Daily Digest: Health care vote today

Good morning, and happy Thursday. Eight people have been arrested after the attack in London yesterday and authorities have released more information about the attacker. Here's the Digest.

1. Minnesota House Republicans say cutting taxes on Social Security earnings is the centerpiece of their $1.35 billion tax cut bill. The bill announced Wednesday would exempt more senior citizens from paying the tax by raising the income threshold.  It also reduces the statewide business property tax, gives farmers a break on their local school bond levy obligations, and helps students and parents pay off college loans. (MPR News)

2. A political confrontation is shaping up over the state  buffer law designed to improve water quality. On one side are Republican lawmakers who want to change the law and delay implementation. On the other, Gov. Mark Dayton, who says the issue isn't negotiable. The buffer law, originally passed in 2015 and set to take effect this November, requires 50-foot strips of grass and other perennial plants on farmland along waterways to filter fertilizer and soil runoff that is a significant cause of diminished water quality in Minnesota. (MPR News)

3. Gov. Dayton on Wednesday called on the Legislature to act swiftly in giving final approval to spending $105 million in federal funding on 28 road-and-bridge projects across the state. At a Capitol news conference with Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle, Dayton said the state risks losing the federal dollars if legislators do not provide the final signoff by the end of next week, an outcome the Dayton administration said it was warned of since last fall. (Star Tribune)

4. A battle is brewing in the Legislature over efforts to reform the state's environmental permitting process and delay the implementation of water quality standards. Depending on whom you ask, the measures would either launch a coordinated attack on Minnesota's bedrock environmental protections — or improve an unwieldy, job-killing system. (MPR News)

 

5. The U.S. House is expected to vote today on it plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Republicans are reportedly short of the votes they need to pass the plan, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says would result in 24 million fewer people with health insurance by 2026. "This is our chance and this is our moment. It's a big moment," House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters earlier this week. "And I think our members are beginning to appreciate just what kind of a 'rendezvous with destiny' we have right here." The House Freedom Caucus, a bloc of about 30 hard-line conservatives, maintain going in to today's scheduled vote that they have enough members on their side to defeat the bill. (NPR)

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