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Articles by Stephen Dinan

IRS audit finds ‘millions’ in waste

Everyone always wants the latest technology, but a government auditor said Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service wasted millions of dollars on BlackBerrys and wireless modem aircards that employees don't need or even use.

February 19, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, is House Oversight Committee chairman. (Associated Press)

Federal salary freeze passes House

The House voted Friday morning to freeze civilian federal salaries for another year as lawmakers continue to look under every cushion for money they can squeeze out of the budget.

February 15, 2013
**FILE** Republican Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies Jan. 31, 2013, before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. (Associated Press)

Chuck Hagel filibustered by GOP for defense post

Republicans succeeded Thursday in blocking a vote on Chuck Hagel, President Obama's defense secretary nominee, by launching the first filibuster in history against a president's choice to fill the Pentagon's top civilian post.

February 14, 2013
**FILE** Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and immigration reform activist, listens June 28, 2011, as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan testify at a hearing regarding immigration reform and the DREAM Act on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

Jose Antonio Vargas testifies for illegal immigrants

At the witness table at Wednesday's Senate hearing on immigration reform sat the head of the labor union for immigration enforcement agents. Two seats away, at the same table, sat an illegal immigrant — testifying without fear of deportation thanks to President Obama's new policies.

February 13, 2013
Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat, said he traveled on a plane owned by Dr. Melgen but denied that he engaged with prostitutes. (Associated Press)

DHS chief: Menendez intern should have been deported earlier

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she didn't order immigration agents to delay arresting an illegal immigrant and registered sex offender working for Sen. Robert Menendez's New Jersey office in the middle of his re-election campaign last year.

February 13, 2013
Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano testifies on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, on Capitol Hill before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during an immigration hearing. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Napolitano: No need to bind amnesty to border security

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that the southwest border is more secure than ever and warned against holding legalization hostage to more border security — prompting a key Republican to warn the Obama administration that it is endangering chances for a bill this year.

February 13, 2013
President Barack Obama gestures as he gives his State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Feb. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)

Obama skips solutions for Social Security

Left out of President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night was any mention of shoring up Social Security or Medicaid — two of the three entitlement programs that will drive the growth of federal debt over the coming decades.

February 12, 2013

ICE agents want a say in immigration talks Union sends letter to White House

The head of the union for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday asking to be included in future meetings he has on immigration after the agents were left out of White House talks with business groups and immigrant-rights activists.

February 12, 2013
President Barack Obama laughs during the beginning of the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, Friday, June 19, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Obama goes 8 for 20 from last year’s State of Union pledges

It was one of the best one-liners of any recent State of the Union address: President Obama, joking about government waste, said the Commerce Department is in charge of salmon fishing in saltwater, the Interior Department handles them when they’re in freshwater — “and I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked.”

February 12, 2013
Coburn

Senate renews Violence Against Women Act on 78-22 vote

Treading on touchy territory, the Senate on Tuesday defeated a plan to push states to test accused rapists for sexually transmitted diseases, so their victims could then know what treatments to get.

February 12, 2013
**FILE** Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents take a suspect into custody as part of a nationwide immigration sweep in Chula Vista, Calif., on March 30, 2012. (Associated Press)

EXCLUSIVE: Immigration agents demand seat at Obama’s talks

The head of the union for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday asking to be included in future meetings he has on immigration after the agents were left out of White House talks with business groups and immigrant-rights activists.

February 12, 2013
Hagel

Senate panel sets vote on defense pick Hagel

Democrats on Monday said they will press ahead with Chuck Hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of defense, daring Republicans to try to derail his nomination over charges that neither he nor the Obama administration have disclosed enough information.

February 11, 2013
** FILE ** President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Listening in back are Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. (left) and House Speaker John A. Boehner. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

Immigration evolves in State of the Union speeches

From President Clinton's stern 1995 call to stop "the large numbers of illegal aliens" taking American jobs to President Obama's plea last year for legalizing "responsible young people" to work in the U.S. economy, the politics of immigration can be traced through State of the Union addresses.

February 11, 2013
Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Obama threatens severe cuts if no agreement

The White House on Sunday stepped up pressure on Republicans to adopt a short-term budget patch that would cancel the $85 billion in spending "sequesters" due on March 1, saying that government spending is still needed to prop up a stubbornly sluggish economy.

February 10, 2013
** FILE ** President Obama visits a classroom at Yeadon Regional Head Start Center in Yeadon, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

White House threatens to cut education, food safety

Seeking to build political pressure on Republicans, the White House on Friday laid out some of the costs of looming spending "sequesters," saying the administration would cut 70,000 youngsters from Head Start, would reduce federal loans to small businesses and slash the number of food safety inspectors on the job.

February 8, 2013