Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Bonuses for Medicare stretch law, GAO says
Congress' nonpartisan investigators said Wednesday that President Obama is stretching the law to give bonuses to mediocre private Medicare plans - an $8 billion program the auditors already had urged the administration to cancel. Published July 11, 2012
Both parties set to vote on plans for tax-cut extensions
Republicans and Democrats in the Senate both say they're eager to vote on President Obama's plan to extend tax cuts for most Americans and raise rates on the wealthy - but they can't seem to agree on how or when to hold the vote. Published July 11, 2012
Auditors: Obama administration is bending health law
Congress's non-partisan investigators said Wednesday President Obama is stretching the law to give bonuses to mediocre private Medicare plans — an $8 billion program the auditors had already urged the administration to cancel. Published July 11, 2012
Sanctuary cities may be facing legal action
After eviscerating most of Arizona's strict immigration law in court last month, the Obama administration is now considering going after the other side by suing sanctuary cities to force them to cooperate with federal deportation efforts, an agency chief told Congress on Monday. Published July 10, 2012
Social Security’s master list littered with dead people
More than a million dead people are still listed as being alive on Social Security's master list, according to an inspector general's audit released this week that found the agency still recorded hundreds of people as having earned wages — even after they'd been dead for more than a year. Published July 10, 2012
CBO: The wealthy pay 70 percent of taxes
Wealthy Americans earn about 50 percent of all income but pay nearly 70 percent of the federal tax burden, according to the latest analysis Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office — though the agency said the very richest have seen their share of taxes fall the last few years. Published July 10, 2012
Majority backs Arizona on immigration crackdown law
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to uphold Arizona's law allowing police to check the immigration status of those they detain, an overwhelming majority of Americans say they want to see their own states enact the same kinds of laws. Published July 10, 2012
In poll, voters concur with Roberts on ‘tax’
Voters tend to agree with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: The individual mandate at the heart of President Obama's health care law is, in fact, a tax. Published July 9, 2012
Obama loses ground to Romney in key measures of poll
Mitt Romney continues to hold a whisker-thin 1-percentage-point lead over President Obama in a head-to-head election match-up, but the former Massachusetts governor is eating into the president's air of inevitability, according to the latest The Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll released Monday night. Published July 9, 2012
Michigan Republican McCotter quits Congress
Rep. Thad McCotter, one of Congress's quirkiest members, resigned his seat Friday evening, closing out a dismal chapter that had seen him go from one-time, long-shot presidential hopeful to lame-duck congressman who couldn't even file enough valid signatures to run for re-election. Published July 6, 2012
Romney: Jobs figures underscore Obama failure
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Friday that the latest jobs numbers released Friday, showing anemic job growth and an unemployment rate unchanged at 8.2 percent, are the latest proof that President Obama's economic plans have failed the country. Published July 6, 2012
Health care law ‘here to stay,’ president insists
President Obama defiantly insisted Thursday that his health care law is "here to stay" — and so, apparently, is the controversy over whether the massive plan is enforced by a penalty or a tax. Published July 5, 2012
Health care law ‘here to stay,’ president insists
President Obama defiantly insisted Thursday that his health care law is "here to stay" — and so, apparently, is the controversy over whether the massive plan is enforced by a penalty or a tax. Published July 5, 2012
Farm payments hit as report lays out abuse
The federal government paid out $10 billion in direct farm payments over the past decade to farmers who in a given year didn't grow the crop they were being paid to grow, according to a government audit released Tuesday. Published July 3, 2012
Obama’s halt on deportations already under way
Federal immigration authorities have begun granting tentative legal status to illegal immigrants under President Obama's deportation halt — and in some cases are even ignoring the administration's eligibility rules to stop deportations for those who shouldn't qualify, according to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Published July 2, 2012
Romney goes against GOP on ‘tax’ label
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling last week, Republicans on Capitol Hill spent four days laying out an attack on President Obama's health care law as a massive tax increase. Published July 2, 2012
Issa’s secret gunwalking wiretaps revealed in Congressional Record
Rep. Darrell Issa managed to push the details of a secret wiretap application from the botched "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation into the public domain this week when he entered summaries into the Congressional Record, apparently using Congress' protection under the speech and debate clause to get around legal boundaries. Published June 29, 2012
House could arrest Holder with inherent contempt power
Despite voting to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, there's little House Republicans can do in the short term to compel him to turn over documents — unless it wanted to revisit a long-dormant power and arrest him. Published June 28, 2012
Roberts strikes balance with ‘tax’ interpretation
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ignored President Obama's words and thereby found a way to uphold the president's health care law in Thursday's Supreme Court ruling. Published June 28, 2012
House holds Holder in contempt over ‘Fast and Furious’ documents
The House on Thursday cited Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for contempt of Congress in a historic vote weighted with political significance — though it does little to break the stalemate over his decision to withhold documents regarding the Justice Department's actions in a botched gunwalking operation. Published June 28, 2012
