Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
U.S. Capitol being evacuated
The U.S. Capitol was reopened Tuesday afternoon after having been evacuated for an hour in an apparent false fire alarm that sent hundreds of workers streaming from the seat of government. Published May 26, 2015
Obama amnesty helps guest-workers and their spouses over laid-off tech workers
Technology workers who say they lost their jobs to immigrant workers lost their bid to halt President Obama's latest guest-worker program after a court ruled Sunday evening that they couldn't prove the new workers would specifically compete with them. Published May 25, 2015
Patriot Act: NSA phone snooping likely to expire after Mitch McConnell gambit backfires
At the end, senators were fighting over the chance to be the ones filibustering the Patriot Act in Saturday morning's dramatic session, underscoring just how unpopular the law is and how difficult a time Republican leaders will have in trying to keep it intact as they race an end-of-month deadline. Published May 24, 2015
Patriot Act powers in danger of expiring after midnight filibusters
The fate of the Patriot Act was hanging by a thread Saturday morning after votes overnight left the Senate stalemated, and with little more than a week to go before key powers of the anti-snooping law expire. Published May 23, 2015
Senate passes free trade bill, House remains bigger hurdle
The first major free trade bill in years is headed for the House, where passage of a bill to grant President Obama powers to conclude a Pacific trade deal faces a stiffer challenge than the one just overcome in the Senate. Published May 22, 2015
Senate ducks punishment for countries that manipulate currency, keeps trade deal on track
The trade agreement survived another hurdle in the Senate on Friday evening when a pro-free trade coalition of Democrats and Republicans rejected provisions requiring the government to investigate and punish other countries' currency manipulation. Published May 22, 2015
Obama bans discrimination by drones
The Obama Justice Department issued new guidelines Friday for how the government should operate drones, including declaring a ban on flying them "to engage in discrimination," ticking off race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and "gender identity" as out of bounds for drone targeting. Published May 22, 2015
Fight over NSA snooping, Patriot Act goes down to wire
Senators on Friday raced their own holiday-imposed deadline for preserving key Patriot Act powers, with Democrats accusing Republican leaders of trying to force a choice between having to back the NSA's controversial bulk collection powers or else letting other wiretapping and lone-wolf terrorism tools expire. Published May 22, 2015
Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi emails released; Gowdy accuses State Dept. of holding back docs
Under pressure from a federal judge and from the press, who'd already obtained many of the emails, the State Department on Friday afternoon finally released the first sliver of former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails showing her communications concerning Benghazi. Published May 22, 2015
Senate averts trade filibuster, delivers big win to Obama in fast-track fight
Braving their party's liberal wing, pro-trade Democrats joined Republicans on Thursday to head off a filibuster and put the Senate on course to approve fast-track trade negotiating powers for President Obama, delivering an impressive win on the White House's biggest domestic priority. Published May 21, 2015
Texas demands Obama prove he’s halted deportation amnesty
Texas asked a federal judge Wednesday to consider imposing a fine on the Obama administration lawyers who misled the court over President Obama's amnesty, filing papers saying the Justice Department is still trying to hide details of how Homeland Security botched the rollout of the program. Published May 21, 2015
Rand Paul ends 10-hour filibuster against Patriot Act, NSA snooping
Sen. Rand Paul concluded his attempted filibuster of the Patriot Act extension just before midnight Wednesday, saying he hoped he'd raised important questions about the government's claims of broad powers to snoop on Americans. Published May 20, 2015
John Boehner: Obama VA has left veterans ‘to die’
House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that the Obama administration hasn't fired enough people in the wake of last year's veterans health-care scandal, and said it's up to the president to come up with a real plan to fix the VA. Published May 20, 2015
Hillary Clinton’s campaign hires illegal immigrant ‘Dreamer’
Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign has hired an illegal immigrant "Dreamer" to work on her 2016 bid, activists said Wednesday, in a move that sees the Democratic front-runner check off yet another wish-list item for Hispanic voters. Published May 20, 2015
NRA: U.S. gun manufacturing soars as Americans worry about security
The American firearms industry is as healthy as ever, seeing an unprecedented surge that has sent production of guns soaring to more than 10.8 million manufactured in 2013 alone — double the total of just three years earlier. Published May 19, 2015
Mitch McConnell’s NSA phone-snooping hopes set for Senate vote
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would schedule a vote this week on a rewrite of the Patriot Act, setting up a final showdown on the NSA's bulk-data programs and putting pressure on civil liberties advocates to muster the 60 votes needed to end the snooping. Published May 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton Benghazi emails prioritized in ‘rolling’ State Department release
A federal judge Tuesday ordered the State Department to speed up release of former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's private emails, giving special priority to the messages on Benghazi -- and Mrs. Clinton said she's eager to see them all quickly made public. Published May 19, 2015
Pentagon waste: $1M spent at strip clubs, casinos
One Navy petty officer managed to spend six times his allotted per diem at strip clubs using his official government travel charge card, according to a new Pentagon audit Tuesday that found Defense Department employees made more than $1 million in bogus charges at strip clubs and casinos in just one year. Published May 19, 2015
House GOPers demand IRS investigate Clinton Foundation
House Republicans on Tuesday demanded the IRS open an investigation into the Clinton Foundation's tax-exempt status, questioning whether the organization has broken faith with its charitable mission by hiding some donations. Published May 19, 2015
Hillary Clinton emails release plan set by State Dept. rejected by judge
A federal judge rejected the State Department's plan to delay posting former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails, instead issuing an order Tuesday insisting the Obama administration release the thousands of messages on a rolling basis -- with the emails related to the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack given priority. Published May 19, 2015
