Stephen Dinan

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wins more spending cuts than Bush

President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled George W. Bush for years.

January 14, 2010

Troops confused, Republicans say

Congressional Republicans just back from a trip to Afghanistan said Tuesday that the Obama administration's approach to the war has confused U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights.

January 13, 2010

GOP: Obama’s Afghan policies confusing

Republican lawmakers just back from Afghanistan say the Obama administration's approach to the war has befuddled U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights.

January 12, 2010

Obama in no rush for State of Union

The State of the Union address may be going the way of the NFL's Super Bowl, another January tradition that has become a February fixture.

January 12, 2010

Pro-immigration groups ready to fight

Pro-immigration groups are more united, better-funded and, unlike the last battle in 2007, are ready to fight back against what they say is a wave of hatred from opponents as they gear up for another bruising immigration fight in Congress.

January 11, 2010

Departures called ‘profound loss’ for Senate ‘expertise’

As Sens. Byron L. Dorgan and Christopher J. Dodd announced their retirements this week, their colleagues lamented the years of experience they'll take with them.

January 7, 2010

Dorgan to retire; GOP sees opening

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election this year, becoming the first elected Democratic senator to say he will retire — and creating an opening for Republicans this fall.

January 6, 2010

Making progress on pork busting

Earmarks — the pet projects members of Congress slip into spending bills — have become a symbol of how Washington works and of its worst excesses.

January 5, 2010

‘Historic’ health care bill passes Senate

At the break of dawn on Christmas Eve, Senate Democrats passed their version of health care reform, advancing the issue further than ever before and setting up a potentially rocky reconciliation with the House legislation.

December 25, 2009

Senate passes health care bill in historic vote

UPDATED: The Senate early Christmas Eve morning passed its version of a health care overhaul, advancing the issue further than ever before and setting up a bruising stretch-run early next year to get a final bill to President Obama.

December 24, 2009

Long history of vote-trading on Capitol Hill

UPDATED: As it has come down in history, President Andrew Johnson's narrow escape from being the first president convicted on impeachment charges in 1868 depended on the honorable doings of Sen. Edmund Ross of Kansas.

December 24, 2009

Health bill faces constitutional challenge

With their procedural options in the Senate exhausted, Republicans are looking to the Constitution for a way to fight the Democrats' health care reform bill.

December 23, 2009

Senate clears second hurdle on health care

In a series of votes Tuesday morning, the Senate hurdled another procedural roadblock to health care and remained on track to pass Democrats' bill by Christmas.

December 22, 2009

Defense bill comes at a price for taxpayers

President Obama won most of his spending fights with Congress over the Defense Department this year, but it cost several billion dollars of taxpayers' money to buy legislative peace.

December 22, 2009

Senate passes $636 billion bill for defense

The Senate on Saturday sent the final spending bill of the year, the $636.3 billion defense measure, to President Obama to sign into law, setting the stage for a stretch run to try to pass health care reform by Christmas.

December 20, 2009

Senate sends Pentagon budget bill to Obama

The Senate on Saturday sent the final spending bill for fiscal year 2010, the $636.3 billion defense spending bill, to President Obama to sign into law, setting the stage for a stretch run to try to pass health care.

December 19, 2009

Dems block GOP’s defense bill filibuster

The Senate early Friday headed off a Republican filibuster on the final spending bill of the year, clearing the way both for the bill's passage and for the final endgame on a health care bill.

December 19, 2009

Spending earmark sends $100,000 grant to wrong coast

When he earmarked $100,000 in taxpayer spending to go to Jamestown's library, Rep. James E. Clyburn meant for it to go to the library in Jamestown, S.C., which is in his district.

December 18, 2009

Senate heads off filibuster on defense bill

The Senate early Friday headed off a Republican filibuster on the final spending bill of the year, clearing the way both for the bill's passage and for the final end-game on a health care bill.