Big news from the Senate: last night, Harry Reid released the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. This begins perhaps the most important phase in the health care fight, where the full Senate will debate what stays in this bill, what goes, and what gets added.

I am proud to have had a hand in creating this bill, and I strongly support its passage. It includes a strong public option that will make the insurance market more competitive and more fair to consumers. The bill has effective reforms that will help cover nearly all Americans. Here are a few of the many good reasons to support this bill:

• The bill creates an "opt-out" public option that will bring prices down and make insurance companies compete for your business.
• It ends discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions, so insurance companies can no longer deny them coverage.
• It expands Medicaid for low-income Americans, strengthens Medicare, and reduces the prescription drug benefit "donut hole" for seniors.
• It improves health care quality, promotes preventative care, and lowers prices.
• It will cover 31 million Americans who are currently without insurance.
• This bill will reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion over the next 10 years, and $650 billion in the 10 years after that.

I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this bill passes the Senate without any changes that make it weaker or less effective. And I will fight to make sure that the public option stays in.

The first thing I need in this fight? Your support.

I need as many people as possible to state their public support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. The more people we have supporting strong reform, the easier it will be to pass. It's that simple.

Click here to add your name to our list of supporters of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act.

Today -- the day the bill hits the Senate floor -- may be the the most important day in the fight for health care reform. With quick action, we can show that this bill has the overwhelming support of the American people.

We couldn't have gotten this far without your help. Thanks for everything you've done, and let's keep it up!

This week Chris unveiled a wide-ranging reform of our financial system, restoring accountability and responsibility to give Americans the confidence that the system works for and protects them -- not powerful Wall Street special interests.

Here is a brief summary of what Chris' bill will do:

• Creates the Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Creates an independent watchdog to protect American consumers from fraud and abuse and ensure they get the clear, accurate information from credit card companies, mortgage companies and banks.
• Ends Too Big to Fail: Prevents excessively large or complex financial companies from being capable of bringing down the economy.
• Protects Against Systemic Risks: Creates an independent council of regulators to identify and address systemic risks posed by large, complex companies, products, and activities before they threaten the stability of the financial system.
• Creates a Single Independent Federal Bank Regulator: Eliminates the convoluted system of duplicative federal bank regulators increasing accountability and ending unnecessary overlap, conflicting regulation, and "charter shopping."
• Reforms Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance: Provides shareholders with a say on pay and corporate affairs with a non-binding vote on executive compensation and director nominations.
• Closes Loopholes in Regulation: Eliminates loopholes that allow risky and abusive practices to go on unnoticed and unregulated.
• Protects Investors: Provides tough new rules for transparency and accountability from investment advisors, financial brokers and credit rating agencies -- holding them accountable while protecting investors and businesses.
• Enforces Regulations on the Books: Strengthens oversight and empowers regulators to aggressively pursue financial fraud, conflicts of interest and manipulation of the system that benefits special interests at the expense of American families and businesses.

Chris needs your help to create momentum for the bill - Click here to sign on as a Citizen Co-Sponser and help Chris pass a strong overhaul of our nation's financial sector.

The new and improved ChrisDodd.com (Now With Blog!) launched today - take a minute to click on the links, check everything out, and let us know what you think.

Chris introduced legislation today that would rein in abuse of overdraft fees by retail banks and protect consumers from being auto-enrolled in overdraft programs without their knowledge:

Dodd offers protection from bank overdraft fees
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The measure unveiled by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., would give people a choice in whether they want to participate in overdraft programs that charge fees for covering ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions.

Most banks now automatically enroll customers in overdraft programs. That means that a sale will go through if a person spends more than is in his account, but the customer will be hit with a fee, usually in the $25 to $35 range even if the overdraft is just a few dollars.

The unwary customer who makes several overdrawn purchases in a day could be charged a $35 penalty for each purchase.
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"At a time when many can afford it least, American consumers are being hit with hundreds of dollars in penalties for overdrawing on their account by just a few dollars," he said in a statement. "Banks should not be trying to bolster their profits at the expense of their customers."

The bill would protect consumers by requiring banks to get their customers to opt-in to overdraft protection programs, limit the number of fees per year and month, tie the amount of the fees to the cost of covering the overdraft, require customer notification of a fee, and require notification if a transaction at an ATM or in the bank would trigger a fee.

The mere threat of this legislation prompted Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo to announce some changes to their overdraft procedures in September.

The introduction of the overdraft fee legislation follows a busy year of legislative victories for Chris. In 2009 alone, Chris has attended White House signing ceremonies for four bills that he authored or floor managed: the Credit CARD Act, the FDA Tobacco regulation, the Kennedy Serve America Act, and Foreclosure Mitigation regulation.