Senate Democrats are nearing a consensus on the health reform bill that may include a national health plan that states can opt out of, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will likely pass back to the Congressional Budget Office today. (Reuters)

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, is beginning work on climate change legislation with a series of hearings scheduled this week. (WSJ)

Rep. Barney Frank will likely introduce legislation this week to rein in financial institutions deemed “too large to fail,” in order to prevent another banking crisis. (NYT)

Jeffry Picower, a friend and major investor of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, was found dead in his pool Sunday. (FT)

Daniel Tarullo is emerging from the Federal Reserve Board as a big player in banking supervision. (WSJ)

Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg will slash pay for top executive at financial firms receiving bailout funds. (WSJ)

Sen. Harry Reid’s plan to increase Medicare payments to doctors was defeated yesterday in the Senate. (NYT)

Hedge fund Galleon Group will liquidate amid founder Raj Rajaratnam’s insider trading woes. (Bloomberg)

Though he denies leaving the job, insiders say top Obama counsel Gregory Craig will move on before the end of the year. (NYT)

Wall Street firms that have repaid their bailouts — like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America — are now resuming political donations ad Washington lobbying efforts. (WSJ)

Sen. John Kerry emerges as an Obama foreign policy bargaining chip as he travels to Afghanistan to negotiate the runoff elections there. (WSJ)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says some TARP programs will be shuttered, but the administration will continue to target the core problems of the financial crisis. (Reuters)

Emails show that Bank of America execs recognized Merrill Lynch losses as early as last November, a month before CEO Ken Lewis revealed the drop to shareholders. (Bloomberg)

Small Business Administration head Karen Mills is touting the health care bill as good for small businesses to offer broader coverage to their employees. (WSJ)

A Goldman Sachs adviser and former Margaret Thatcher aide Lord Brian Griffiths of Fforestfach defends inequality of pay as an economic stimulus of sorts. (Bloomberg)

Sen. Max Baucus says the public option is still “alive” in the Senate. (WSJ)

Sen. Harry Reid and others are inserting provisions into the health care bill to protect their own constituencies. (Bloomberg)

Wall Streeters may decrease monetary contributions to Democrats as they try to cap executives’ pay. (NYT)

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn offers to bail out CIT Group with a $6 million loan. (Reuters)

Morgan Stanley is resuming contributions to its political action committee now that it has paid back its bailout funds. (Bloomberg)

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis will forgo his 2009 pay, after urgings from Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg. (Reuters)

Senate Democrats come together to work out their internal concerns on health reform. (NYT)

Sen. Max Baucus says if health coverage is widened, there will be a scramble to pay for it all. (WSJ)

Sen. Jay Rockefeller says Democrats can’t compromise items on the health bill just to keep Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe happy. (Bloomberg)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced advertising is finally back up at Google, which will hire 2,000 new employees. (FT)

Lobbyists Groups Hired in 2009 ($80,000 or more):

• American Continental Group
• Cassidy and Associates

Board of Directors: Noteworthy Members:

• Reed E. Hundt: according to an official Federal Communications Commission biography, Hundt was named Chairman of the FCC by President Clinton and was sworn in by Vice President Gore in1993, a position he filled for five years.  A graduate of Yale Law School, Hundt also served as a business analyst for Latham & Watkins, and continues to serve as an adviser to McKinsey & Company.
• John J. Donahoe: President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay, the online marketplace conglomerate which now owns PayPal, Skype, Half.com, and 28% of Craigslist.
• Susan L. Decker: President of Yahoo! and member of board of directors at Berkshire Hathaway.
• James D Plummer: long-time professor and dean of the engineering school at Stanford University.  Plummer also served on the board of the International Rectifier Corporation, the director of which is Robert S Attiyeh, who served as Senior VP and CFO of Amgen, Director of McKinsey and Company, and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  (Another board member at International Rectifier named Thomas Lacey served as a GM for Intel and Vice President of Sales and marketing between 1998 and 2003.)
• Frank D. Yeary: Current Vice Chancellor of UC Berkeley.  Interestingly enough, this guy’s biographies seldom reference his 24-year career as a financial banker and merger executive for Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Salomon Brothers, and the Carlyle Group.

Philanthropy

• Intel Corporation Contributions Program gave $66,622,752 in 2008
• Intel Foundation gave $36,186,253 in 2008

Top Five Government Contracts in 2009:

• $662,852 – Department of the Navy
• $377,556 – NASA
• $91,075 – Department of the Air Force
• $32,560 – Department of the Army
• $6,720 – Environmental Protection Agency (Source: USASpending.gov)

NNDB Visualization

Intel Map

Sen. Harry Reid leads Democratic support in the full Senate for the health bill. (Reuters)

Republican Sen. Susan Collins reaches across the aisle to work with Democrats on health reform. (WSJ)

Rep. Barney Frank leads the House Financial Services Committee to tighten financial regulations, even as he is one of the largest recipients of money from the financial sector. (NYT)

President Obama is pressing Congress to give a $250 payout to seniors to supplement social security payments. (WSJ)

As their profits increased over $3 billion last quarter, Goldman Sachs is working on a charitable giving program. (Bloomberg)

The Senate Finance Committee approved Sen. Max Baucus‘ health bill yesterday with a 14-9 vote. (Reuters)

In a key Republican vote, Sen. Olympia Snowe votes for the health reform bill. (NYT)

Unions are lashing out against White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who asked organized labor not to publicly oppose the health bill. (Bloomberg)

White House Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg is trying hard to prevent AIG from dispensing employee bonuses, but can’t legally do so. (NYT)

Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides are former Wall Street execs who earned millions a year. (Bloomberg)

***Analysts: Click through to the Bloomberg story and help us beef up the profiles of these Geithner aides. We need to know who these key people behind the scenes in the Treasury Department are!

The Senate Finance Committee will vote on Sen. Max Baucus‘ health bill today beginning at 10 am, EST. (Reuters)

Democrats fight back against an insurance industry report AHIP President Karen Ignagni used to claim the proposed bill would increase the cost of health insurance. (NYT)

Moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe is in the spotlight today since she could be a key “yes” vote for the health bill. (Bloomberg)

CIT Group Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Peek will resign at the end of the year. (Bloomberg)

Google and Apple board member Arthur Levinson resigns from the Google board, amid an FTC probe. (WSJ)

President of America’s Health Insurance Plans Karen Ignagni claims the current health bill would make premiums go up, providing ammunition for Republicans against the reform. (NYT)

In a letter to House Republican leader John Boehner, Obama aide Larry Summers defends the stimulus plan. (WSJ)

Senator Carl Levin says Obama should seek the support of the Pentagon in order to end “don’t ask, don’t tell.” (Reuters)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two energy bills yesterday in favor of something he’s working on. (WSJ)

Citigroup sold its energy trading group Phibro to Occidental Petroleum in order to decrease risk-taking. (Bloomberg)