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, and subscribe to the RSS feed.
National Security
Georgian opposition leaders said they would move daily street protests to President Saakashvili’s office as they fought to maintain momentum in a campaign to force his resignation. Some 20,000 people demonstrated on Monday outside parliament in the former Soviet republic, the fifth day of their protest.
The Washington Times reports that two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents.
The Thai army has fought running battles with protesters in the capital, Bangkok, in a bid to end days of mass demonstrations and political chaos.
Climate
“Wind turbines accounted for 42 percent of all new generating capacity in the U.S.,” growing into “a key part of the energy infrastructure in Minnesota and Iowa,” which can now generate more wind power than California.
On Tuesday, Maine lawmakers “will take up one of the most far-reaching anti-global-warming bills to go before any state Legislature in the country” “to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and cut carbon dioxide emissions” but “Maine’s business community wants the Legislature to kill the proposal.”
U.S. Department of Energy officials and top commercial real estate executives kicked off the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance, a public-private partnership aiming to produce widespread net-zero-energy commercial buildings by the year 2025.
Economy
“The private student lending industry and its allies in Congress are maneuvering to thwart a plan by President Obama to end a subsidized loan program and redirect billions of dollars in bank profits to scholarships for needy students,” reports the New York Times.
FT finds that “the unit that all but destroyed AIG has failed to sign up for the overhaul of the global derivatives market…that has been signed by more than 2,000 market participants.”
Nouriel Roubini notes that the Treasury Department’s stress tests for the banks “are meaningless as actual data are already running worse than the worst case scenario.”
Health Care
“Several health care-related trade groups that are working to influence the direction of health reform pay their leaders seven-figure salaries.” Scott Serota, president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association “received $1.6 million in compensation, while Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)…was paid just under $1.6 million.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that the sharp economic downturn has started rippling through the health care sector.
“Reconciliation is not a weapon that should be deployed immediately,” the NYT argues. “A bipartisan agreement would be nice, but what the country needs right now is effective health care reform.”
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.