The Daily Digest: Medicare fix passes House

Good morning!

In Minnesota

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk offered a sharp rebuke of the House Republican budget targets unveiled this week that would offer $2 billion in unspecified tax relief and mostly hold the line on spending. (Star Tribune)

Two environmental funds approved by Minnesota voters could be tapped to pay for schools, roads and other local needs under a plan working its way through the Legislature. (Pioneer Press)

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Gov. Dayton's early education plan has proven surprisingly divisive, even among his allies. (MinnPost)

Minnesota will commemorate the 150

th

anniversary of the end of the Civil War next month by ringing bells. (MPR News)

National Politics

The House overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes to the Medicare program in the most significant bipartisan policy legislation to pass through that chamber since Republicans regained a majority in 2011. (New York Times)

The 2016 Republican nomination contest spilled onto the Senate floor, turning a marathon budget debate into a battle over which candidate is prepared to lead the country at a time of war. (Politico)

For years, Drug Enforcement Administration agents posted in Colombia engaged in sex parties involving prostitutes who were supplied by local drug cartels, a Justice Department review found. (USA Today)

Within hours of signing the so-called "Religious Freedom Bill" into law in Indiana, Governor Mike Pence learned that there would be a price to pay for enacting what critics say is a brazenly anti-gay piece of legislation: major companies began boycotting the state.  (Bloomberg News)

As he pulls together his expected presidential campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire, Sen. Rand Paul is confronted by defections from an unexpected quarter: the die-hard idealists whose energy powered his father’s campaigns. (Politico)