Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security, immigration and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below. You can also follow The Wonk Room on Twitter.
Economy
The Senate Banking Committee approved Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulatory reform legislation yesterday on a party-line vote of 13-10. Republicans decided not to offer any amendments to the bill, preferring to bring them up when the legislation is before the full Senate.
Ken Feinberg, Treasury’s special master for compensation, “is planning to examine past executive payouts at 419 firms that received government bailout money in fall 2008, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, “the Obama administration is discussing with banks a change in its foreclosure-prevention program that would encourage lenders to reduce the loan balance due.”
Climate Change
Last Friday, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), “co-signed by a broad and diverse selection of Senate Democrats, expressing strong support for passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year.”
“The world’s policymakers have underestimated the potential dangerous impacts that man-made climate change will have on society,” said Charles H. Greene, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.
Danish journalists have confirmed that the oil front group Institute for Energy Research commissioned and paid for the anti-wind energy study released last year.
Health Care
President Obama will sign the Senate health care bill into law this morning, and then travel to the Interior Department to rally support for the legislation.
“A ruling by Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin handed Democrats a major victory Monday night, beating back a GOP push to declare a key tax proposal in the health care bill out of order.”
“Democrats are hopeful that moving from process to policy will help them, after a year of prolonged negotiations, messy intraparty fights and even a Christmas Eve vote in the Senate.” “What’s happening today is the conversation has already begun to switch from a focus on process to what’s in the bill,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
Immigration
The White House is denying a suggestion that Obama’s recent steps toward immigration reform were specifically taken to win the vote of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) on health care legislation.
The latest government census form which identifies “Hispanics” as an ethnicity and not a race has perplexed some Latinos who aren’t sure where they fit.
The Supreme Court will review a law that applies only to children born outside the U.S. to one parent who is an American and one who is not and makes it easier for children whose mother is a citizen to become citizens themselves.
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