While the Senate and House are both deliberating renewal of the SCHIP program, they have each offered bills with significant differences. Here's a brief summary to keep it all straight. House Senate 2008-12 2008-17 2008-12 2008-17 Covered children who would otherwise be uninsured 5 million 4 million Cost (billions of dollars) 47.8 159.9 35.2 71.0 Revenue Increase (billions of dollars) 27.0 53.8 36.1 72.8 Tax increase per pack of cigarettes 45¢ 61¢ Families USA has a more detailed side-by-side indicating differences other than cost and revenue scoring.

After former head of the IRS Mark Everson announced in April he would be leaving to head up the American Red Cross, just last week the IRS announced Everson's would-be successor Kevin Brown is also bolting the IRS for the American Red Cross in September. Replacing Brown will be Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff, who will assume the position of Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement and in that capacity will serve as IRS Acting Commissioner.

Ezra Klein points us to a study appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine indicating that Medicare costs are lower for people who had health insurance before enrolling in Medicare. It underscores the fact that in order to address the long term fiscal imbalance, we need to address health care in America. More evidence for the importance of health coverage comes from a study in The New England Journal of Medicine this month, which tracks what happens when the previously uninsured become eligible for Medicare. It turns out that they -- surprise! -- need a whole lot more care than their demographically similar, but previously insured, brethren!

How Far Down Now, Dow? Rising income inequality, creeping AMT brackets, a deteriorating debt picture -- none of these seems to rise to the level of significance sufficient to galvanize the White House into action. But when life gets tough for the nation's investors -- and a five percent drop in the capital markets this week is making life tough for investors -- the White House gets going.