Stephen Dinan

Rhetoric heats up in homestretch

President Obama desperately sought to reignite the coalition that pushed him to power in 2008, while Sarah Palin blamed "corrupt bastards" for trying to hinder Senate candidate Joe Miller of Alaska, and in North Carolina, a federal judge ordered steps to prevent voting-machine problems.

October 31, 2010

Study digs up $1B in federal benefits to dead

The federal government has paid out more than $1 billion in checks to dead people over a decade, according to a new report by the top Republican on the Senate's investigative panel.

October 31, 2010

Reid promises vote on aliens

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over the weekend promised to force the Senate to vote on an immigration bill, the Dream Act, in a lame-duck session of Congress this month.

October 31, 2010

Reid vows immigration vote in lame-duck Congress

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this weekend promised to force the Senate to vote on an immigration bill, the Dream Act, in a lame-duck session of Congress next month.

October 31, 2010

$1 billion paid to dead people, senator reports

The federal government has paid out more than $1 billion in checks to dead people over a decade, according to a new report by the top Republican on the Senate's investigative panel.

October 29, 2010

Poll: Anti-Latino bias not up, fear of it is

Hispanic-Americans increasingly see illegal immigration as a problem for their own community, according to a new report that found a significant number of Latinos who say it's causing them to suffer discrimination.

October 28, 2010

Christie kicks off austerity fights in U.S.

In the first of what could be a nationwide spate of austerity-prompted spending cuts, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday canceled an over-budget $9-billion-plus commuter train tunnel between his state and Manhattan — shrugging off the Obama administration's efforts to save it.

October 27, 2010

Irish bookie pays off bets on Republicans

Saying there's no way Democrats can keep control of the House, Ireland's largest bookie on Wednesday said it has already paid off all bettors who wagered the GOP would capture the chamber.

October 27, 2010

Bookie says GOP can’t lose House, pays bets early

Saying there's no way Democrats can keep control of the House, Ireland's largest bookie on Wednesday said it has already paid off all bettors who wagered the GOP would capture the chamber.

October 27, 2010

Odds on GOP winning House, not Senate

It's official: A week before the midterm elections, odds are that Republicans will win control of the House but Democrats will keep control of the Senate, according to the overseas bookmakers taking bets on this sort of thing.

October 24, 2010

Cantor targets funding for NPR

A top House Republican says the party will ask Americans whether to cut off funding for NPR after the radio network fired commentator Juan Williams this week for his comments about Muslims.

October 24, 2010

GOP puts NPR on chopping block

A top House Republican said Friday the party will ask Americans whether to cut off funding for NPR after the radio network fired commentator Juan Williams this week for his comments about Muslims.

October 22, 2010

‘Hurt U.S. Congress’ a sign of political times

The campaign signs plastered across Virginia's 5th Congressional District have become a minor cult phenomenon: "Hurt U.S. Congress," they say.

October 21, 2010

Hispanics defy ad to shun elections

A new ad urging Hispanic voters to reject both parties by sitting out this year's elections has enraged Hispanic groups, drawn condemnation from the Univision television network and spawned the question of how Hispanics who are upset over the lack of action on immigration should register a protest vote this year.

October 19, 2010

Territories snared in wage debate

Just three years after a Democrat-led Congress imposed the federal minimum wage on two U.S. territories in the Pacific, lawmakers last month halted the program in its tracks, acknowledging the move had sapped thousands of jobs from American Samoa and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

October 18, 2010

FY ‘10 continued torrent of federal red ink

The federal deficit shrank slightly in fiscal year 2010, but on most other measures, it was a dark year for the government's fiscal health.

October 17, 2010

Budget deficit dropped slightly in fiscal 2010

The federal government ended fiscal year 2010 $1.294 trillion in the red, the Treasury Department said Friday — an improvement from last year's largest-ever annual deficit of $1.416 trillion, but still the second-largest hole in history.

October 15, 2010

Democrats say ‘tea partiers’ will help them

The "tea party" remains an unknown factor, with Democrats saying the movement will cost the GOP seats and Republicans saying it's part of an anti-establishment sentiment.

October 14, 2010

Raese won’t hide conservative views

John Raese would have filibustered both of President Obama's Supreme Court nominees, not only opposes the minimum wage but thinks it may be unconstitutional, and won't say whether Social Security and Medicare are constitutional but allows that they are here to stay.

October 13, 2010

‘Green’ red tape said to hinder Border Patrol

Environmental red tape has at times ensnared the U.S. Border Patrol's efforts to gain control of parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a draft government report that found agents sometimes take a back seat to protecting endangered species in the Southwest's national parks and forests.

October 10, 2010