Stephen Dinan

Obama seizes advantage on payroll-tax cut

Republicans are increasingly divided over whether to extend this year's payroll-tax cut into next year, leaving a political opening that President Obama moved to seize Monday by accusing the GOP of ignoring middle-class families' needs and unveiling a White House countdown clock ticking off the seconds until taxes get higher.

December 5, 2011

U.S. lawmakers push for better treatment of illegal immigrants in Mexico

Already unhappy with the Obama administration's handling of illegal immigrants in the U.S., liberal lawmakers on Friday asked the government to go even further and make American aid to Mexico based on that country treating immigrants better.

December 3, 2011

Parties’ competing plans to extend payroll-tax cut fail

The Senate late Thursday defeated both Republicans' and Democrats' attempts to extend this year's payroll tax cut into next year in dueling votes that signaled the nearly $1,000-per-family break may be in more peril than previously thought.

December 1, 2011

Senate OKs sanctions on Iran’s central bank

Saying they were fed up with Chinese and Russian stalling on sanctions, senators on Thursday voted to punish both Iran's central bank and foreign institutions that do business with it — moving further than the Obama administration has been willing to go.

December 1, 2011

After 207 years, Navy commandos’ wait continues

Navy commandos whose remains have languished in Libya for more than two centuries will have to wait at least a little longer after the Navy on Thursday blocked senators' efforts to have their bodies brought back to the U.S.

December 1, 2011

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