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Articles by Stephen Dinan

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (Associated Press) **FILE**

EPA sued over Gina McCarthy’s deleted text messages

A congressional committee chairman demanded an investigation Monday into whether EPA employees are illegally deleting text messages after the agency officially notified the National Archives last month that Administrator Gina McCarthy expunged her phone texts, which are now the subject of a lawsuit.

November 10, 2014
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appears at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 29, 2014. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obama to face immigration foe in incoming Judiciary chairman

President Obama and his administration will face a new pair of scrutinizing eyes next year after Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an oversight maven who has investigated everything from the Fast & Furious gun operation to border security, said Monday he will likely become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year.

November 10, 2014
Dr. Ben Carson has won yet another straw poll to be the GOP's 2016 presidential nominee. (Associated Press)

Ben Carson leaves Fox News role

Fox News severed ties Friday to Dr. Ben A. Carson, a rising conservative star who is considering running for president in 2016, in what he said was an amicable parting.

November 7, 2014
Illustration: Shoveling jobs by Greg Groesch for The Washington Times

Immigration agency nepotism ‘pervasive,’ federal investigators find

Top federal immigration officials repeatedly used their agency as a jobs program for their children, nieces and nephews, pressuring colleagues to hire their relatives in what investigators described in a report this week as a "pervasive culture of nepotism and favoritism."

November 6, 2014
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. Boehner said the Republican-controlled Congress will act to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, make changes in the health care law and encourage businesses to hire more veterans. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Boehner vows House will repeal Obamacare

John A. Boehner promised Thursday the House will vote to repeal Obamacare and warned President Obama not to "poison" chances for cooperation with Congress on immigration by moving unilaterally.

November 6, 2014
This undated photo provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society shows First Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing. President Barack Obama is bestowing the nation's highest military honor on the Union Army officer who was killed more than 150 years ago in the Battle of Gettysburg. Cushing died in July 1863 while standing his ground against Pickett's Charge. Congress had to grant an exemption for Cushing, since recommendations for a Medal of Honor must be made within two years of an act of heroism. (Associated Press/Wisconsin Historical Society)

Alonzo Cushing: Medal of Honor for Civil War hero sparks new battles

Seldom has the Army faced the challenge of staging an award ceremony like the one Thursday, when President Obama is slated to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to distant relatives of 1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing, who died leading the artillery defense that halted Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.

November 5, 2014
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, talks as she and Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee receive updates of Election Eay information from Greg Jackson, field director of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Nancy Pelosi vows to stay on as leader

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked her fellow Democrats to keep her on as their leader in the new Congress next year, saying she still has unfinished goals she wants to accomplish.

November 5, 2014
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., addresses supporters at his victory rally in the Kentucky Senate race, Tuesday,Nov. 4, 2014, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Mitch McConnell promises long nights, full weeks to force Senate to work

Fresh off a stunning victory for him personally and for his party in the Senate, presumptive Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed there will be "no government shutdowns and no default on the national debt" on his watch, but spent as much time focusing Wednesday on fixing what he called a broken process as he did on issues.

November 5, 2014
FILE - This June 13, 2014 file photo shows Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. speaking in Chicago. The surge of Central American children crossing the U.S. southern border has shifted the politics of immigration, weakening one of the most potent arguments Democrats plan to make against Republicans in November and in the next presidential election. In the past month, the number of Americans who rank immigration as the nation’s top problem has tripled in surveys conducted by Gallup _ putting the issue on par with the economy and unemployment as the most frequently named issues facing the country.  (AP Photo/Stacy Thacker, File)

Gutierrez: Immigration critical to Obama, Democratic party

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, the most prominent leader of the immigration legalization movement, said Wednesday that President Obama showed "disdain and disrespect" for immigrants this year and Latino voters punished Democrats for it at the polls.

November 5, 2014
Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican who has led opposition to Mr. Obama's immigration plans, said the results of the midterm elections show voters gave a clear mandate to the president. (Associated Press)

Immigration a losing issue for Democrats in 2014 midterm elections

Immigration was a losing issue in the 2014 election, with Republicans who announced their opposition to President Obama's legalization plans earning victories across the country and voters in Oregon swatting down a referendum that would have granted driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

November 5, 2014
Virginia Republican Congressional candidate Barbara Comstock, right, celebrates with her husband Chip Comstock, at her election night party, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014 in Ashburn, Va. Comstock ran against democrat John Foust for the 10th Congressional District of Virginia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republicans overcome ‘war on women’ attack

Republicans showed Tuesday they've solved Democrats' "war on women" attack, winning key races in Colorado, Virginia, Kentucky and Iowa where President Obama and his allies had hoped that message would help them overcome voter fatigue.

November 5, 2014
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with his supporters at an election night party in Louisville, Ky.,Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. McConnell won a sixth term in Washington, with his eyes on the larger prize of GOP control of the Senate. The Kentucky Senate race, with McConnell, a 30-year incumbent, fighting off a spirited challenge from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, has been among the most combative and closely watched contests that could determine the balance of power in Congress. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GOP holds all its Senate seats

Republican David Perdue won the election for Georgia's Senate seat, holding the state for the GOP despite tough headwinds that had seemed to give Democrats hope for a pickup.

November 4, 2014
A chastened White House announced late Tuesday evening that President Obama had invited congressional leaders to the White House on Friday to try to chart a path forward, hoping to find at least some issues where the two parties could cooperate. (Associated Press)

Republicans close in on Senate majority; Obama to meet with GOP leaders

Voters seething with discontent took out their anger on congressional Democrats Tuesday, leaving Republicans on the brink of a Senate majority for the first time in eight years and kneecapping President Obama's ability to pursue his agenda for the rest of his term.

November 4, 2014
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., hugs a volunteer holding a sign as she heads in to vote at the Town Hall in Madbury, NH,  Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014.  Shaheen, a Democrat seeking a second term, faces Republican Scott Brown, who is seeking to represent a second state. Brown moved to New Hampshire last year after losing his U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.  (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

Jeanne Shaheen beats Scott Brown in New Hampshire

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on Tuesday fended off a stiff challenge from Republican Scott Brown in New Hampshire, allowing Democrats to breath a sigh of relief in what otherwise was shaping up to be a bleak election night.

November 4, 2014