Stephen Dinan

House approves spending bill as Senate Democrats ponder ‘Dreamer’ shutdown threat

The House raced Thursday to head off a government shutdown, approving a four-week extension of funding for basic operations -- and forcing a major decision for Senate Democrats, who must decide whether to accept the deal.

December 21, 2017

Democrats ‘betray’ illegal immigrant Dreamers

Illegal immigrant Dreamers said they have been betrayed by Democratic leaders who failed to force a government shutdown showdown this week over demands to pass a legalization bill by the end of the year.

December 20, 2017

Supreme Court: Trump doesn’t have to turn over DACA documents

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the Trump administration doesn't have to turn over a massive load of documents relating to the decision to phase out the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty, and delivered another spanking to a California court that's repeatedly ruled against President Trump.

December 20, 2017

‘Dreamers’ flock to Capitol to protest lack of action on amnesty

Hundreds of illegal immigrant "Dreamers" were taking to the halls of the U.S. Capitol complex Wednesday to complain they were being left behind by congressional leaders working on a year-end deal that does not grant them full citizenship rights.

December 20, 2017

Ron Wyden: Trump tax audit may be tainted by pro-Trump IRS chief

A top Democratic senator said Wednesday he fears the IRS may be too biased to handle the audit of President Trump's taxes, saying the fact that the agency is led by an acting commissioner who is also a top Trump political appointee at the main Treasury Department is worrisome.

December 20, 2017

Feds release Jane Roe illegal immigrant to get abortion

The Trump administration said late Tuesday that it had released a pregnant 19-year-old illegal immigrant woman into the community on her own recognizance, freeing her to obtain an abortion on her own.

December 19, 2017

Tax bill’s Republican opponents concerned that constituents will receive less benefits

Republicans' tax-cut win Tuesday wasn't without hiccups, as a dozen of their members weren't able to buy into the bill, saying they worried their own constituents would end up falling behind.

December 19, 2017

Illegal immigrant lied about age in right to abortion court fight

An illegal immigrant girl who sued demanding a right to an abortion in the U.S. is 19, not 17 as she originally claimed, the government said Tuesday -- upending her bid to try to force the government to facilitate termination of her pregnancy.

December 19, 2017

Paul Ryan says he’s staying

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday he's "not going anywhere," pushing back against speculation among his colleagues that he'll be leaving Congress next year, after the tax cut bill is done.

December 19, 2017

Congress paid $265k in sexual harassment claims over last decade

The numbers are part of a public accounting demanded by leaders after reports of the office being used to hush up accusers who felt they were maltreated by members of Congress

December 19, 2017

Republican tax bill gimmicks have benefits, but written to game rules, analysts say

The GOP's tax bill is built on gimmicks, experts said. That doesn't mean there aren't real benefits and costs, but the bill was written to game Congress's budget rules, making the legislation lawmakers hope to pass Tuesday only a moderate approximation of what will likely happen.

December 18, 2017

GSA measures federal government’s property footprint

The federal government owns or leases 5,066 bathrooms, occupying nearly 1.7 million square feet of the government's 1.9 billion feet of total office space.

December 18, 2017

Judge Tanya Chutkan: Feds must help two illegals get abortions

A federal judge ordered the government on Monday to facilitate two more illegal immigrant girls' efforts to obtain abortions, warning the Trump administration against interfering with the migrants' constitutional rights.

December 18, 2017

Legalizing ‘Dreamers’ would cost $26 billion: CBO

Legalizing 2 million illegal immigrant "Dreamers" would cost the government $25.9 billion over the next decade, as those now-legal people would claim more tax, education and other benefits they haven't been able to get before, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.

December 15, 2017

DHS asks allies to do more screening on travelers to U.S.

The Trump administration on Friday tweaked the rules on more than three dozen countries whose citizens don't have to obtain a visa to visit the U.S., demanding they do more to screen people within their own borders before they can travel to America.

December 15, 2017

Illegal immigration on border surges back to Obama levels

Illegal immigration across the Southwest border has surged back to Obama-era levels, according to the latest data released last week that suggests the gains President Trump made early in his tenure have worn off.

December 15, 2017

U.S. accuses Iran of being terrorist ‘arsonist’

The Trump administration offered what it called "concrete evidence" Thursday of Iranian complicity in terrorist attacks, including a missile said to have been sent from the Islamic republic to rebels in Yemen, then used in last month's attack on the main civilian airport in Saudi Arabia.

December 14, 2017

Audit finds DHS maltreating immigrants held in detention

Some Homeland Security employees and contractors subject illegal immigrants awaiting deportation to verbal abuse and disrespect, including interrupting Muslim prayer times and making them wait days for medical care, the department's inspector general said in a report Thursday.

December 14, 2017

Democrats to reject year-end spending deal as shutdown risk rises

Democrats said Thursday they'll reject a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through January, raising the risks of a shutdown at the end of next week as the two parties battle over whether the Pentagon or domestic spending takes priority.

December 14, 2017

Kirstjen Nielsen, new DHS chief, says agents cause ‘fear’ in illegals

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen said this week that federal immigration officers can strike fear in local immigrant communities, in what her own officers and agents said was an early misstep for the new department chief.

December 13, 2017