The WonkLine: October 13, 2010

A Minnesota bank has filed a lawsuit challenging a provision of the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform law, the first such challenge to the regulatory overhaul.

White House officials yesterday “said they support a joint investigation by roughly 40 state attorneys general into allegations that banks improperly processed home-foreclosure documents, but continued to reject calls for a national freeze on foreclosures.”

“Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting revealed that officials were nearing an agreement on the need for additional monetary stimulus,” the Financial Times reports.

“Oregon’s Democratic candidate for governor said Tuesday that President Obama’s health care reform bill will be a ‘toxic’ issue in 2012 unless states are given the opportunity to address the problem of rising medical costs.”

“Most seniors enrolled in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit don’t know that the new healthcare reform law closes Part D’s coverage gap, according to poll results released Tuesday.”

“Employers that make design changes that result in one of their health care plans losing grandfathered status will not relinquish that status for other plans they offer, federal regulators have clarified.”

“Pakistan’s recent floods inflicted $9.5 billion in damage to property, crops and infrastructure,” according to an Asian Development Bank and World Bank assessment, and “the government may face total recovery costs of $30 billion.”

“Barely a week after the last record-breaking heat wave” in North Carolina, “temperatures across the Triangle are rising once again,” as record heat also hit Minnesota, with “high temperatures recorded at Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport have more often than not looked more like normal highs from August or early September.”

Ross Douthat applauds the GOP for being “less constrained by elite sentiment” in its climate denial, though ” there’s no denying that it’s left the G.O.P. on the wrong side — and increasingly so — of a pretty sturdy scientific consensus.”

Despite protests from immigrant rights advocates, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors extended a collaboration Tuesday with federal officials to identify undocumented immigrants who wind up in county jails.

Though gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (R-CA) is touting the endorsement of the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, a Latino evangelical pastor, they don’t mention that he doesn’t agree with her immigration position.

A new report says there are two big factors contributing to record-breaking number of foreclosures and the oversupply of housing units on the market: the fall in immigration and the growing number of young people moving back in with their parents.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-NY) “urged the Obama administration to refrain from appealing a judge’s order to halt discharges under the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy” last night during an appearance on MSNBC’s Countdown.

“As the ‘tea party’s’ outsider challenge to Republican Party orthodoxy grabs headlines, another, quieter revolution is unfolding inside the GOP.”

“Illinois governor Pat Quinn is highlighting challenger Bill Brady’s social conservatism, but Brady says he will focus on economic issues if elected.”

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will announce today that she is resigning. Under her watch, “student test scores rose, and the teachers union accepted a contract that gave the chancellor sweeping powers to fire the lowest-performing among them.”

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) “plans to funnel more state money to public colleges and push colleges to behave more like businesses as part of a broad restructuring plan.”

Educators and parents are taking Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (CA) to task for her stand against the education jobs bill passed by Congress.

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