Daily Democratic Wire 6-22-2009

George Wenschhof

President Barack Obama will hold a press conference from the White House today on agreement with pharmaceutical companies to help with health care reform - I reported over the weekend a 80 Billion deal had been reached. Lower drug costs for Seniors is part of the proposal. The president is expected to provide more details today at noon. ThePage.Time.com has more here.

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President Obama to sign anti-smoking bill this afternoon - the bill passed by Congress gives more authority to the Food and drug Administration over the regulation of tobacco sales and marketing. You can read more here. The president has been known to sneak a smoke here and there but promised upon winning the election, he would not smoke in the White House.

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Iran Revolutionary Guard signals they will not tolerate continued protests - it is difficult to receive a true picture of what is happening in Iran since the election as the media has been filtered. Mir Hossein Mousavi who lost the election and disputes the results continued to call for peaceful demonstrations. Reuters.com has more here.

The NY Times is reporting the Iran Guardian Council is admitting up to 3 million over votes in 50 cities. You can read more here.

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Congress to begin deliberations on financial regulatory reform - Both Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chair of the House financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chair of the Senate Banking Committee have scheduled hearings on the Obama proposal. Their hope is to be able to send a bill to the president for signature by the end of this year. TheHill.com has more here.

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Meanwhile, climate change and energy bill moves forward slowly - the bill has received opposition, even among some Democrats. However, supporters of the bill are determined to win passage. Politico.com has more here.

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World Bank says recession will be deeper than previously forecasted - not the best news to hear and initial market reactions had global markets showing a loss. However, the U.S. federal reserve believes we are slowly emerging from the recession. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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