Stephen Dinan

Stimulus cost drops by nearly $50 billion

Congress's scorekeeping agency now says President Obama's stimulus spending program will cost only $814 billion over 10 years, or nearly $50 billion less than predicted in January.

August 24, 2010

Boehner calls for Obama to fire entire economic team

Saying Washington is hampered by "endless spending sprees, entangled tax structures and bureaucracy run amok," the top House Republican on Tuesday demanded President Obama fire his entire economic team and immediately submit a plan to cut spending to pre-stimulus 2008 levels.

August 24, 2010

3 primaries pose key test for ‘tea party’

Tuesday marks the final major test of "tea party" power in the primaries, as challengers try to capitalize on anti-incumbent sentiment in Alaska, Arizona and Florida, and incumbents hope to avoid becoming the latest victims in what's been a rough year for officeholders.

August 23, 2010

Gulf dearth of visitors blamed on media

Tourism officials say there can never be enough positive press coverage to undo the worst-case scenarios that were bandied about during the months-long barrage of bad news about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

August 19, 2010

As job losses rise, rebound from recession called ‘anemic’

New jobless benefits claims jumped last week to their highest rate since November, and Congress' chief scorekeeper said Thursday that the ongoing recovery has been "anemic" compared with past rebounds from deep recessions.

August 19, 2010

CBO: U.S. faces slow recovery, near-record deficit

With the sluggish economy holding down revenues and the federal government still spending lavishly, the national deficit will hit $1.3 trillion this year — second only to last year's record, Congress's chief scorekeeper said Thursday.

August 19, 2010

White House touts success of stimulus

The Obama administration says the stimulus worked by creating millions of jobs and staving off a depression - doing so with great transparency. It should be a crowning achievement as Democrats prepare for November's congressional elections.

August 17, 2010

Bush drug plan beats cost mark

Four years into full operation, President George W. Bush's Medicare prescription drug program is coming in well below its projected cost, giving hope to backers of the new health insurance law that it, too, could beat budget expectations.

August 16, 2010

No more for the road, Smith says

After a Catholic nun's death earlier this month in a drunken-driving crash that police say was caused by a repeat-offender illegal immigrant, a key lawmaker wants the federal government to start detaining and deporting every illegal immigrant who commits a drunken-driving offense.

August 15, 2010

Border-security measure sent to Obama

Congress on Thursday passed and sent President Obama a $600 million bill to pay for more law enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border, and Senate Democrats said they've now proved they are "serious" about security.

August 12, 2010

Senate hustles through $600M border bill

Congress on Thursday passed and sent President Obama a $600 million bill to pay for more law enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border, and Senate Democrats said they've now proved they are "serious" about security and can turn their attention to restarting talks on legalizing illegal immigrants.

August 12, 2010

Obama noshes on Gulf seafood to stimulate industry

It's not clear whether President Obama's stomach can save an entire industry, but he's making a real go of it when it comes to seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.

August 11, 2010

Unanimous Senate OKs $600M for border

The Senate voted to hire 1,000 more U.S. Border Patrol agents as part of a border-security bill, acting swiftly in the hours before they left to face constituents.

August 5, 2010

Health law could aid Medicare solvency

Social Security will pay more in benefits this year than it will take in because of payroll taxes in the sluggish economy, but Medicare's solvency could be extended by years thanks to the new health care law, according to two reports on the government's big entitlement programs released Thursday.

August 5, 2010

Senate passes last-minute border security boost

The Senate on Thursday voted to hire 1,000 more U.S. Border Patrol agents as part of a $600 million border security bill, acting swiftly in the hours before they left to face constituents during their five-week summer vacation.

August 5, 2010

Social Security in the red this year

Social Security will pay out more this year than it gets in payroll taxes, marking the first time the program will be in the red, according to the annual authoritative report released Thursday by the program's actuary.

August 5, 2010

Senate OKs vote on cash to states

Congress is poised to extend a taxpayer-funded lifeline to cash-strapped states after the Senate on Wednesday advanced another round of $26 billion in stimulus spending for teachers and health care, and House Democrats said they will break their six-week summer vacation to return to Washington to vote on it next week.

August 4, 2010

Senate advances new government job stimulus

The Senate on Wednesday tossed a taxpayer-funded lifeline to financially strapped states, advancing a bill that would extend parts of last year's stimulus bill to cover more health care costs and fund more state and local government jobs.

August 4, 2010

Napolitano seeks review of illegal immigrant’s release

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has demanded a review of why federal immigration authorities released an illegal immigrant after a drunken-driving arrest in 2008 and who now has been charged with manslaughter stemming for a suspected drunken-driving crash that killed a Catholic nun this weekend.

August 3, 2010

Waters faces ethics charge

The House ethics committee will accuse Rep. Maxine Waters of breaking the chamber's rules after a year-long investigation into allegations she sought the Treasury Department's help for a bank in which her husband was invested, the committee said Monday.

August 2, 2010