Stephen Dinan

White House: New discretionary spending cuts would break debt deal

The White House on Thursday issued a statement saying it views this summer's debt deal as a discretionary spending floor and that it opposes any effort to cut funding beneath that level.

December 1, 2011

Homeland Security will comply with subpoena

The Obama administration will comply with a subpoena seeking details on illegal immigrants it has come in contact with but failed to deport under its Secure Communities initiative, one of the program's leaders told Congress on Wednesday.

November 30, 2011

Obama, Congress restore horse-slaughter industry

President Obama earlier this month quietly signed into law a spending bill that restores the American horse-slaughter industry, just a few months after a government investigation said the ban on slaughtering for human consumption was backfiring.

November 30, 2011

Senate defies threat of veto in terrorist custody vote

Defying a veto threat from President Obama, the Senate voted Tuesday to preserve language that would give the U.S. military a crack at al Qaeda operatives captured in the U.S., even if they are American citizens.

November 29, 2011

Family: Illegal-immigrant student martyred himself for Dream Act

An illegal-immigrant student in Texas who committed suicide the day after Thanksgiving left letters saying he felt trapped by his lack of opportunities and, according to his family, he "decided to sacrifice himself for the cause."

November 28, 2011

Senators look to repatriate 1804 commandos of Tripoli

For years, the Navy has been reluctant to reclaim the remains of its first 13 commandos, who perished in a failed raid on Tripoli Harbor in Libya in 1804 — but pressure has been growing in Congress to force them to do just that.

November 27, 2011

Victims’ revenge: Ponzi targets cheat the taxman

The federal government allows a tax break for investors who get cheated — but most of those who claim the deduction are cheating the IRS itself, according to a new inspector general's report released Wednesday that looked at the surge in fraud in 2008.

November 23, 2011

Republican hopefuls diverge on immigration, Iran policies

Surging in Republican presidential primary polls, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich used Tuesday night's national security debate in Washington to argue for a potential strike on Iran, a broader Patriot Act and the granting of legal status to many illegals in the U.S. as a way to regain control of the immigration system.

November 22, 2011

Report blames fires on border crashers

Illegal immigrants started nearly 40 percent of human-caused wildfires along the Arizona and Mexico border between 2006 and 2010, according to a new government report that backs up claims state lawmakers made during this year's catastrophic blazes.

November 22, 2011

CBO: Stimulus hurts economy in the long run

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday downgraded its estimate of the benefits of President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, saying it may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak last year and that over the long run it will actually be a net drag on the economy.

November 22, 2011

GAO: Illegal immigrants caused nearly half of border fires

Illegal immigrants started nearly 40 percent of human-ignited wildfires along the U.S.-Mexico border between 2006 and 2010, according to a new government report that gives new credence to claims Arizona lawmakers made earlier this year during catastrophic blazes in the Southwest.

November 22, 2011

Seismic shift on Hill sank amendment bid for balanced budget

The defeat last week of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution showed a remarkable shift in congressional opinion in just 15 years on what had, at one point, appeared destined to become the 28th addition to the founding document.

November 20, 2011

Leading senators: Kagan may have to recuse herself from health case

Top Republican senators said late Friday the Justice Department has been stonewalling their request for more information on Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, and said her previous work as solicitor general "may satisfy both requirements for recusal" from the upcoming health-care case.

November 18, 2011

House defeats balanced budget amendment

The House on Friday rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, falling well short of the two-thirds vote required and signaling a striking slide since the amendment's high point in the 1990s.

November 18, 2011

Congress OKs $128B spending bill

Breaking a legislative drought that had extended for two years, Congress on Thursday passed three of its annual spending bills and a stopgap measure to keep the rest of the government open through the middle of December, though not without deep partisan divides.

November 17, 2011

Congress gives OK to small portion of Obama’s jobs bill

It took two months, but a sliver of President Obama's jobs-stimulus plan is finally on its way to his desk after the House gave a final sign-off Wednesday to new tax credits to promote hiring of veterans and a repeal of the so-called "withholding tax" that was set to bite government contractors in 2013.

November 16, 2011

Hopes dim for amendment to balance budget

Fifteen years ago, the budget deficit stood at $107 billion, government debt totaled about $5 trillion and a balanced-budget constitutional amendment came within one senator's vote of passing Congress, buoyed by the likes of then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden, who made an impassioned plea on the floor for its adoption.

November 16, 2011

Federal debt tops $15 trillion

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that federal debt now tops $15 trillion — a staggering figure that has risen precipitously over the last decade.

November 16, 2011

Coburn: Congress shirking oversight duties

Congress has punted on doing the kind of scrutiny of federal agencies that's required to prevent waste and keep the government running smoothly, according to a new report by Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who serves as the institution's unofficial watchdog.

November 16, 2011

Health case raises recusal questions for Kagan, Thomas

The Supreme Court's announcement Monday that it will hear challenges to President Obama's health care law have put the spotlight on Justice Elena Kagan, who worked in the administration while the law was being written and, conservatives argue, helped craft its legal defense.

November 14, 2011