Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Congress paid $265k in sexual harassment claims over last decade
The numbers are part of a public accounting demanded by leaders after reports of the office being used to hush up accusers who felt they were maltreated by members of Congress Published December 19, 2017
Republican tax bill gimmicks have benefits, but written to game rules, analysts say
The GOP's tax bill is built on gimmicks, experts said. That doesn't mean there aren't real benefits and costs, but the bill was written to game Congress's budget rules, making the legislation lawmakers hope to pass Tuesday only a moderate approximation of what will likely happen. Published December 18, 2017
GSA measures federal government’s property footprint
The federal government owns or leases 5,066 bathrooms, occupying nearly 1.7 million square feet of the government's 1.9 billion feet of total office space. Published December 18, 2017
Judge Tanya Chutkan: Feds must help two illegals get abortions
A federal judge ordered the government on Monday to facilitate two more illegal immigrant girls' efforts to obtain abortions, warning the Trump administration against interfering with the migrants' constitutional rights. Published December 18, 2017
Legalizing ‘Dreamers’ would cost $26 billion: CBO
Legalizing 2 million illegal immigrant "Dreamers" would cost the government $25.9 billion over the next decade, as those now-legal people would claim more tax, education and other benefits they haven't been able to get before, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. Published December 15, 2017
DHS asks allies to do more screening on travelers to U.S.
The Trump administration on Friday tweaked the rules on more than three dozen countries whose citizens don't have to obtain a visa to visit the U.S., demanding they do more to screen people within their own borders before they can travel to America. Published December 15, 2017
Illegal immigration on border surges back to Obama levels
Illegal immigration across the Southwest border has surged back to Obama-era levels, according to the latest data released last week that suggests the gains President Trump made early in his tenure have worn off. Published December 15, 2017
U.S. accuses Iran of being terrorist ‘arsonist’
The Trump administration offered what it called "concrete evidence" Thursday of Iranian complicity in terrorist attacks, including a missile said to have been sent from the Islamic republic to rebels in Yemen, then used in last month's attack on the main civilian airport in Saudi Arabia. Published December 14, 2017
Audit finds DHS maltreating immigrants held in detention
Some Homeland Security employees and contractors subject illegal immigrants awaiting deportation to verbal abuse and disrespect, including interrupting Muslim prayer times and making them wait days for medical care, the department's inspector general said in a report Thursday. Published December 14, 2017
Democrats to reject year-end spending deal as shutdown risk rises
Democrats said Thursday they'll reject a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through January, raising the risks of a shutdown at the end of next week as the two parties battle over whether the Pentagon or domestic spending takes priority. Published December 14, 2017
Kirstjen Nielsen, new DHS chief, says agents cause ‘fear’ in illegals
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen said this week that federal immigration officers can strike fear in local immigrant communities, in what her own officers and agents said was an early misstep for the new department chief. Published December 13, 2017
Dreamers fate unsettled as Republicans offer new spending bill to avoid shutdown
Moving to avert a government shutdown, House Republicans announced a new stopgap spending bill Wednesday that would fully fund the Defense Department for the rest of fiscal year 2018, while keeping other government operations running through Jan. 19. Published December 13, 2017
Brett Talley and Jeff Mateer pulled by Trump after Grassley warning
The White House will cancel two of President Trump's own judicial picks after senators raised questions about heir fitness to serve on the federal courts, lawmakers said Wednesday. Published December 13, 2017
Donald Trump: Tax cuts could show up in paychecks by February
President Trump and congressional Republicans reached a deal Wednesday on a $1.4 trillion tax cut and said that if they can get it signed into law by Christmas, Americans will begin to see more money in their paychecks by February. Published December 13, 2017
Donald Trump blesses 21 percent corporate tax rate, clears way for final tax deal
President Trump said Wednesday he would be willing to accept a 21 percent corporate income tax rate, giving his blessing to what appears to be the crux of an emerging deal on the GOP's tax-cut package. Published December 13, 2017
Chuck Schumer says Donald Trump lacks policy smarts: ‘He doesn’t know the details’
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Wednesday that President Trump is out of his depth in policy discussions. Published December 13, 2017
Dems tell GOP to shelve tax bill after Alabama election loss
Senate Democrats demanded Wednesday that Republicans shelve their plans to vote on a tax-cut bill next week, saying the chamber must wait until after the new year when Sen.-elect Doug Jones will be seated. Published December 13, 2017
Republicans blast Steve Bannon after Roy Moore’s Alabama Senate loss
The GOP establishment in Washington struck back Tuesday against rebel Republicans who pushed Roy Moore as their nominee in Alabama's special Senate election, saying the insurgents cost their party a critical seat at a crucial time. Published December 12, 2017
Immigration chief: Visa lottery used by NYC suspect open to ‘pretty much anybody on the planet’
The diversity visa lottery is "wracked with fraud" and created the conditions for the last two terrorist suspects in both the October and December attacks in New York City to enter the U.S., the government's top legal immigration official said Tuesday. Published December 12, 2017
Schumer declines to back calls for Trump-harassment investigation
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer declined Tuesday to back calls for an investigation into harassment allegations against President Trump, saying he didn't want to weigh in right now. Published December 12, 2017
