Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Late-night spending talks make progress but yield no deal
Racing a Friday deadline to avert a government shutdown, President Obama met late Wednesday with top congressional negotiators and said afterward that he is "confident" a spending deal can be finalized in time. Published April 6, 2011
Costs of federal shutdown would be felt far and wide
IRS tax audits would be halted in their tracks, this weekend's National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington canceled, and national parks and the Smithsonian shuttered if Congress can't reach agreement on annual spending and the government shuts down at midnight Friday. Published April 6, 2011
Senate fails to curb EPA’s climate authority
President Obama got an implicit green light Wednesday to go ahead with writing new environmental rules to limit greenhouse gases, after the Senate failed to pass any one of four separate proposals designed to tie the administration's hands. Published April 6, 2011
Red tape cut in health care law
Congress on Tuesday revoked the first significant parts of President Obama's health care initiative when the Senate voted overwhelmingly to eliminate a burdensome tax paperwork requirement the law imposes on businesses. Published April 5, 2011
House GOP offers last-minute shutdown reprieve
Seeking to buy more time for spending negotiations to bear fruit, House Republican leaders announced another one-week stop-gap spending bill late Monday night that would cut $12 billion more from 2010 spending levels. Published April 5, 2011
Left seeks foe for Obama in primary
With President Obama officially running for re-election, the call from the left for a primary challenge was gaining steam - though no challenger so far is stepping forward. Published April 4, 2011
GOP vows to stand ground on next major fiscal debates
Congress hasn't even settled the 2011 spending fight and many lawmakers already are looking ahead to the next big battles over raising the country's debt ceiling and the 2012 budget — with top Republicans beginning to draw lines in the sand. Published April 3, 2011
Republicans ask for troops to remain at border
Stepping up the immigration enforcement bidding war, House Republicans last week asked President Obama to extend the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexico border past June 30, when their mission is slated to end. Published April 3, 2011
Obama rejoins spending fight
Wading directly into the spending negotiations on Capitol Hill for the first time in weeks, President Obama on Saturday afternoon called the top Republican and top Democrat in Congress, telling them he supports a deal cutting another $23 billion from last year's spending levels. Published April 2, 2011
DHS: Illegal immigrant students not a target for deportation
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that illegal immigrant students and young adults who meet the criteria in last year's failed legalization bill in Congress are not a "priority" for her department's law enforcement efforts. Published April 1, 2011
Activists fight immigrant roundups
With deportations up under President Obama, immigration rights advocates on Thursday called on him to use executive authority to reduce the number of illegal immigrants being deported, and vowed a city-by-city campaign to press the issue. Published March 31, 2011
Boehner denies spending deal is done
House Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters Thursday that there is no final deal on a spending-cuts number, countering claims by Democrats that all sides have settled on about $33 billion in cuts. Published March 31, 2011
Feds’ praise for medical pot goes up in smoke
For a brief time earlier this month the National Cancer Institute, a branch of the federal government's National Institutes of Health, had posted a webpage touting the possible benefits of marijuana in fighting cancer tumors. But less than two weeks after it went up, the webpage was altered and the approving words stricken. Published March 30, 2011
Spending fight in Senate turns to GOP riders
Democrats said Tuesday that in an effort to find a spending compromise that would keep the government from shutting down April 8, they are willing to look at some of the legislative add-ons House Republicans tacked onto their spending-cuts bill. Published March 29, 2011
White House: ‘No mercy’ is not a doctrine
As President Obama addressed the country Monday to explain his decision 10 days ago to attack Libya, the White House insisted there are no broader axioms to draw from it, and his top advisers said it is not a precedent for what he might do in Syria, Sudan or other situations. Published March 28, 2011
Obama rules out back-door legalization of immigrants
President Obama said Monday that he does not have the power to suspend deportations, putting the nail in a plan some administration officials had explored that could have granted de-facto legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Published March 28, 2011
Little progress as shutdown deadline looms
Congress gave itself a three-week reprieve on a government shutdown, then spent the first 10 days on vacation. Now, lawmakers return with the shutdown deadline once again looming, and a deal seemingly as far away as ever. Published March 27, 2011
Obama wins F-35 engine battle with Congress
The F-35 fighter jet's alternate engine has survived White House veto threats and knock-down congressional budget battles, but on Thursday the Pentagon finally said it is halting spending — delivering a major, albeit short-term, victory to President Obama. Published March 24, 2011
Boehner seeks clarification of goals for Libya mission
With some members of Congress already staging a minor rebellion against President Obama's decision to attack Libya, House Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday blasted the administration for "contradictory" statements and told the president to lay out concrete goals for U.S. action. Published March 23, 2011
Capitol Hill falls silent as Libya war rages
The world is at war, but Washington is eerily empty, devoid of all the power players who normally foster a soul-searching debate when the country goes on the attack. Published March 21, 2011
