Chris Dodd for President

Here's the view outside of the Dodd HQ in Des Moines, Iowa as the fight against retroactive immunity and a bad FISA bill goes to the floor of the Senate.

Senator Chris Dodd today released the following statement regarding President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, his seventh veto in seven years.

"Having spent my life bringing people together to improve the health and well-being of children and families, I find President Bush's veto of the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program shameful. It puts hundreds of thousands of children at risk of losing coverage that governors and leaders across the nation have worked hard to secure on a
bipartisan basis.

"The SCHIP program is virtually the only success story in health care for working families since universal health care failed in 1994, providing coverage to 6.6 million children. The bill passed overwhelmingly by the Senate and the House doesn't cover parents, it doesn't cover undocumented workers. What it does do is get kids covered - from kids in extreme poverty
to those in homes where parents work two jobs. What a sad state of affairs when the President of the United States cannot bring people together to provide health care to children from working families.

"I'll keep fighting to make sure SCHIP gets renewed - to bring people together on a bipartisan basis to solve big problems as I have throughout my career. But if ever there were a time for a President who could get results for change—results that make families stronger and more secure—this veto makes clear: it's today."

For more info on the SCHIP veto, read FireDogLake, Shakesville, and Brilliant at Breakfast.

At a press conference earlier today President Bush made statements about his intent to veto the State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill:

“I have a different view,” Mr. Bush went on. “I believe the best approach is to put more power in the hands of individuals by empowering people and their doctors to make health care decisions that are right for them."

Except, Bush is the one playing politics here and he's doing it at the cost of health insurance for poor and middle class children. Senator Dodd responded to Bush's veto threats:

"While he reportedly plans to call for up to $200 billion to continue a war that his top general can't even say is making the country safer, George Bush is rejecting the idea that we would spend less than one third of that amount for the health of America's children.

"That says all that needs to be said about this President's priorities."

The S-CHIP bill passed with an overwhelming majority out of the Senate (68-31) and the funding it allocates is spread over a five year period. Over those five years, the total bill to give children health insurance through S-CHIP will be about $60 billion. Bush is asking for $200 billion for the next few months of war in Iraq.

September 14, 2007

The Honorable George W. Bush
The President
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President;

I write to you out of deep concern regarding your administration’s handling of matters related to Iran and how they impact our security. The Government of Iran has pursued policies that are contrary to U.S. interests in the Middle East -- in Iraq, in Lebanon, in the West Bank and Gaza. Nor do I harbor any illusions about the Iranian leadership’s support for international terrorism or its quest to be a nuclear power. But I doubt that the increasingly bellicose public statements by United States officials will cause Iran to alter its behavior.

To date there has been a total absence of any serious U.S. diplomatic efforts to dissuade Iran from continuing its ill conceived and destabilizing policies. I am extremely concerned that your administration’s failure to employ robust diplomacy in dealing with the challenges posed by Iran could lead us down the same disastrous and ill-conceived path that has produced a failed policy in Iraq that has made us less secure. While I would never advocate taking the military option off the table as a policy option under any circumstance, I am convinced that at this time military action against Iran would be extremely dangerous and costly and would pose even more serious dangers to our interests and the interests of our friends and allies throughout the region. Moreover, it is my firm belief that the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in no way grants license to deploy any military campaign against Iran.

Mr. President, the time for robust diplomacy is now. For that reason, I strongly recommend that you appoint an experienced and well respected diplomat as a special envoy for Iran. Such an appointment would enable you to reinvigorate US diplomatic efforts to bring Iran to the negotiating table and diffuse the poisonous atmosphere that has not served United States foreign policy or national security interests in Iraq or elsewhere in the region.

Thank you in advance for your serious consideration of this matter.

Sincerely yours,

Christopher J. Dodd
United States Senator

Bumped: This was a statement made by Senator Dodd before President Bush's speech this evening. The need to end America's involvement in Iraq's civil war did not change between 9:00 and 9:20 PM Eastern time tonight.

Later tonight President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It will be the eighth time he's done so since the Iraq war started in 2003.

Senator Dodd issued the following statement on Bush's anticipated announcement that the 30,000+ troops deployed to Iraq during the "surge" will be brought home early next summer (as has always been the plan).

"Moving us in 10 months to where we were 10 months ago is not progress. It is the very definition of status quo.

"Not only is the President not offering us anything new; he's insulting our intelligence.

"Despite the fact that his top General is unable to say that the war is making us safer, all the President offers today is quite literally more of the same. More loss of life, more strain on our military readiness, and more degradation of our national security and our standing in the world. It is time for Congress to say 'no more.'

"What was clear to me before, and what should be abundantly clear to my colleagues after today, is that this President is not going to change course unless we force him to. There is only one way to do that - we must set a clear, hard and fast deadline for redeployment and, in order to enforce it, that deadline must be tied to funding."

Last week BarbinMD asked this on DailyKos:

Troops reductions in April will have nothing to do with improved conditions in Iraq, it will be simply because they won't have the troops to sustain the current levels. But the administration will push this, and apparently the media will play along. Will Congress?

I think Senator Dodd's statement above shows that he, for one, will not play along. Dodd is continuing to push to end the war. He is leading the charge to set a firm, enforceable deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq of April 30, 2008 and he's tying it to funding. He won't vote for compromise legislation that fails to set a date certain for ending the war. And he's challenged his colleagues in the Senate, including Senators Obama and Clinton, to state clearly and directly whether they will vote for legislation that lacks a firm deadline tied to funding. Sadly, they have yet to respond to Dodd's simple request for them to stand up and lead with him.

Please take a moment to write to your Senators using this tool and ask them to state clearly and directly: will they vote for legislation that fails to set a date certain tied to funding to end the Iraq war?

www.chrisdodd.com/StopTheBill

Update:

ThinkProgress has the video of General Petraeus saying that the surge forces were scheduled to come home between April and mid-July, 2008.