Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Lawmakers ‘cringe’ at Senate’s pork-laden spending deal
The debt deal reopening the federal government, hurriedly written Wednesday afternoon, began to rot in the sunlight Thursday as lawmakers distanced themselves from some of the pork projects and other goodies tossed in to sweeten the bill for lawmakers. Published October 17, 2013
Pelosi on pork project: ‘What difference does it make?’
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday said she can't answer for why pork-barrel items snuck into the debt and spending bill that passed Congress late Thursday, but said the press should stop focusing on that and instead look at the broader debt fight. Published October 17, 2013
The race is already on to avoid another shutdown as budget talks begin
Congress has given itself a several-month reprieve to write a budget, and the four lawmakers charged with doing that said all the right things Thursday morning as they emerged from their first informal meeting. Published October 17, 2013
Congress agrees to end shutdown
Moving with stunning speed, Congress voted Wednesday to end the 16-day government shutdown and avert the potential for the first major debt default in U.S. history in a deal that gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare. Published October 16, 2013
GOP skeptical Obama will negotiate on immigration
Now that a temporary solution to the partial government shutdown and debt limit are at hand, President Obama says immigration is next, but House Republicans said that's not likely. Published October 16, 2013
Female protester interrupts House shutdown vote
A protester got onto the House floor in the middle of the key vote to end the government shutdown Wednesday night, and even managed to get to the clerk's rostrum. Published October 16, 2013
Back in business: Obamacare undented as shutdown ends, debt default avoided
The end of the 16 day government shutdown and a deal to avoid the first major debt default in U.S. history gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare. Published October 16, 2013
Senate passes budget deal; bill heads to House
Congress was racing Wednesday night to approve legislation ending the 16-day-old government shutdown and avert the potential for the first major debt default in U.S. history in a deal that gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare. Published October 16, 2013
Stopgap bill approves $3 billion of pork spending
Buried inside the new stopgap spending bill are several pork project goodies, including nearly quadrupling the maximum price of a dam project on the Ohio River that is turning into a boondoggle — up to nearly $3 billion. Published October 16, 2013
Boehner says House will accept debt deal
House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that he and his fellow Republicans in the lower chamber won't block the debt deal Senate leaders reached earlier in the day. Published October 16, 2013
GOP looks ahead to next fight: Sequesters
The ink on the final debt and spending agreement hadn't even dried and Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republicans' leader, was already drawing a red line around the next fight: budget sequesters. Published October 16, 2013
Senate leaders announce agreement to end shutdown, raise debt
Top senators struck a deal Wednesday to reopen the government and extend the federal government's borrowing authority into next year and both sides of the Capitol are hoping for quick action to reassure nervous financial markets eyeing a Thursday deadline set by the Treasury Department. Published October 16, 2013
Park Service director blames threat of terrorism for closing Mall during shutdown
The National Park Service director told Congress on Wednesday that he had to shut down the open-air memorials on the Mall during the government shutdown because of terrorism, saying that closing them was the only way to protect them "in a post-9/11 world." Published October 16, 2013
House conservatives sabotage Boehner plan to end shutdown
Conservatives in the House sabotaged Speaker John A. Boehner's plan Tuesday to dent Obamacare while reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling, leaving senators scrambling to kick-start their own deal before Thursday's deadline for a potential default. Published October 15, 2013
Park Service director must face House questioning on shutdowns
House lawmakers will get a chance Wednesday to grill the National Park Service about its decision to barricade the World War II Memorial and iconic national parks, including the Grand Canyon, at the beginning of the government shutdown — though they had to subpoena the Park Service director to get him to attend. Published October 15, 2013
Supreme Court justices’ comments seem to favor Michigan affirmative action ban
The Supreme Court appeared eager during oral arguments Tuesday to uphold a Michigan ban on affirmative action, with the justices even considering whether they would need to overrule previous precedents to make sure the state's color-blind school admissions requirement can remain in place. Published October 15, 2013
John Boehner finds himself both the object of fury and sympathy on Hill
No matter what budget agreement is eventually reached, House Speaker John A. Boehner is likely to fall short of his own debt-deal red line: that every dollar in new borrowing authority be matched by a dollar's worth of spending cuts. Published October 15, 2013
House GOP to push Obama, Biden into Obamacare
House Republicans on Tuesday narrowed their attack on Obamacare to the issue of fairness, insisting that President Obama and his top political appointees all have to buy their insurance through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges as part of a new bill to end the government shutdown and extend the federal debt ceiling. Published October 15, 2013
House GOP unity breaks down over latest shutdown offer
House Republican leaders were searching for votes Tuesday to pass a debt increase and stopgap spending bill, facing a rebellion within their own ranks from lawmakers who felt their latest proposal to make two small dents in Obamacare wasn't enough of a victory. Published October 15, 2013
Illegals in Arizona fight deportations, call on Obama to halt removals
Immigrant-rights advocates' protests against President Obama spread Monday to Phoenix, where demonstrators shut down the federal government's main detention facility in the city and demanded the administration halt all deportations. Published October 14, 2013
