Dodd Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer, Says He Feels Fine

Published December 24, 2015

Sen. Christopher Dodd said Friday he has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and will have surgery in August during the Senate recess.

The Connecticut Democrat, 65, says he feels fine and is "confident we're going to come out of this well." He says he was diagnosed about six weeks ago, but the diagnosis will not affect his plans to seek a sixth term next year.

"I'm running for re-election," he told reporters at his Hartford office. "I'll be a little leaner, a little meaner, but I'm running."

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and is playing a lead role in Congress' overhaul of the nation's health care system. He took that role while his close friend, Senate health committee Chairman Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts fights his own battle with brain cancer.

Dodd unsuccessfully ran for president in 2008 and is facing what's expected to be a tough re-election campaign.

The Senate ethics committee is probing whether Dodd violated standards of conduct when he received mortgage discounts from the VIP program at Countrywide Financial Corp.

Dodd insists he did not receive special deals. He produced a report showing other lenders would have offered the same rates and said he thought the VIP program simply meant enhanced customer service and the ability to get a live person on the phone.

Dodd also was caught up in the furor earlier this year over $165 million in bonuses American International Group Inc. paid some of its employees in 2009 while receiving billions of dollars in federal bailout money.

After first denying it, Dodd admitted he agreed to a request by Treasury Department officials to dilute an executive bonus restriction in the big economic stimulus bill that Congress passed in February. The change to Dodd's amendment allowed AIG to hand out the bonuses and sparked a blame game between Dodd and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men in the United States, affecting about 6.4 out of every 100 men in Dodd's age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Senator John McCain, who has struggled with recurring battles with skin cancer in recent years, told FOX News that he was saddened to hear the news.

"It is true that early stages of prostate cancer are more and more treatable so we will be praying that some of these recent treatments will be effective," he said.

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