Regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will take over as Senate Banking Committee chair or ranking member, succeeding retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD). Says the National Journal, Dodd has been a champion of the federal government’s terrorism risk insurance program and can be expected to defend it against Bush Administration attacks. He is likely to be a strong voice on behalf of consumer and investor protection and against deceptive lending and credit card marketing practices.

Yesterday, Adam posted about several state ballot initiatives that would raise the minimum wage at the state level. As it happens, these are very popular initiatives. BNA ($$): Six states appear virtually certain to increase their state minimum wage, with support for the ballot initiatives ranging from 68 to 81 percent, according to the latest polls. If they are approved, nearly 70 percent of American workers would be employed in states with a minimum wage higher than the federal rate of $5.15 an hour.

This is just ridiculous (emph. mine). The commissioner of internal revenue has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections and the holiday season, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity. The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who has close ties to the White House, said in an interview that postponing collections until after the midterm elections, along with postponing notices to people who failed to file tax returns, was a routine effort to avoid casting the Internal Revenue Service in a bad light.

BNA Money and Politics (subscription required) reported that Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) has written a letter to the national President of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) asking 62 questions to determine whether or not the organization violated tax exemption laws. In his letter to ACORN, Grassley expresses concern about recent reports that suggest ACORN has committed election and voter fraud in submitting false voter registration forms.