Stephen Dinan

Union says working during shutdown is unconstitutional

The country's largest federal employees union sued the government Friday, arguing it is unconstitutional to make millions of workers report for duty during a shutdown since there is no guarantee they will be paid later for the time they work. Published April 8, 2011

Shutdown deadline nears

With less than a few hours to go before a government shutdown Friday night, both parties made their last pleas for a spending agreement on their own terms, even as aides said leaders were trying to ready a short-term stopgap spending to try to buy more time. Published April 8, 2011

CBO: Feds run $189 billion deficit in March

The government ran a deficit of $189 billion in March alone, according to preliminary estimates — more than three times the $61 billion in spending cuts that have brought the government to the brink of a shutdown. Published April 7, 2011

Obama vows to veto short-term bill

High-stakes negotiations to head off a government shutdown went down to the wire Thursday night after President Obama rejected a last-minute bid by House Republicans to give the rest of the government a one-week reprieve on a shutdown. Published April 7, 2011

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