Stephen Dinan

Dems seek quick fix on campaign finance

Buoyed by polls showing the public is fed up with money influencing politics, Democrats are beginning to settle on options for curbing the Supreme Court's recent ruling that freed corporations and unions to enter the political fray with unlimited ads.

February 10, 2010

Illegal immigration fell sharply in ‘08

The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. dropped by nearly 1 million from 2007 to 2009 as the Bush administration ramped up enforcement efforts and the economy took a dive, according to figures the Homeland Security Department released Tuesday.

February 9, 2010

Obama’s bipartisan call hits wall of dissent

Despite his continued calls for collaboration, just two weeks after President Obama's State of the Union address, the window has closed on the areas of bipartisan cooperation he laid out.

February 9, 2010

Rep. Murtha dies at age 77

Long before he became a national figure for his zealous opposition to the Iraq war, Rep. John P. Murtha was known to every research lab, military base and Defense Department bureaucrat as the go-to man if they needed taxpayer funding.

February 9, 2010

Poll: Special interests more influential under Obama

Contrary to President Obama's promises, voters say special interests have more influence on the political process now than they did a year ago, according to a new poll.

February 8, 2010

Dems finagle $1.9T rise in debt cap

It took legislative acrobatics and some hard swallowing by Democrats, but Congress on Thursday sent President Obama a bill that raises the country's borrowing level by a staggering $1.9 trillion to cover this year's record spending.

February 5, 2010

‘Holds’ a two-edged sword for Obama

President Obama blasted Senate Republicans Wednesday for using "holds," a Senate tactic that delays consideration of nominees - even though as a senator he used the technique to block several of President George W. Bush's appointments.

February 4, 2010

Global warming research grant in danger of fund freeze

A top member of Congress wants President Obama to freeze more than $500,000 in stimulus money going to a Penn State global warming researcher after the school said it was expanding an investigation into the professor's work.

February 4, 2010

Congressman slams grant to embattled climate researcher

Rep. Darrell Issa wants President Obama to freeze more than $500,000 going to a Penn State global warming researcher after the school said it was investigating the professor's work.

February 3, 2010

Obama critics seek to restore budget cuts

Even as they faulted President Obama for not cutting deeply enough in the budget he sent to Congress this week, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill laid the groundwork Tuesday for all-out fights to try to add back more spending on defense and domestic priorities — and the administration already is warning of vetoes if some lines are crossed.

February 3, 2010

Obama’s budget knife takes smaller cuts

President Obama on Monday failed to heed his vow to take an ever-sharper scalpel to the budget during tough economic times, instead proposing $1 billion less in discretionary spending cuts than last year.

February 2, 2010

Largest-ever federal payroll to hit 2.15 million

The era of big government has returned with a vengeance, in the form of the largest federal work force in modern history.

February 2, 2010

Senate OKs new debt limit, raised by $1.9T

The all-Democrat vote will boost the U.S. government's borrowing power to a staggering $14.3 trillion, coming a day after Obama called on Congress to freeze much non-defense spending.

January 29, 2010

Obama’s barbs fuel partisan bickering

Republican lawmakers searched Thursday for ways to support President Obama, but said his calls for bipartisanship fell flat amidst his lecturing tone and the repeated barbs he aimed at them during his State of the Union address Wednesday night.

January 29, 2010

Virgin Islands park bill advances

Hours before President Obama urged members of Congress to show spending restraint Wednesday, the House voted to authorize spending as much as $50 million to create a national historic site in the U.S. Virgin Islands on beachfront land the National Park Service isn't yet sure it wants.

January 28, 2010

Stimulus price tag soars; jobless rate rises

The economic stimulus bill's price tag has risen to $862 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday — a $75 billion jump partly that's a result in part to the fact that, despite the spending, joblessness has risen.

January 27, 2010

Tab from stimulus program jumps, CBO says

UPDATED: The cost of the president's stimulus plan has jumped another $75 billion, and one reason is that more people are getting unemployment benefits because they've lost jobs the bill was supposed to preserve.

January 26, 2010

Biden’s son adds to Democrats’ woes

The political environment got worse for Democrats on Monday when Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son said he'll pass on seeking his dad's former Senate seat in Delaware — the latest in a bad month for the struggling majority party.

January 26, 2010

Biden’s son won’t run for Senate

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., announced Monday morning he will not run for the Senate seat his father used to hold, greatly increasing the odds that Republicans will capture the seat this fall.

January 25, 2010

Virgin Islands land eyed for historic site

The National Park Service hasn't yet decided whether it wants beachfront land in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a new national historic site, but House Democrats for the second time in two weeks will try to push the Park Service to do it, at a potential eventual cost in the tens of millions of dollars.

January 25, 2010