Main Street

Interesting Things Around the Internet

• We’re hearing a lot about Congress using reconciliation to get the Senate and House health care reform bills to match. And a lot of what we’re hearing is claims that this would be an unprecedented use of reconciliation. So what is the history of reconciliation? What’s it been used for?
• Senate candidate Sue Lowden (R-NV) is running on a message that Matthew Yglesias summarizes as “government-run health care is wrong but she’s going to keep Medicare strong.”
• What responsibility do doctors have for cost-cutting in the health care system?
• Union Plus, which supplies Working America member benefits, has a quiz on energy use in the home. Did you know how much of the energy used by a washing machine goes to heating the water?
• Another update on what the Senate is doing about passing a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.