nazi war criminals.

March 6, 2006
Mr. President, let me begin these comments by thanking, first of all, my colleague from Mississippi, Senator Lott, who chairs the Rules Committee, and the other members of the committee, Democrats and Republicans alike, who worked over the past number of days to put together a Rules Committee bill.