WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Big story out of Vienna: “Iranian negotiators have agreed to a draft of a deal to ship about three-quarters of the country’s stockpile of nuclear fuel to Russia for enrichment, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday. But he cautioned that the arrangement would still have to be approved by Friday in Tehran and Washington.”
* Congressional Dems, as promised, are going after health insurers’ antitrust exemption.
* Good move: “Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.”
* Good to see the AIDS funding bill sail through the House on a 408 to 9 vote.
* I haven’t seen a detailed vote count, but according to Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the robust public option is up to 210 votes in the House. It’ll need eight more to pass.
* The doc fix fails.
* The gap between Wall Street and Main Street was, up until a couple of decades ago, quite modest. Brian Griffiths, a Goldman Sachs International adviser and former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said yesterday, “We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all.”
* Where’s the bill, Roy? Good question.
* For all the far-right fussing, Poland seems pretty satisfied with U.S. missile defense plans.
* Here’s a good example of the Republican Party and its cable news network acting in concert.
* Nice summary from Jon Chait: “[T]hat’s the sum total of this dark White House strategy: point out that wildly biased right-wing a network is not a legitimate news organization, and negotiate with executives rather than an implacably hostile lobby. If that’s Chicago style politics, then Chicago must not be such a bad place.”
* Organizing for America organized over 300,000 calls to the Hill yesterday on health care reform. That’s pretty impressive.
* When it comes to higher ed, there’s expensive, and then there’s expensive.
* The Senior Citizens League is trying to scare the hell out of seniors on Democratic health care reform plans.
* Will lower health-care costs mean higher wages? Almost certainly, yes.
* Kevin Jennings looks like he’ll survive the right-wing kerfuffle. Chris Good explores how and why he weathered the storm.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
