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Welcome to 'The Dialogue': Two sides, one conversation. A new video series from The Washington Times

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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Obama gets praise for bold action

When news of Osama bin Laden's killing broke late Sunday, thousands of people thronged Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate near the White House, while just 16 blocks away the streets near the Capitol were deserted — a stark reminder of how the responsibility for the daring assassination raid rested squarely on one man's shoulders.

May 2, 2011
**FILE** Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (Associated Press)

Brewer leads charge against feds

Before there was Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Nathan Deal or Nikki Haley, there was Arizona's Jan Brewer — the original Republican protest governor, going toe-to-toe with the Obama administration over immigration, fighting the White House in the courtroom and becoming an early symbol of states' frustration with the White House.

May 1, 2011

Feds sting Amish farmer selling raw milk locally

A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

April 28, 2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS Ann Kirkpatrick campaigned successfully for Congress in 2008, but lost in the Republican tide last year. She plans to seek a rematch to take back the seat from Rep. Paul A. Gosar.

Spurned Democrats ready for second try

The House GOP's agenda has tilted so far right that it's creating opportunities for Democrats to try to reclaim seats they lost just a few months ago, said Ann Kirkpatrick, the first former member of Congress to announce that she would seek a rematch in 2012.

April 26, 2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus defends real estate mogul Donald Trump as a possible GOP presidential candidate who should be allowed to speak his mind about any issue, even the “birther” one.

Chairman speaks for Trump in ‘birther’ flap

New Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday that the GOP's potential presidential candidates such as Donald Trump have a right to make claims about President Obama's birth certificate, and he is not going to play referee as the party struggles to settle on a 2012 nominee.

April 26, 2011

A year later, Ariz. immigration fight rages

It spawned myriad court challenges, calls to boycott this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game and more than a dozen copycat proposals in other states — but the one thing Arizona's tough immigration law has not done is put anyone behind bars.

April 21, 2011

2011 spending bill clears Congress

Crossing the finish line more than six months late, Congress on Thursday finally cleared a spending bill to fund government through the rest of the fiscal year, approving a hard-fought compromise that left neither side happy and that presaged more bruising fights ahead on deficit reduction.

April 14, 2011

CBO: Spending deal cuts only $20 billion to $25 billion

Congress' chief scorekeeper said Thursday that the deal President Obama reached with Congress actually will lead to only $20 billion to $25 billion less in spending over the next five years — far short of the $37.7 billion leaders had claimed.

April 14, 2011
DEALER: Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said, "You can't balance the budget by cutting domestic discretionary spending alone." (Bloomberg)

Spending bill bears Democratic stamp

The final 2011 spending deal that Congress released Tuesday bears the fingerprints of Democrats far more than Republicans, whose effort to slash the federal deficit was swamped by President Obama's tenacious defense of spending programs.

April 12, 2011

Appeals court stops Ariz. immigration law

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Arizona overstepped its bounds with last year's immigration enforcement law, handing the Obama administration another victory as it tries to squelch states' efforts on immigration enforcement.

April 11, 2011
**FILE** David Plouffe, former White House senior adviser. (Associated Press)

Obama administration plans budget blitz

Seeking to regain the initiative on spending cuts from House Republicans before Congress begins the 2012 budget and the debt-ceiling fights, President Obama later this week will lay out a plan to make real dents in the federal deficit, the White House said Sunday.

April 10, 2011
**FILE** Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (The Washington Times)

Norton: Democrats sold out D.C. in spending deal

Washington's representative to Congress said Saturday she feels like the city was the victim of a "sellout" by Democrats in Friday night's spending negotiations after the District of Columbia was the focus for two of the biggest policy fights.

April 9, 2011

Union says working during shutdown is unconstitutional

The country's largest federal employees union sued the government Friday, arguing it is unconstitutional to make millions of workers report for duty during a shutdown since there is no guarantee they will be paid later for the time they work.

April 8, 2011
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, talks to reporters during a pad-and-pen session at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Friday, April 8, 2011. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Shutdown deadline nears

With less than a few hours to go before a government shutdown Friday night, both parties made their last pleas for a spending agreement on their own terms, even as aides said leaders were trying to ready a short-term stopgap spending to try to buy more time.

April 8, 2011

CBO: Feds run $189 billion deficit in March

The government ran a deficit of $189 billion in March alone, according to preliminary estimates — more than three times the $61 billion in spending cuts that have brought the government to the brink of a shutdown.

April 7, 2011
STANDSTILL: House Speaker John A. Boehner (left) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, after meeting with President Obama on Thursday, tell reporters that all sides are trying to reach an agreement to prevent a budget shutdown, but none appeared to waver. (Associated Press)

Obama vows to veto short-term bill

High-stakes negotiations to head off a government shutdown went down to the wire Thursday night after President Obama rejected a last-minute bid by House Republicans to give the rest of the government a one-week reprieve on a shutdown.

April 7, 2011
Inside the Capitol, Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach a compromise on the fiscal 2011 budget before the money runs out at midnight Friday. (Bloomberg)

Costs of federal shutdown would be felt far and wide

IRS tax audits would be halted in their tracks, this weekend's National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington canceled, and national parks and the Smithsonian shuttered if Congress can't reach agreement on annual spending and the government shuts down at midnight Friday.

April 6, 2011

Senate fails to curb EPA’s climate authority

President Obama got an implicit green light Wednesday to go ahead with writing new environmental rules to limit greenhouse gases, after the Senate failed to pass any one of four separate proposals designed to tie the administration's hands.

April 6, 2011
BLUEPRINT: House Speaker John A. Boehner, flanked by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (left) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy talks with reporters after the 2012 budget outline. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Red tape cut in health care law

Congress on Tuesday revoked the first significant parts of President Obama's health care initiative when the Senate voted overwhelmingly to eliminate a burdensome tax paperwork requirement the law imposes on businesses.

April 5, 2011