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Articles by Stephen Dinan

A child looks longingly through the locked gates of the National Zoo in this shutdown photograph posted on the social media site, Reddit.

First Amendment used to break Park Service barriers during shutdown

Taking their lead from the veterans who first pushed through the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial, Americans nationwide are defying the federal government shutdown, tossing aside traffic cones and toppling wooden fences to get to national parks and other federal lands that the administration has deemed out of bounds.

October 9, 2013
Sarah Hall Ingram, director of the Affordable Care Act Office at the Internal Revenue Service, told a House committee Wednesday that she was "not conscious of ever sharing 6103 data information at the White House." She said the agency is keeping Obamacare applicants' information private. She also said she had "no recollection" of hearing about IRS targeting of conservatives. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Republicans say Obamacare official leaked IRS data

House Republican investigators Wednesday accused the woman in charge of the IRS' Obamacare compliance office of having leaked private taxpayer information to the White House, saying that calls into question the agency's trustworthiness in administering the new health care reform law.

October 9, 2013
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. presided as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could lift restrictions on campaign donations to political parties and candidates. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Supreme Court skeptical of campaign finance cap

Supreme Court justices signaled Tuesday that they aren't sold on current campaign finance laws that limit how much Americans can contribute directly to candidates and political parties, as the court met for the first major oral argument of its new term.

October 8, 2013
United States Park Rangers Josh Clemons, left, and Peter Zahrt close a trail at Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Tuesday, Oct., 1, 2013. National Parks across the country are closed due to the federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Alex Slitz)

Alaska slams feds for keeping hunters off land

Alaska lawmakers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of violating federal law by shutting down hunting on its lands during the government shutdown, saying a 1980 law guarantees state residents must have access to the land.

October 8, 2013
**FILE** The Supreme Court in Washington is seen June 27, 2012. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court signals skepticism of campaign finance limits

The Supreme Court seemed skeptical Tuesday of the web of campaign finance regulations they and Congress have left in place, as the justices heard a case that legal analysts said could end up erasing one of the remaining campaign finance limits on individuals.

October 8, 2013
**FILE** Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

Lawyer bilked Social Security while representing hundreds of clients

In testimony more befitting a legal thriller than a congressional hearing, Social Security employees told the Senate on Monday of an agency office in West Virginia rife with intimidation, retaliation and corruption — including a successful scheme that allowed a lawyer to bilk more than $4 million in taxpayers' money from the disability system.

October 7, 2013
House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, speaking ABC's "This Week" on Sunday said that he will not allow a debt increase without winning some concessions on lowering spending. "We are not going down that path. It is time to deal with America's problems. How can you raise the debt limit and do nothing about the underlying problem?" (Associated Press)

Debt fight to escalate shutdown showdown; Boehner attaches Obamacare strings

Legislative activity has slowed to a crawl on Capitol Hill as both sides have become entrenched on the spending bills and now the looming debt fight, with House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, saying Sunday that he will insist on conditions being attached to any bill to raise the federal borrowing limit.

October 6, 2013
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks to a Republican strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. Boehner is struggling between Democrats that control the Senate and GOP conservatives in his caucus who insist any funding legislation must also kill or delay the nation's new health care law. Added pressure came from President Barack Obama who pointedly blamed Boehner on Thursday for keeping federal agencies closed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House approves retroactive pay for furloughed government workers

Seeking to dent President Obama's refusal to chip away at the government shutdown piece-by-piece, House Republicans passed a bill Saturday to guarantee all federal employees get paid after the government shutdown — including those who have been sent home and aren't on the job.

October 5, 2013
** FILE ** House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, speaks President Obama. (Associated Press photographs)

Obama backs part of House shutdown strategy

President Obama opposes the House Republican caucus strategy to pass government funding in pieces, but the White House signaled Friday he will sign at least one of those bills — a measure that would ensure federal employees get paid even if they were forced out of work.

October 4, 2013
Park rangers on Friday were turning away people who want to visit the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in an effort to enforce the National Park Service's decision to shut down the private establishment during the government shutdown. A Times reader sent in photos of the rangers blocking the entrance. (Image provided by Sloane Salzman)

Blue Ridge hotel defies Park Service shutdown

Park rangers on Friday were turning away people who want to visit the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in an effort to enforce the National Park Service's decision to shut down the private establishment during the government shutdown.

October 4, 2013
**FILE** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tells reporters that Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Republicans are the obstacle to ending the government shutdown crisis, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. President Barack Obama brought congressional leaders to the White House on Wednesday for the first time since a partial government shutdown began, but there was no sign of progress toward ending an impasse that has idled 800,000 federal workers and curbed services around the country. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Reid apologizes for nasty tone on Senate floor

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivered a striking mea culpa on the Senate floor Friday as he opened the chamber, saying he and his colleagues have simply gotten too personal and nasty in their floor debates.

October 4, 2013
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pauses outside the West Wing of the White House after meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. Obama and congressional leaders met at the White House on the second day of a partial government shutdown. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Senate Democrats block reopening of NIH, national parks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday blocked a House bill providing funding to reopen national parks amid the government shutdown, saying he would not allow the GOP to pick and choose from among favored programs and insisting the only way out is to pass all spending at the same time.

October 3, 2013