Capitol View®

The Daily Digest: Cheaper vs. cleaner energy

Good morning!

In Minnesota

The Minnesota Legislature is pushing energy policy in two different directions this year. Some legislators are trying to make energy cheaper, while others want to make it cleaner. (MPR News)

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, again signaled he will carve out a third way from House Speaker Kurt Daudt and Gov. Mark Dayton, preferring to keep significant surplus money in reserve rather than cut taxes or spend big sums on new programs. (Star Tribune)

Minnesota could wind up owing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax refunds if the state loses a pending tax court case, the state solicitor general told a panel of judges. (Pioneer Press)

A Minnesota lawmaker tried unsuccessfully today to revive a bill that tells transgender students which sports teams they can join and which locker rooms they can use. (MPR News)

A bill that would have forced some groups active in Minnesota campaigns to disclose more details about their spending late in races has been defeated. (AP via Pioneer Press)

The ride-sharing service Uber is fighting a bill in the Minnesota Legislature that would require the drivers to have additional insurance coverage. (MPR News)

National Politics

Democrats are up in arms over the GOP’s handling of Loretta Lynch’s nomination to be attorney general, arguing that Republicans are engaged in unconscionable delays over a history-making choice to head the Justice Department. Republicans are not breaking a sweat. (Politico)

Minnesota lawmakers weigh in the budgets introduced this week in Congress. (MPR News)

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has begun an aggressive campaign to block President Obama’s climate change agenda in statehouses and courtrooms across the country, arenas far beyond Mr. McConnell’s official reach and authority. (New York Times)

Minnesota once used to be overrepresented on the congressional committees that deal with transportation policy. No more. (MinnPost)

The cross hairs are no longer trained solely on the candidates themselves: Staffers are now also considered fair game for opposition research hits — and campaigns are struggling to react to a world in which the candidate isn’t always the focal point for attacks. (Politico)