Stephen Dinan

Virgin Islands park bill advances

Hours before President Obama urged members of Congress to show spending restraint Wednesday, the House voted to authorize spending as much as $50 million to create a national historic site in the U.S. Virgin Islands on beachfront land the National Park Service isn't yet sure it wants. Published January 28, 2010

Stimulus price tag soars; jobless rate rises

The economic stimulus bill's price tag has risen to $862 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday — a $75 billion jump partly that's a result in part to the fact that, despite the spending, joblessness has risen. Published January 27, 2010

Tab from stimulus program jumps, CBO says

UPDATED: The cost of the president's stimulus plan has jumped another $75 billion, and one reason is that more people are getting unemployment benefits because they've lost jobs the bill was supposed to preserve. Published January 26, 2010

Biden’s son adds to Democrats’ woes

The political environment got worse for Democrats on Monday when Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son said he'll pass on seeking his dad's former Senate seat in Delaware — the latest in a bad month for the struggling majority party. Published January 26, 2010

Biden’s son won’t run for Senate

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., announced Monday morning he will not run for the Senate seat his father used to hold, greatly increasing the odds that Republicans will capture the seat this fall. Published January 25, 2010

Virgin Islands land eyed for historic site

The National Park Service hasn't yet decided whether it wants beachfront land in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a new national historic site, but House Democrats for the second time in two weeks will try to push the Park Service to do it, at a potential eventual cost in the tens of millions of dollars. Published January 25, 2010

High court unleashes political ad spending

In a decision with profound implications for the role of money in American campaigns, the Supreme Court gave interest groups, unions and corporations the right to pour money into issue advertising in political races. Published January 22, 2010

O’Connor exit set stage for campaign ad ruling

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has either restored fundamental freedom or aided the destruction of American democracy, depending on how you see the Supreme Court's campaign-finance ruling Thursday. Published January 22, 2010

Divided court strikes down campaign money restrictions

Interest groups, unions and corporations are now allowed to pay for political ads, a Supreme Court decision that will carry profound implications for money's role in American campaigns. Published January 21, 2010

‘Scott Brown’ candidates rising up

As Washington struggled to discern a meaning from Massachusetts' special election, candidates outside the Beltway said one message is clear: Outsider, grass-roots campaigns that tap voters' anger at Washington arrogance will win in 2010. Published January 21, 2010

Tough reviews for Obama’s first year

A year ago, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of anti-war protest group Code Pink, was seated on the Capitol's West Front, 100 feet from the inauguration stage, watching Barack Obama be sworn in as president. Published January 20, 2010

Social Security rarely uses E-Verify

Despite helping run the government's electronic database designed to weed out illegal-immigrant workers, Social Security failed to run E-Verify checks on its own employees nearly 20 percent of the time. Published January 18, 2010

Illegal Haitians get short-term legal status

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday granted an 18-month amnesty to Haitians who were in the U.S. as illegal immigrants or legal visitors at the time of this week's earthquake. Published January 16, 2010

Debate on Haitian refugees’ status begins

Americans are already pouring humanitarian aid into Haiti, but the next question for President Obama will be whether to grant temporary legal residence to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and legal visitors from Haiti. Published January 15, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wins more spending cuts than Bush

President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled George W. Bush for years. Published January 14, 2010

Troops confused, Republicans say

Congressional Republicans just back from a trip to Afghanistan said Tuesday that the Obama administration's approach to the war has confused U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights. Published January 13, 2010

GOP: Obama’s Afghan policies confusing

Republican lawmakers just back from Afghanistan say the Obama administration's approach to the war has befuddled U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights. Published January 12, 2010

Obama in no rush for State of Union

The State of the Union address may be going the way of the NFL's Super Bowl, another January tradition that has become a February fixture. Published January 12, 2010

Pro-immigration groups ready to fight

Pro-immigration groups are more united, better-funded and, unlike the last battle in 2007, are ready to fight back against what they say is a wave of hatred from opponents as they gear up for another bruising immigration fight in Congress. Published January 11, 2010

Departures called ‘profound loss’ for Senate ‘expertise’

As Sens. Byron L. Dorgan and Christopher J. Dodd announced their retirements this week, their colleagues lamented the years of experience they'll take with them. Published January 7, 2010