Stephen Dinan

Student loan Web site broken on first day

The government's Web site for handling student loans was broken most of Tuesday — the very day President Obama signed a law putting the government in charge of all subsidized student lending. Published March 31, 2010

Health care votes fuel fundraising pitches

Looking to break out of the pack of Republicans vying to unseat Rep. Bart Stupak in this year's election, Daniel J. "Dan" Benishek set a fundraising goal of $219,000 this month — $1,000 for every vote House Democrats cast for the health care bill. Published March 30, 2010

Democrats politicking like it’s 1994

President Obama has positioned himself in one week for success on health care and the nettlesome issue of gays serving in the military - the big issues that bedeviled and ultimately weakened President Clinton during his first two years in office. Published March 26, 2010

Gas up $1 a gallon on Obama’s watch

Prices have risen $1 since just after Obama took office in January 2009 and are now closing in on the $3 mark, prompting an evaluation of the administration's energy record and calls for the White House to open more U.S. land for oil exploration. Published March 25, 2010

DHS IG: Immigration plan will bury agency

The federal government is not equipped to process the flood of applications from a proposed immigration legalization bill and the agency that would oversee that program won't be ready for "a few years," the office of the Homeland Security Department's inspector general told Congress on Tuesday. Published March 24, 2010

Immigration advocates pressure Obama

Flexing their political muscle, a swell of tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the nation's front yard of the National Mall on Sunday to demand immigration reform move atop the crowded legislative agenda and to warn President Obama and Congress that their patience is running out. Published March 22, 2010

Obama backs plan to legalize illegals

The president gave a thumbs up to the outline of a plan -- being constructed by a Republican and a Democrat -- to legalize illegal immigrants and create a flow of low-skilled foreign workers for the future. Published March 18, 2010

CBO feels crush of health care requests

President Obama's agenda has so overloaded Congress that its legislative gatekeepers - the analysts who score each bill and the auditors who weed out waste and fraud - can't keep up. Published March 18, 2010

Obama team takes heat over unemployment

Bipartisan frustration boiled over on Capitol Hill Tuesday at the Obama administration's inability to bring down the unemployment rate, with one liberal House Democrat telling top administration officials they have shown "no urgency" about fixing the problem. Published March 17, 2010

Senate approves modest earmark cut

Taking its first baby steps to rein in pork-barrel spending, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to rescind old transportation earmarks, though lawmakers also resoundingly defeated a more ambitious effort to ban all earmarks through 2011. Published March 17, 2010

Holder: Bin Laden capture seen unlikely

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. predicted Tuesday Osama bin Laden will never face justice in an American courthouse because he will never be taken alive by U.S. troops. Published March 17, 2010

Holder: Bin Laden won’t be captured alive

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday Osama bin Laden will never be taken alive by U.S. troops. Published March 16, 2010

Temporary foreign workers threaten immigration deal

Among all the other potential pitfalls, the divide over how to handle the future flow of foreign workers, which has bedeviled the immigration issue for years, once again threatens to halt any progress on immigration reform. Published March 16, 2010

GOP names nominees to debt panel

Congressional Republicans named six conservative opponents of tax increases to President Obama's debt commission Friday, and the panel now only awaits House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's picks before it can get started. Published March 12, 2010

With ban, GOP calls duel on earmarks

In a move to break with the GOP's big-spending past, House Republicans voted Thursday to ban members from requesting the pork-barrel spending that directs money to pet projects. Published March 12, 2010

Immigrant rights advocates, poised to rally, pressure Obama

Immigrant rights groups say President Obama has bought himself some breathing space after a tense meeting Thursday, but that the White House will have to show real progress on an immigration bill by March 21 when tens of thousands of immigrant rights marchers are scheduled to rally in Washington. Published March 12, 2010