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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, will get one last chance to force votes on amendments Tuesday to try to give the NSA more spying time, and to weaken some of the transparency that the House imposed. (Associated Press)

Patriot Act backers scramble to save NSA phone snooping powers

Patriot Act defenders mounted a last-ditch effort Monday to try to preserve the NSA's phone-snooping, arguing -- against most evidence to the contrary -- that the program is useful in the fight against terrorists, and insisting it has been grossly distorted by opponents.

June 1, 2015
A U.S. flag with a swastika is seen during a protest against a visit by President Bush in Rome, Friday June 4, 2004. Bush, who met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican Friday, is in Italy to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Rome's liberation and will proceed to France Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) **FILE**

Social Security paid $20M to Nazis

Social Security paid more than $20 million in benefits to alleged Nazis over the last five decades, according to a new internal audit completed late last week that found the last known or suspected Nazi finally stopped getting benefits only last month.

June 1, 2015
Hidden inside a load of green peppers, sealed in bales of coiled cable wire, stuffed inside the cups of women's bras — drug runners are finding increasingly innovative places to stash their illicit cargo as they try to sneak it by U.S. border guards. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Drug smugglers get creative in bids to elude U.S. border guards

Hidden inside a load of green peppers, sealed in bales of coiled cable wire, stuffed inside the cups of women's bras -- drug runners are finding increasingly innovative places to stash their illicit cargo as they try to sneak it by U.S. border guards.

May 31, 2015
President Barack Obama speaks to media as he meets with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obama, James Clapper plead Senate GOP to relent on Patriot Act standoff

President Obama and the government's chief intelligence official made a plea Friday for Senate Republican leaders to relent in their fight to preserve the NSA's phone-snooping program, saying that unless a deal is reached by Sunday, investigators will no longer be able to apply for new roving wiretaps come Monday.

May 29, 2015
President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn of the White House from Marine One, Thursday, May 28, 2015, in Washington, as he arrives from Miami where the he visited the National Hurricane Center and the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity to pay his respects to the Cuban-American diaspora that worship there. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Homeland Security granted work visas despite injunction

The administration is fighting feverishly to try to keep a federal judge from riding herd on its deportation amnesty, saying in papers filed late Wednesday that while Homeland Security goofed in breaking a court injunction, it was an "isolated" incident and vowing it won't happen again.

May 28, 2015
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to examine IRS challenges in implementing the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE **

IRS bilked for billions in bogus refunds: audit

The IRS has gotten better at detecting fraud but still paid out $2.1 billion in potentially bogus refunds in 2012, according to a new audit Thursday that found the agency paid refunds on nearly 600 tax returns filed to the same address in Kilkenny, Ireland.

May 28, 2015
Lois Lerner is the former IRS official at the center of a controversy over how the agency treated conservative political groups. (Associated Press) **FILE**

House GOP demands criminal investigation into Lois Lerner

Insisting Lois G. Lerner is still a target, congressional Republicans sent a letter to new Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday asking her to follow through on their official request last year for a criminal investigation into Ms. Lerner's behavior at the IRS.

May 28, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. Diplomacy Center, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014, at the State Department in Washington. Kerry hosted five of his predecessors in a rare public reunion for the groundbreaking of a museum commemorating the achievements of American statesmanship. (Associated Press) **FILE**

John Kerry sued over Clinton emails; ‘coverup’ alleged

A watchdog group sued Thursday to try to force the State Department to collect all of former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails from her time in government, saying the Obama administration broke the law by letting her keep them.

May 28, 2015
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (Associated Press) **FILE**

EPA expands powers over land use in bid to control water pollution

The administration announced rules Wednesday to grant federal agencies sweeping environmental oversight over wetlands, ponds and even some ditches in a move supporters said will clean up dirty waters but which critics said was a capstone power grab for a lame-duck president.

May 27, 2015
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office during the President's Daily Economic Briefing on July 30, 2009. (White House)

Appeals court deals blow to Obama amnesty

A federal appeals court refused to lift an injunction against President Obama's deportation amnesty in a ruling Tuesday that delivers a second major legal setback to the administration and keeps millions of illegal immigrants on hold.

May 26, 2015
The Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Associated Press)

U.S. Capitol being evacuated

The U.S. Capitol was reopened Tuesday afternoon after having been evacuated for an hour in an apparent false fire alarm that sent hundreds of workers streaming from the seat of government.

May 26, 2015