Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate to strip hundreds of billions of dollars from the economic recovery plan, which makes strong, job-creating investments in the public welfare, from health care to clean energy. Because of Republican threats to filibuster the bill, votes of senators like them are key to passage. But the Nelson-Collins gang’s proposed cuts disproportionately harm women, children, and their future. The Wonk Room has already detailed their plan to cut support for education and health care. Nelson and Collins also looking to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in programs that would invest in a green economy:

They’re also proposing cutting $750 million from NASA’s exploration budget. These proposed cuts come on top of the Senate’s plan to cut half the funding for the Green Jobs Act from the House-approved package. Nor have Nelson and Collins proposed to cut the $4.6 billion in support for advanced coal plant research or $50 billion in nuclear loan guarantees. Support for coal and nuclear programs would have extremely low job-creation potential and would disproportionately help industries which contribute millions of dollars to Congress.

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong….

[Click photo for full pic.]

A reader sends a note with a wonderful series of pictures attached:

Since you’ve been focusing on Australia a lot lately, these images might make some good symbols of what’s going on there. A koala invaded a home to get some water (very rare for koalas to anywhere near people), during this most recent heat wave.

The reader was himself forwarding an email about Australia’s worst heatwave on record, which read:

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Reporting on the economics of climate change in this country is terrible, as made clear in the searing new report by leading journalist Eric Pooley (see How the press bungles its coverage of climate economics — “The media’s decision to play the stenographer role helped opponents of climate action stifle progress”).

The NYT economics reporter, David Leonhardt, made a big splash last week with his big piece on the stimulus, “The Big Fix.” But like many economics reporters, he is both poorly informed and thoroughly confused about clean energy — and most every other aspect of energy, as his extended discussion of green jobs makes clear:

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Rarely do three news stories in the same week provide such a stark contrast between sober reality and self-destructive rhetoric.

Today, CNN reports that China is suffering its “worst drought in 50 years” and that many places in northern and central China “have not had rainfall for more than 100 days.” This is but a taste of what’s to come (see Climate change, global desertification “largely irreversible for 1000 years”).

On Sunday, the BBC reported Sunday:

A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects….

Jiang Fan, from China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, said environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.

The coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province had the biggest problem.

Coal is not healthy for kids. As one U.S. study found, “Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children’s cognitive development and health” (See “If you want smarter kids, shut coal plants“). Hence, Coal for Dummies.

On Monday, the Financial Times published an interview with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in which he continues to reject the possibility that China will act to constrain coal use and reduce pollution. When asked “Is China ready to sign a treaty to cap carbon emissions?” he replied is Bush-like pablum:

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