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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com

Ben Wolfgang is a National Security Correspondent for The Washington Times. His reporting is regularly featured in the daily Threat Status newsletter.
Previously, he covered energy and the environment, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, and also spent two years as a White House correspondent during the Obama administration.
Before coming to The Times in 2011, Ben worked as political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa.
He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

** FILE ** Work has begun on the Keystone XL pipeline near Winona, Texas, but whether it will ever carry oil sands from central Canada to Gulf Coast refineries awaits a decision by President Obama. (Tyler [Texas] Morning Telegraph via Associated Press)

Senate panel clears bill to build Keystone XL pipeline

A Senate committee voted Wednesday to cut President Obama out of the process to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but another powerful Democrat still stands in the way of the project — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

June 18, 2014
Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, has called Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. an Obama "puppet." (Associated Press)

Congress aims to bypass Obama on Keystone pipeline

The movement to bypass President Obama and approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline through congressional action has more momentum than ever, with a key Senate committee set to vote later this week on a bill to greenlight the massive Canada-to-Texas project.

June 16, 2014
Progressive populist: To her supporters, Sen. Elizabeth Warren gives a voice to frustrated voters who feel the leaders of both major political parties are too closely aligned with the rich and powerful. (Associated Press)

Elizabeth Warren assumes helm of populist wing of Democratic Party

She has flatly stated she won't run for president in 2016, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren nonetheless is emerging as one of her party's most influential members, armed with a potent message of economic populism that has rapidly made her a hero to many on the progressive left.

June 15, 2014
FILE - In this photo taken June 14, 2014, President Barack Obama speaks at the University of California, Irvine, at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., where he told the graduating class that denying climate change is like arguing the moon is made of cheese, and issued a call to action on global warming. Obama's new pollution limits for power plants have set off an avalanche of information about what the rules will cost, how they’ll affect your health, and how far they’ll go toward curbing climate change. There’s just one problem: almost none of the estimates are is based in reality. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Obama orders striking employees back to work

Regional rail lines in greater Philadelphia were back up and running Sunday after President Obama stepped into a dispute between labor and management and ordered more than 400 engineers and electricians back to work.

June 15, 2014
Drones are about to be used for much more than military missions, and states already are preparing. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

PRIVACY: States not waiting for feds on drone privacy

The Obama administration is far behind schedule integrating drones into the national airspace and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are struggling to move legislation governing the craft, but a dozen states already have enacted regulations and laid out in detail how drones can and can't be used by law enforcement agencies and other entities.

June 12, 2014
White House principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest speaks to the media during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2014. Earnest answered questions including on the recent soldier deaths in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

White House outing of CIA officer results in no punishments

After inadvertently outing the CIA's top officer in Kabul last month, White House Counsel Neil Eggleston has recommended specific changes to administration protocol while the president is traveling abroad. However, a White House spokesman also said that nobody has been punished for naming the individual in a release that goes to hundreds of U.S. and foreign news outlets.

June 11, 2014
President Barack Obama listens to a question submitted on Tumblr, read by Tumblr Founder and CEO David Karp, left, during a Tumblr forum, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama says America ‘should be ashamed’ of its gun laws

Despite virtually no legislation on gun control and little hope for a breakthrough, President Obama made clear this week he still sees the issue as a top priority in his second term, publicly chastising lawmakers and gun-rights advocates and telling them they "should be ashamed" of U.S. firearms laws.

June 10, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks at an event honoring the NCAA Basketball Champion UConn Huskies Men's and Women's Basketball teams, and their 2014 NCAA Championships, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Obama uses executive authority to ease student loan burdens

President Obama on Monday used his executive authority to offer college graduates some relief from crushing student loan debt and took pointed shots at Republicans, whom he again accused of favoring oil companies and billionaires over America's struggling middle class.

June 9, 2014
President Obama has vehemently defended his decision to swap five Taliban guerrillas for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but the president may no longer have control over the narrative and likely will face increasingly intense questioning over the deal. (Associated Press)

President Obama under bipartisan attack over Bergdahl exchange

While abroad in Europe last week, President Obama vehemently defended his decision to swap five Taliban guerrillas for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but upon returning home to Washington over the weekend, the president may no longer have control over the narrative and likely will face increasingly intense questioning over the deal.

June 8, 2014