Stephen Dinan

IRS’ Anaheim trip far from costliest; two agency officials placed on leave

While it's getting the most attention, the $4.1 million IRS conference in California in 2010 that has Congress up in arms isn't even the costliest event the tax agency hosted over the last few years. Published June 5, 2013

TSA screenings lack objectivity, probe finds

The TSA's program to let agents pick out people for closer screening based on the agents' observation fails to meet basic standards of training of objectivity, according to a report released Wednesday by the agency's auditor. Published June 5, 2013

Senate immigration bill could double guest workers

The Senate immigration bill could nearly double the number of guest workers allowed into the U.S., according to a new analysis the Center for Immigration Studies is releasing Wednesday that says the jump is four times the increase of the last immigration bill in 2007. Published June 5, 2013

IRS spent $4.1M on California junket

Already reeling after admitting it unfairly targeted conservatives, the IRS suffered a new setback Tuesday when its internal auditor released a report showing the agency spent $4.1 million on a lavish conference in California in 2010, including two free drinks for every attendee, and upgrades to suites for more than 100 employees. Published June 4, 2013

Obama challenges Senate with judicial picks

A combative President Obama declared open warfare Tuesday on Senate Republicans over judicial nominations, naming three candidates to the influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and blasting GOP lawmakers for delaying and blocking previous nominees. Published June 4, 2013

Sen. Marco Rubio: Immigration bill does not have votes to pass

Sen. Marco Rubio said Tuesday that there aren't 60 votes to pass the immigration bill he wrote and that the Senate will have to embrace even stiffer enforcement in order to win voters' confidence and sway lawmakers reluctant to repeat the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty. Published June 4, 2013

IRS acting chief Danny Werfel vows to fix ‘trust’ in agency

The new Internal Revenue Service chief said Monday that his agency broke trust with the American people, and he vowed a speedy investigation to expose who approved the program that led to conservative groups being subjected to unwarranted questions while finding out if any other offices have engaged in similar political targeting. Published June 3, 2013

Sen. Marco Rubio: Immigration bill needs ‘improvements’ to pass

Sen. Marco Rubio has told his constituents that the immigration bill he helped write is not yet good enough and that there will have to be "improvements" if it is to pass. Published June 3, 2013

Newly released emails show EPA director’s extensive use of fictional alter ego

Richard Windsor never existed at the EPA, but the agency awarded the fictional staffer’s email account certificates proving he had mastered all of the agency’s technology training — including declaring him a “scholar of ethical behavior,” according to documents disclosed late last week. Published June 2, 2013

IRS audits moderate group with GOP ties; Issa says scrutiny known in D.C.

Two weeks before news broke that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny of their tax-exempt applications, a moderate GOP organization received word it was being audited — a move its organizers said suggests the tax agency's scrutiny included non-tea party political groups. Published June 2, 2013

Congress faces 2016 deadline to save Social Security’s disability program

Social Security ran a cash-flow deficit of $55 billion last year and one of its two trust funds, used to pay disability benefits, will go bust in three years, forcing benefits to be cut by 20 percent unless Congress acts, the program's trustees reported Friday. Published May 31, 2013

Bipartisanship breaks through gridlock on Hill, but divisive battles on spending loom

After four years of crippling partisan gridlock, which intensified in 2011 when the GOP took control of the House and the Senate remained in Democratic hands, both parties have finally found areas of common ground in Congress. Published May 30, 2013

Safety net issue snags reforms to immigration; public balks at benefits for the newly legalized

Much of the fight over illegal immigration isn't about immigration at all, but rather over the generous social safety net that has sprung up in the past five decades, and which has proved to be a major sticking point in voters' minds as Congress contemplates a legalization. Published May 29, 2013

Feds dole out $900 billion in big tax breaks in 2013

The federal government will dole out more than $900 billion in the top 10 tax breaks this year, according to a report Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office that found the benefits go disproportionately to the poor and the rich. Published May 29, 2013

Conservative groups sue IRS, Eric Holder for ‘unlawful targeting’ of tax forms

More than two dozen conservative groups sued the IRS, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday accusing them of slow-walking approval of the groups’ tax-exempt status and, in some cases, for disclosing private information. Published May 29, 2013

Republican senators join court case against Obama’s recess picks

Senate Republicans on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to hear the case involving President Obama's recess appointments, saying the administration is trying "to confuse and mislead" the justices by downplaying the weighty constitutional issues at stake Published May 28, 2013

GOP lawmakers want Obama to hear out head of ICE union

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a top Republican senator on Thursday told President Obama that he and his aides must meet with immigration law enforcement "whistleblowers" who can expose the flaws in the Senate immigration bill. Published May 24, 2013

Senate OKs judge for D.C. circuit on 97-0 vote

Senators voted 97-0 Thursday to confirm Srikanth Srinivasan to a judgeship on the vitally important U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia after Republicans relented and allowed the vote to go forward this week. Published May 23, 2013

Top Senate investigators: Lerner misled Congress

Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain, who together run the Senate's permanent investigative subcommittee, sent a letter to the IRS on Thursday calling for Lois Lerner, the woman at the center of the agency's conservative-targeting scandal, to be suspended for dereliction of duty. Published May 23, 2013

Boehner: House won’t pass Senate immigration bill

House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday flatly ruled out chances of the House passing the Senate's immigration bill, saying his chamber will debate its own bill instead. Published May 23, 2013