The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
- House narrowly passed a pared-back farm bill Thursday after Republican leaders stripped out the nutrition title — affecting food stamps and local food banks — to win back conservative votes.
- A meeting between Edward Snowden and representatives from Russian human rights organizations will take place at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo aiport on Friday afternoon.
- U.S. presses Latin America to reject Snowden.
- House and Senate lawmakers are $91 billion apart as they draft spending bills for the next fiscal year.
- Between 1980-2008, African-Americans were six times more likely than whites to be victims of gun violence and seven times more likely to kill with guns than whites.
- Charles Krauthammer: GOP’s modest 2013 agenda
- The Great Wall of Texas would repeat one of history’s greatest U.S. blunders.
- Gallup: Americans are more pro-immigrant than in the past, but still only 23% want immigration levels to increase.
- 82.1 million people were added to the world’s population in 2012—the highest annual increment since 1994.
- The National Journal‘s 25 under 35: most influential Washington women under 35.