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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2014 file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. A series of trips to Cuba by U.S. lawmakers is in doubt amid questions over the communist government's eagerness or ability to accommodate a surge of new interest and possible investment from the United States. American officials said the Cuban government has pushed off all congressional visits, including one by Pelosi, until at least mid-April. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington said some will go forward in the coming days, but others are postponed. Several members of Congress had planned to go to the island country this month. They included Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, who has proposed ending the U.S. travel embargo of Cuba. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats are fighting for Obama, not illegal immigrants

Senate Democrats' filibuster of a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that would block deportation amnesty is not about the immigration issue but about respecting President Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. Published February 12, 2015

Day laborers, who identified themselves as illegal immigrants looking for work, gather around around a vehicle that stopped at a street corner where illegal immigrants congregate for employers to hire in Dallas on May 31, 2007. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Illegals denied role in defending Obama amnesty in court

Federal Judge Andrew S. Hanen on Wednesday shot down the attempt by three illegal immigrants to intervene in the lawsuit seeking to halt President Obama's temporary deportation amnesty, as all sides await a major ruling in the case. Published February 12, 2015

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, testifying to the House oversight committee, said the White House never asked him or anyone else at the IRS about the potential tax effects of President Obama's amnesty policy. (Associated Press)

IRS to pay back-refunds to illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress on Wednesday that even illegal immigrants who didn't pay taxes will be able to claim back-refunds once they get Social Security numbers under President Obama's temporary deportation amnesty. Published February 11, 2015

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio shakes hands with Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., the Senate sponsor of the Keystone XL pipeline bill, after signing the bill authorizing expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline, Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama has promised to veto the long-stalled legislation. From left are, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Hoeven, Boehner, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Keystone pipeline clears Congress, sets up Obama veto

Congress gave final approval to the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday, setting up the first real veto test of President Obama's tenure in the White House as he and Capitol Hill enter a new era of frayed feelings. Published February 11, 2015

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures during his news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington,Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. Boehner announced that Pope Francis will address a joint session of the US Congress on Sept. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

John Boehner: Obama siding with ‘anarchists’ on Keystone

House Speaker John A. Boehner accused President Obama of "listening to … anarchists" in his threat to veto the bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, ahead of a final vote in Congress later Wednesday on the long-stalled project. Published February 11, 2015

A group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Granjeno, Texas, June 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) ** FILE **

Obama amnesty has feds bracing for illegal immigrant application onslaught

The government expects so many applications for President Obama's new deportation amnesty that it's seeking a contractor just to open the new mail and enter the forms into the system, with plans to operate two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every workday to keep up with the anticipated workload. Published February 10, 2015

The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington is seen here on March 22, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**

IRS knowingly rehired tax cheats, other employees with ‘performance’ issues: Audit

The IRS rehired hundreds of employees who had previous records of bad performance at the agency, including 141 former employees who had botched their own tax returns, and others who had used their positions to peek at private tax information, the agency's inspector general said in a report released Thursday. Published February 5, 2015

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, where she told reporters that she disagrees with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, on his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting the White House. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Nancy Pelosi blasts Netanyahu invitation, won’t commit to attending his speech

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she isn't sure she'll attend Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech next month to a joint session of Congress, saying the invitation was unseemly and that lawmakers have other important things going on that could keep them from going. Published February 5, 2015

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed Tuesday that illegal immigrants granted amnesty from deportation under President Obama's new policies would be able to get extra refunds from the IRS for money they earned while working illegally, as long as they filed returns during those years. (Associated Press)

IRS offers extra tax refunds to illegal immigrants granted amnesty by Obama

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed Tuesday that illegal immigrants granted amnesty from deportation under President Obama's new policies would be able to get extra refunds from the IRS for money they earned while working illegally, as long as they filed returns during those years. Published February 3, 2015

A member of the group Border Dreamers marches in support of a U.S. open border policy. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Obama to host illegal immigrant Dreamers at White House

President Obama will host a half-dozen Dreamers — illegal immigrants here under his temporary deportation amnesty — at the White House on Wednesday as he tries to fight back against Republicans’ efforts to cancel his immigration policies. Published February 3, 2015

Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., center, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., left, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., right, answers questions from reporters following their weekly policy luncheon, at the Capital in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Democrats filibuster DHS spending bill, block GOP on amnesty debate

Senate Democrats filibustered the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday even before it reached the floor for debate, leaving the department in danger of a partial shutdown this month as Congress fights over President Obama's deportation amnesty. Published February 3, 2015

"The president has always shown a penchant for increasing the size of government and increasing the reach of government," said House Committee on the Budget Chairman Tom Price, Georgia Republican. "It's hard to have a government that isn't as regulatory and prescriptive as the president wants without having more people." (Associated Press)

Obama budget calls for largest federal civilian workforce since Cold War

The federal civilian workforce will reach its highest level since the end of the Cold War under the budget President Obama submitted to Congress on Monday, surging by more than 100,000 employees over the next two years as he tries to restock agencies he says have been decimated by GOP-led cuts. Published February 2, 2015

In a Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Obama says he won’t accept budget that doesn’t raise spending

With $3.999 trillion in total spending, more than $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade and a host of controversial new spending, the 2016 budget President Obama submitted Monday amounted to a declaration of political war against Republicans on Capitol Hill, who flatly declared his plans dead. Published February 2, 2015

Newly arrived people who were caught in Arizona by the U.S. Border Patrol are initially processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., on Aug. 9, 2012. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Ariz. sheriff: Illegal immigrant criminals ‘heading to your neighborhoods’

Immigration agents in Arizona are releasing up to 50 illegal immigrants a day with serious criminal records under President Obama's new amnesty, dropping them off at bus stations and they are "heading to your neighborhoods," an Arizona sheriff will testify to Congress on Tuesday. Published February 2, 2015

FILE - In a Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama’s budget will propose an ambitious six-year, $478 billion public works program of highway, bridge and transit upgrades, half of it financed with a one-time mandatory tax on profits that U.S. companies have amassed overseas, White House officials said. Obama will unveil a $4 trillion budget on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Obama to demand GOP fund new amnesties

President Obama will escalate the looming Homeland Security shutdown showdown Monday by traveling to the department's headquarters for a special budget speech, saying more than 100,000 federal employees could be left on the job but without pay if Congress doesn't pass a funding bill by the end of this month. Published February 2, 2015