Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
House’s 2-week stopgap bill cuts $4 billion
Congress cleared the path Tuesday to avert an end-of-the-week government shutdown as Democrats and Republicans rallied around the GOP's two-week funding bill that cuts $4 billion from 2010 spending levels. Published March 1, 2011
Short-term spending measure likely to be passed
Congress is nearing passage of a short-term spending bill to keep the government from shutting down at the end of this week, but the deal does little to resolve the long-term fight over spending for the rest of 2011 and beyond. Published February 28, 2011
State compacts on health care eyed as end run around Obama
With efforts to repeal the health care law stalling on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers in states across the country are turning to another tool in the Constitution to try to limit the law's reach — interstate compacts. Published February 27, 2011
Government shutdown solution appears near
Congress appeared to be closing in Friday on a short-term spending bill to prevent a government shutdown next week, with House Republicans proposing a two-week extension that would cut $4 billion from last year's spending levels. Published February 25, 2011
Despite looming shutdown, Capitol Hill is a ghost town
With the clock ticking to a March 4 government shutdown, you might imagine the Capitol would be buzzing, with lawmakers seeking to cut deals, make impassioned speeches and do everything they could to strike a deal on spending. You'd be wrong. Published February 24, 2011
Shutdown skedaddle: Congress deserted as deadline looms
With the clock ticking to a March 4 government shutdown, you might imagine the Capitol would be buzzing with lawmakers seeking to cut deals, make impassioned speeches and do everything they could to strike a deal on spending. You'd be wrong. Published February 24, 2011
CBO raises its stimulus cost estimate, again
Congress' chief scorekeeper has again raised the cost estimate of President Obama's two-year-old economic-stimulus program, calculating it will end up costing taxpayers $821 billion — or $34 billion more than originally projected. Published February 23, 2011
CBO raises its stimulus cost estimate, again
Congress' chief scorekeeper has again raised the cost estimate of President Obama's two-year-old economic-stimulus program, calculating it will end up costing taxpayers $821 billion — or $34 billion more than originally projected. Published February 23, 2011
Democrats say GOP cuts jeopardize border security
After watching Republicans use immigration to attack their priorities for the past two years, Democrats are turning the table, saying congressional Republicans' spending-cuts bill would slice money from border fencing and could scuttle much of President Obama's Border Patrol surge. Published February 22, 2011
Democrats counter with cuts of their own
Just hours after House Republicans passed their bill late last week to cut $61 billion from 2010 spending, or what amounts to $100 billion below President Obama's original proposal, Senate Democrats countered with their ante — $41 billion short of Mr. Obama's budget, or essentially a straight spending freeze at the current fiscal year's levels. Published February 21, 2011
In House debate, pet projects euthanized
After more than 100 votes in four days, the lesson from last week's spending debate in the House is that nobody's pet projects are safe anymore. Published February 20, 2011
House GOP pushes through historic spending cuts
Flexing their new large majority in the House, Republicans early Saturday morning pushed through a bill that cuts more than $61 billion from last year's spending levels, setting up a showdown with Senate Democrats, who have vowed to block it, and President Obama, who has said he'll veto it. Published February 19, 2011
Lawmakers hit limit for size of spending cuts
Drawing a line on how deeply they are willing to cut, a coalition of congressional Democrats and Republicans on Friday shot down an effort to slice another $22 billion from this year's federal spending levels. Published February 18, 2011
Boehner, on spending, gives own ‘Read my lips’ pledge
Making a "read-my-lips" promise, Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that House Republicans will produce a budget this year that reins in entitlements and cuts spending, upping the ante on President Obama, who declined to tackle those long-term fiscal problems in the budget he sent to Congress on Monday. Published February 17, 2011
House breaks old taboos in cutting spree
In the first freewheeling spending debate the House has held in years, Democrats and Republicans teamed up to take on entrenched defense interests and to rewrite a GOP 2011 spending bill to cut about $800 million from NASA and from homeland security research and development, and send the savings to fund local police and firefighters. Published February 16, 2011
House breaks old taboos in cutting spree; Murtha’s project taken off dole
In the first freewheeling spending debate the House has held in years, Democrats and Republicans teamed up to take on entrenched defense interests and to rewrite a GOP 2011 spending bill to cut about $800 million from NASA and from homeland security research and development, and send the savings to fund local police and firefighters. Published February 16, 2011
GOP bill zeroes out programs, puts curbs on Obama initiatives
The $60 billion in spending cuts House Republicans sent to their chamber floor Tuesday are more than just budget trims — they mark the beginning of the party's effort to tweak the way the Obama administration has operated during its first two years. Published February 15, 2011
Federal deficit on track for a record this fiscal year
President Obama's budget, released Monday, was conceived as a blueprint for future spending, but it also paints the bleakest picture yet of the current fiscal year, which is on track for a record federal deficit and will see the government's overall debt surpass the size of the total U.S. economy. Published February 14, 2011
Obama says Egypt must reach ‘genuine democracy’
Calling the upheaval in Cairo a chance "to witness history taking place," President Obama on Friday said Egypt now has an obligation to follow through to full democracy now that President Hosni Mubarak has ceded power and fled the city. Published February 11, 2011
Book: Lincoln sought to deport freed slaves
The Great Emancipator was almost the Great Colonizer: Newly released documents show that to a greater degree than historians had previously known, President Lincoln laid the groundwork to ship freed slaves overseas to help prevent racial strife in the U.S. Published February 9, 2011
