Stephen Dinan

GOP’s second-tier candidates target Romney, Gingrich

Michele Bachmann channeled Herman Cain, Rick Santorum rattled off the geography of Iowa, and Rick Perry stressed his Christianity on Saturday night as the stragglers in the GOP presidential field sought to use the little time left to close the gap with front-runners in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Published December 11, 2011

Senate defeats Democrats’ latest payroll tax cut plan

Republicans on Thursday blocked Democrats' new effort to extend the payroll tax cut into next year in a vote that showed neither side is ready to give ground just yet in a stalemate that threatens to derail the tax cut entirely. Published December 8, 2011

Justice presses jailed agent for $7,000 in fines

Ignoring calls for leniency, the Justice Department has told a jailed former Border Patrol agent it will start docking his commissary account as a way to begin assessing nearly $7,000 in fines, even though a judge told him he wouldn't have to start paying immediately. Published December 7, 2011

Gingrich: John Bolton will be my secretary of state

Newt Gingrich promised conservatives on Tuesday he would ask former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton to be his secretary of state if he's elected president next year, according to several of those who met with him Published December 7, 2011

Feds run deficit for 38th straight month

The federal government ran a $139 billion deficit in November, marking the 38th straight month in the red, according to a preliminary estimate the Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday. Published December 7, 2011

GOP ends truce on judicial hopefuls

Senate Republicans on Tuesday filibustered one of President Obama's appellate court nominees, ending a six-year truce and reigniting one of the bitterest recurring battles on Capitol Hill. Published December 6, 2011

Obama seizes advantage on payroll-tax cut

Republicans are increasingly divided over whether to extend this year's payroll-tax cut into next year, leaving a political opening that President Obama moved to seize Monday by accusing the GOP of ignoring middle-class families' needs and unveiling a White House countdown clock ticking off the seconds until taxes get higher. Published December 5, 2011

U.S. lawmakers push for better treatment of illegal immigrants in Mexico

Already unhappy with the Obama administration's handling of illegal immigrants in the U.S., liberal lawmakers on Friday asked the government to go even further and make American aid to Mexico based on that country treating immigrants better. Published December 3, 2011

Parties’ competing plans to extend payroll-tax cut fail

The Senate late Thursday defeated both Republicans' and Democrats' attempts to extend this year's payroll tax cut into next year in dueling votes that signaled the nearly $1,000-per-family break may be in more peril than previously thought. Published December 1, 2011

Senate OKs sanctions on Iran’s central bank

Saying they were fed up with Chinese and Russian stalling on sanctions, senators on Thursday voted to punish both Iran's central bank and foreign institutions that do business with it — moving further than the Obama administration has been willing to go. Published December 1, 2011

After 207 years, Navy commandos’ wait continues

Navy commandos whose remains have languished in Libya for more than two centuries will have to wait at least a little longer after the Navy on Thursday blocked senators' efforts to have their bodies brought back to the U.S. Published December 1, 2011

White House: New discretionary spending cuts would break debt deal

The White House on Thursday issued a statement saying it views this summer's debt deal as a discretionary spending floor and that it opposes any effort to cut funding beneath that level. Published December 1, 2011

Homeland Security will comply with subpoena

The Obama administration will comply with a subpoena seeking details on illegal immigrants it has come in contact with but failed to deport under its Secure Communities initiative, one of the program's leaders told Congress on Wednesday. Published November 30, 2011

Obama, Congress restore horse-slaughter industry

President Obama earlier this month quietly signed into law a spending bill that restores the American horse-slaughter industry, just a few months after a government investigation said the ban on slaughtering for human consumption was backfiring. Published November 30, 2011

Senate defies threat of veto in terrorist custody vote

Defying a veto threat from President Obama, the Senate voted Tuesday to preserve language that would give the U.S. military a crack at al Qaeda operatives captured in the U.S., even if they are American citizens. Published November 29, 2011

Family: Illegal-immigrant student martyred himself for Dream Act

An illegal-immigrant student in Texas who committed suicide the day after Thanksgiving left letters saying he felt trapped by his lack of opportunities and, according to his family, he "decided to sacrifice himself for the cause." Published November 28, 2011

Senators look to repatriate 1804 commandos of Tripoli

For years, the Navy has been reluctant to reclaim the remains of its first 13 commandos, who perished in a failed raid on Tripoli Harbor in Libya in 1804 — but pressure has been growing in Congress to force them to do just that. Published November 27, 2011

Victims’ revenge: Ponzi targets cheat the taxman

The federal government allows a tax break for investors who get cheated — but most of those who claim the deduction are cheating the IRS itself, according to a new inspector general's report released Wednesday that looked at the surge in fraud in 2008. Published November 23, 2011

Republican hopefuls diverge on immigration, Iran policies

Surging in Republican presidential primary polls, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich used Tuesday night's national security debate in Washington to argue for a potential strike on Iran, a broader Patriot Act and the granting of legal status to many illegals in the U.S. as a way to regain control of the immigration system. Published November 22, 2011

Report blames fires on border crashers

Illegal immigrants started nearly 40 percent of human-caused wildfires along the Arizona and Mexico border between 2006 and 2010, according to a new government report that backs up claims state lawmakers made during this year's catastrophic blazes. Published November 22, 2011