Stephen Dinan

Obama vetoes bill on foreclosure documents

Even though the measure passed Congress without a single dissenting vote, President Obama this week spotted potentially nefarious side effects in an arcane bill to rewrite rules on notarized documents, issuing only the second veto of his presidency Thursday.

October 7, 2010

Government spending rises 9%

Basic government spending rose by 9 percent in fiscal 2010, driving the country to a $1.291 trillion deficit down $125 billion from 2009, but still the second-largest hole on record, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.

October 7, 2010

More criminal aliens deported last year

President Obama's new immigration enforcement strategy led to a record number of criminal aliens being deported last year, but removals of other illegal immigrants fell to the lowest rate since 2007, before the Bush administration began a crackdown.

October 6, 2010

Deportations of illegals falls short of goal

President Obama's new immigration enforcement strategy led to an all-time record number of criminal aliens being deported last year, but removals of other illegal immigrants fell to the lowest rate since 2007, before the Bush administration began its crackdown.

October 6, 2010

Obama use of foe’s tax records reviewed

A federal inspector general is looking into whether the Obama administration used confidential taxpayer information in an effort to attack a political opponent, Koch Industries.

October 5, 2010

Hispanics lose zeal to turn out vote for Dems

Hispanic voters still like Democrats more than Republicans, but they are much less enthusiastic about heading to the polls in this year's elections, according to a broad survey released Tuesday.

October 5, 2010

Congress hopefuls vow to be pork-free

The anti-pork brigade in Congress is poised to receive massive reinforcements next year, with nearly every non-incumbent GOP Senate candidate and hordes of House hopefuls swearing off earmarks themselves or even ready to consider an outright ban for all lawmakers.

October 4, 2010

Boehner calls for spending reform on Hill

Congress must fundamentally rethink the way it spends taxpayer money, including getting rid of massive multi-agency spending bills and forcing lawmakers who want to add new government programs to first cut an existing one, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said Thursday.

September 30, 2010

Boehner: Congress’ spending needs complete reset

Congress must rethink the entire way it spends money, including getting rid of massive multiagency spending bills and forcing lawmakers to cut a program any time they want to start a new one, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Thursday.

September 30, 2010

Lawmakers itching to leave Hill

Leaving taxpayers hanging and next year's spending bills undone, Congress is rushing to return to the campaign trail, pausing just long enough to agree on a stopgap bill to keep the government from shutting down after Thursday.

September 29, 2010

Democrats not getting jobs, tax bills done

The Democrats' agenda of jobs and tax cuts has begun to lose support within the party's own ranks, even as House and Senate members rush to finish their pre-election business and return home to seek votes for November's midterms.

September 28, 2010

Final Senate jobs bill fails

The jobs agenda put forth by Senate Democrats has begun to lose support within their own caucus, including a Tuesday vote in which a bipartisan filibuster defeated a bill to stop jobs from being shipped overseas.

September 28, 2010

Full tax-cut extension good in short term, worse in long run, CBO director says

A full, permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts could help the economy grow by nearly 2 percent more next year — and would be a bigger boost than just a partial extension, Congress' chief scorekeeper said Tuesday.

September 28, 2010

Tax-cuts vote unlikely until after elections

Democrats said Sunday they will put off until after the elections a vote on whether to extend the Bush tax cuts, leaving most taxpayers in limbo for months as to whether they'll face tax increases at the beginning of next year.

September 26, 2010

Hoyer raps TV comic’s testimony

A top House Democrat said Sunday that TV comic Stephen Colbert's in-character testimony at a congressional hearing Friday was "an embarrassment" to the comedian and wrong for the House.

September 26, 2010

Democrats to postpone tax-cut vote until after elections

Democrats said Sunday they'll put off until after the elections a vote on whether to extend the Bush tax cuts, leaving most taxpayers in limbo for months as to whether they'll face tax increases at the beginning of next year.

September 26, 2010

Hoyer: Colbert’s testimony ‘an embarrassment’

A top House Democrat said Sunday that TV comic Stephen Colbert's in-character testimony at a congressional hearing Friday was "an embarrassment" to the comedian and wrong for the House.

September 26, 2010

GOP makes a ‘Pledge’ to voters

House Republicans on Thursday promised to cancel unspent stimulus funds, stop suspected terrorists from being tried in civilian courts, cut lawmakers' own budgets and impose a hiring freeze on civilian federal workers if Americans vote for the GOP in November.

September 23, 2010

House Republicans offer ‘Pledge’ contract

Fighting back against the Democrats' charge that they are the "party of no," House Republicans on Thursday sought to become the party of "No, but" by offering a broad blueprint for spending cuts and government rollbacks ahead of the November midterm elections.

September 23, 2010

Obama calls health-care repeal good politics, bad policy

President Obama acknowledged Wednesday that Republicans' push to repeal the health care overhaul is good politics for the GOP, but said such a move would cause people to lose insurance they've gained under the law over the past six months.

September 22, 2010