Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below.
National Security
On Monday night Iran launched its first domestically-made satellite into orbit. “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the satellite was launched to spread ‘monotheism, peace and justice’ in the world.”
The LA Times reports that President Obama’s appointment of Richard “the Bulldozer” Holbrooke as Afghanistan-Pakistan envoy has unnerved some South Asian leaders.
The New York Times asked three Iraqi bloggers for their views of Saturday’s provincial elections.
Climate
“The United States needs a major overhaul of the electric grid,” AFP reports, “if the country is to meet its economic ambitions and President Barack Obama’s hoped-for green revolution.”
The Center for Resource Solution reports that “US business purchased record amounts of renewable energy in 2008.”
Eoin O’Carroll asks, “Is Punxsutawney Phil responding to global warming?”
Economy
A Senate committee is investigating “potential abuses of a 2004 law that granted a one-time tax holiday to multinational corporations returning foreign earnings to the United States,” in order to “dampen enthusiasm for tucking a similar provision” into the stimulus package.
A “Buy American” requirement in the stimulus package “is sparking talk of a trade war and is forcing President Obama to choose whether to defend domestic industries or champion free trade.”
At How the World Works, Andrew Leonard details the “right-wing New Deal conniption fit.”
Health Care
Senate Republicans have proposed changes to the stimulus under which “states would receive the $87 billion in additional funds for Medicaid included in the stimulus package in the form of loans.”
Writing about the prospect of passing health reform, Ross Douthat observes, “the bigger (and more non-stimulative) the stimulus gets, the bigger a liability it will become for the Democrats if it isn’t perceived as a success, and the more it will stand in the way, potentially, of the deeper reforms that liberals are hoping to attempt.”
Jacob Hacker lays out a road map to health reform and the three key elements it must contain.
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