Twelve Days of Results Tour

January 3 - Caucus for Results - Locate your caucus

Day 1: Women’s Issues

Authored the Family and Medical Leave Act
Authored the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which has provided billions of dollars in federal aid to improve the quality of child care and help low-income families cope with its high cost.
Started the Senate Children’s Caucus and was named “Senator of the Decade” by the National Head Start Association.
Helped expand funding for programs designed to help victims of domestic violence
As President, Chris Dodd will create opportunity for all women by instituting paid Family and Medical Leave, ensuring equal pay for equal work, and increasing access to high-quality, affordable child care, as well as expanding the Child and Earned Income Tax Credits and prioritizing America’s commitment to women’s health.

Day 2: Housing

Helped secure Senate-passage of $200 million in relief for homeowners affected by the sub prime crisis.
Proposed comprehensive long-term reform that would change the way lenders do business.
As President, Chris Dodd will increase opportunities for homeownership and protect homeowners by cracking down on predatory lending practices, reforming unfair bankruptcy laws, and promoting more affordable housing.

Day 3: Veterans / Defense

Helped secure the funds our military needed to begin the process of restocking and repairing its war-battered fleet of tanks, helicopters, and trucks.
Authored legislation to require the Department of Defense to reimburse soldiers and their families for the equipment – such as body armor – that they purchased on their own.
Authored legislation to ensure that deceased veterans receive an official headstone or grave marker from the Veterans Administration.
As President, Chris Dodd will honor our contract with veterans by guaranteeing the timely delivery of high-quality medical care and disability benefits, supporting our military families through extended Family and Medical Leave, and ensuring veterans get the educational benefits they were promised.

Day 4: Homeland Security

Wrote the FIRE & SAFER Acts that have provided $3 billion in federal funds to help communities equip, hire, and train fire fighters.
Authored legislation increasing federal funds for transit security.
As President, Chris Dodd will protect our country by ensuring our first responders have the tools they need to keep themselves and our communities safe, working to recruit and retain first responders, and making sure our communities are prepared to respond to any emergency situation.

Day 5: Education

Led the effort to improve early education by expanding access to the Head Start program, and by working to facilitate collaboration between Head Start and other early childhood development programs.
Introduced legislation to reform the “No Child Left Behind” Act so that schools are held accountable for student academic improvements over time rather than by relying on one high-stakes test score.
Helped expand the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program – the nation’s primary afterschool program – and is the Chairman of the bipartisan Afterschool Caucus.
Authored the “Child Care Access Means Parents In Schools” (CCAMPIS) program to help provide high quality, campus-based child care for low-income parents attending college.
As President, Chris Dodd will ensure that all Americans have access to a world-class education by reforming No Child Left Behind and ensuring that every American graduates from high school college- and workforce-ready, as well as ending corporate welfare on student loans, raising Pell Grants and providing an opportunity for free community college to every American.

Day 6: Bankruptcy

Opposed anti-consumer bankruptcy “reform” legislation that hurt children and families by making it harder to get out of debt.
Introduced changes to bankruptcy legislation that sought to exempt education expenses, child support payments and alimony from bankruptcy proceedings.
Praised by Harvard Professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren for his opposition to bankruptcy “reform” legislation supported by the credit card industry.
As President, Chris Dodd will ensure hardworking people who have fallen on hard times will be afforded the new beginning they deserve by making sure all medical debts and private student loans are dischargeable, protecting children instead of creditors, and modifying the means test to ensure families have sufficient resources to live on, as well as permitting bankruptcy courts to restructure mortgages so families can stay in their homes.

Day 7: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Fought for 7 years, and overcame 2 presidential vetos, to pass the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act, which has allowed 50 million Americans to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave when they needed to care for a new child or a sick family member.
As President, Chris Dodd will ensure more Americans can balance work and family by providing 8 weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member or to welcome a child into the world as well as extending Family and Medical Leave for up to six months to spouses and parents of the combat-injured.

Day 8: Health Care

Co-authored the “Combating Autism Act” to fund screening, intervention and education efforts related to autism, and expand federal autism research programs.
Co-authored the PREEMIE Act to expand and help coordinate federal research on preterm labor, delivery and care.
Authored legislation to encourage the drug industry to conduct studies to ensure that their products are safe and effective for children.
As President, Chris Dodd will ensure all Americans have access to affordable universal coverage similar to what Members of Congress currently have - regardless of employment status, ability to pay or any preexisting medical condition - and will guarantee that this coverage is fully portable from job to job.

Day 9: Foreign Policy

Worked to bring peace and stability to Central America in 1980s by repeatedly traveling to the region to meet with presidents, political opposition, religious and military leaders, and often conducted these meetings in Spanish.
Led the Senate Central America Observer Group created to monitor the progress of the Guatemala City Peace Accord, which called for cease-fires in the civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and eventually led to successful elections.
Worked closely with Senator Ted Kennedy, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and President Bill Clinton to help facilitate the Good Friday Peace Accords in Northern Ireland.
Chaired and co-chaired Congressional delegations to the annual U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Conference, where he met with his Mexican counterparts to discuss and work on issues such as immigration, trade, and border security.
Received the Aztec Eagle award, the highest award granted by the Mexican government to a foreign national, and the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award from the Center for National Policy.
As President, Chris Dodd will end the Iraq War responsibly and secure America by beginning to redeploy U.S. combat troops out of Iraq, providing only the funding necessary to complete redeployment within eight to ten months, as well as undertaking a massive diplomatic effort that includes engaging in direct negotiation with all the countries in the Middle East and convening a regional summit.

Day 10: Protecting Our Democracy

Praised by Sen. John McCain for his “critical” leadership as the Senate floor manager for the successful passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
Authored the Help America Vote Act, which was the first step in resolving the problems America faced during the 2000 election. The Act has helped states update and improve their voting systems and increase accessibility at the polls.
As President, Chris Dodd will protect our democracy by ensuring vigorous enforcement of HAVA’s accessibility requirements, providing for a voter-verified paper ballot record and funding innovative new electronic accessibility technologies.

Day 11: Trade

Authored and passed legislation requiring the Bush administration to track and discourage so-called “offset contracts” that result in the loss of American jobs.
As President, Chris Dodd will reassert America’s dominance in the global marketplace by requiring that all trade agreements include strong worker and environmental protections, ending currency manipulation by foreign countries such as China, ensuring that goods imported into America are safe, and opening new markets for Americans farmers and businesses, including calling for an end to the Cuba Embargo.

Day 12: Service

Served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, where he helped build schools and a maternity clinic.
An early supporter and cosponsor of the National and Community Service Act and National Service Trust Act, which established a Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps).
As President, Chris Dodd will restore America’s sense of community and commitment to service by increasing AmeriCorps’s ranks to 1 million and doubling the size of the Peace Corps, requiring community service as a requirement for high school graduation, offering tax credits to employers who provide their workers with paid time off to perform community service, and creating new opportunities for all Americans to serve, from schoolchildren to seniors.