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.
Climate
In a “final blow to Bush administration efforts to frustrate tight regulation,” the Supreme Court “cleared the way Monday for the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new regulations” by invalidating the “so-called Clean Air Mercury Rule.”
A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out “Bush administration standards for pollutants like soot,” saying they are “contrary to law and unsupported by adequately reasoned decision making.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service “announced a revised critical habitat designation for the Canada lynx that marks a twentyfold expansion over a Bush-era designation tainted by political meddling.”
Health Care
During yesterday’s address, President Obama said, “health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.” Today, the Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing on scoring health reform.
The New York Times argues, that if you like having Medicare, “then taxes must rise.”
“In covering the health angle of the budget, we’d like to see the media cut through the wonk talk and tell it straight to the public,” Columbia Journalism Review writes.
National Security
A prominent Kurdish politician has defied Turkish law by giving a speech to parliament in his native Kurdish. Ahmet Turk was addressing his party when he suddenly switched language from Turkish to Kurdish. The live broadcast on state TV was immediately cut.
The U.S. government lost an appeal in its case against two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman “were accused in 2005 under a 1917 espionage law” of obtaining and leaking classified information about Iran.
The Chinese government has been cracking down on lawyers who defend political dissidents.
Economy
The union coalition Change to Win sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, saying that “Principal Financial Group Inc. should be denied U.S. government funds because of its lobbying activity” against the Employee Free Choice Act.
In response to Congress’ planned overhaul of financial regulations, three lobbying groups “have formed the Main Street America Coalition to advocate for small players in the financial-services industry.”
Free Exchange looks at coordinated international financial regulation: “Powerful countries have been sufficiently chastened and might actually consider something that limits their autonomy. That feeling will not last forever.”
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