Stephen Dinan

Congressional staff jobs provide ‘dreamers’ a leg up to citizenship

Two immigrants have gone from illegal to congressional in a matter of months. Published February 4, 2013

Treasury nominee Jack Lew accused of breaking Medicare law by Republicans

Senate Republicans are sending a letter Monday to the White House budget office arguing that President Obama's nominee to be treasury secretary, Jacob "Jack" Lew, was complicit in breaking a Medicare budget law. Published February 4, 2013

Change of strategy for immigration: Reform bill faces full gantlet in the Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's vow last week to put the immigration bill through the regular Senate process of committee hearings and floor amendments may sound inconsequential, but it marks a major shift for the Nevada Democrat. Published February 3, 2013

Congress gets 3½ months to run up debt

Chastened by its last brush with the debt limit, Congress on Thursday approved a waiver allowing the government to run up as much debt as it needs over the next 3½ months — but senators also prodded themselves to finally write a budget for the first time in four years. Published January 31, 2013

Defense secretary nominee Hagel roughed up by friendly fire

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel appears to face an even steeper climb to become the next defense secretary after a rocky confirmation hearing Thursday in which his fellow Republicans blasted him for positions on issues and for what they called his willingness to alter positions "for the sake of political expediency." Published January 31, 2013

Border numbers rise ahead of talks on immigration

Seeking to boost the bipartisan momentum in Congress for tackling immigration reform, President Obama said Tuesday that he now sees "a genuine desire to get this done soon" — but warned that the debate will get more heated in the weeks ahead. Published January 29, 2013

Arrest numbers signal 9 percent jump in illegal immigration in 2012

Even as President Obama travels to Las Vegas Tuesday to call for legalizing illegal immigrants, the latest numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol suggest that the flow across the nation's southwest border jumped by 9 percent last year. Published January 29, 2013

Congress OKs $50B in Sandy aid

Congress on Monday cleared $50 billion in additional Superstorm Sandy relief and reconstruction aid for the Northeast, sending it to President Obama for his signature and bringing the total tab for taxpayers from the storm to $60 billion. Published January 28, 2013

Immigration plan mirrors 2007’s

Powered by the results of the November elections, a bipartisan group of top senators on Monday floated the latest proposal to overhaul the nation's shattered immigration system — but acknowledged they are at the earliest stages of what is a fragile balancing act. Published January 28, 2013

Ruling puts presidential power at risk

The federal appeals court ruling last week finding President Obama abused his recess appointment powers harkened back to a vision of the Constitution that many thought long dead, and could upend decades of practice by Republicans and Democrats. Published January 28, 2013

Sandy relief bill eats up taxes on the rich

Congress is poised to clear the final $50 billion chunk of emergency aid for Superstorm Sandy relief Monday — and in one vote, it will have used up all the new tax money President Obama won by raising rates on the wealthy in the "fiscal cliff" deal. Published January 28, 2013

Obama recess appointments unconstitutional

In a case freighted with major constitutional implications, a federal appeals court on Friday overturned President Obama's controversial recess appointments from last year, ruling he abused his powers and acted when the Senate was not actually in a recess. Published January 25, 2013

‘Nuclear option’ averted as Senate leaders reach agreement on filibuster rules

Senate leaders struck a bipartisan agreement Thursday to preserve the chamber's filibuster but which limits how and when the minority party can use it. Published January 24, 2013

Republican strategy switch clears the way for debt hike

Acting well before the deadline and with rare bipartisan unity, the House voted Wednesday to waive the federal debt ceiling for the next four months as Republicans retreated from their insistence that any raising of the ceiling be matched dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts. Published January 23, 2013

GOP reverses course, kicks debt extension down the road

House Republicans backed away from threats of a government shutdown on Wednesday, passing a bill that pushes a debt crisis off until at least the middle of May to give all sides more space to negotiate broader tax and spending deals. Published January 23, 2013

Tying members’ pay to debt limit legal, GOP says

House Republicans will force a vote Wednesday on a plan to stave off a debt-ceiling crisis for three months, but it's the rest of their plan — to hold lawmakers' pay hostage to their ability to pass a budget — that is testing the limits of the Constitution. Published January 22, 2013

Obama uses the Constitution as basis for his aggressive plans

President Obama's appeal for unity in his inaugural address four years ago gave way Monday to a more pointedly aggressive vision of liberalism and social justice, coming from a chief executive who survived his first term's legislative battles and is determined to make his second term consequential. Published January 21, 2013