CNBC.com

As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began hearings on carbon regulation, debate ran along traditional battle lines, but with a new script. Democrats Barbara Boxer (CA) and John Kerry (MA) moved away from discussing the environmental impacts of climate change -- and the reason, therefore, to take action to reduce carbon emissions -- and focused instead on the economic benefits of a domestic clean energy economy. Democrats Barbara Boxer (CA) and John Kerry (MA) moved away from discussing the environmental impacts of climate change. ...

“The risk is that the US will have a different agenda than many if not all the other countries participating because many of them have already publicly announced that they are hoping to leave the summit with specific reforms, as well as specific plans for how to implement to those reforms,” says Heidi Crebo-Rediker, a former investment banker in Europe, and now a scholar at the New America Foundation. LINK

The candidates say their cost-saving measures will help pay for their plans. Both McCain and Obama claim say they'll promote measures that include broader adoption of health information technology and electronic health records, greater emphasis on preventive care and implementation of best practices to bring down costs to the overall health system. Both pledge to cut costs from Medicare.