Stephen Dinan

Coburn: $3 billion wasted by NSF

The Senate's top waste watcher, in a new report Thursday, said taxpayer money has gone to funding jello wrestling in the Antarctic, to testing the exercise ability of shrimp on a treadmill and to a laundry-folding robot - all funded by the National Science Foundation. Published May 26, 2011

Supreme Court OKs Arizona’s business immigration law

In a weighty case with far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an Arizona law that requires all businesses to check to make sure new workers are in the country legally — and in the process signaled the states can have a greater say on immigration issues. Published May 26, 2011

Tax dollars fund shrimp on treadmills, Jell-O wrestling in Antarctica

The Senate's top waste watcher, in a new report Thursday, said taxpayer money has gone to funding jello wrestling in the Antarctic, to testing the exercise ability of shrimp on a treadmill and to a laundry-folding robot - all funded by the National Science Foundation. Published May 26, 2011

N.Y. vote has GOP rethinking Medicare

A day after watching Democrats use Republicans' Medicare plan to score an upset victory in a special congressional election in New York, the GOP regrouped, retooled its message and saw most of its troops rally behind the plan in a key test Senate vote. Published May 25, 2011

Stimulus price tag once again lurches higher

Congress's chief scorekeeper said Wednesday that the price tag on President Obama's stimulus law has risen once again, this time to $830 billion — or more than $40 billion more than first projected. Published May 25, 2011

Stimulus recipients found to be tax cheats

One construction company that won multiple awards of money under President Obama's 2009 stimulus program was delinquent on its federal tax bill to the tune of $700,000, even as a company executive was blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars at casinos. Published May 24, 2011

IRS staff committed tax credit fraud

More than 100 employees of the Internal Revenue Service cheated the government by fraudulently claiming a first-time homebuyer tax credit included in the 2008 and 2009 economic stimulus packages, according to federal investigators. Published May 23, 2011

Senator holds up Salazar’s pay raise over oil drilling

Thanks to a constitutional quirk, Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar makes less than most of his colleagues in President Obama's Cabinet, and a Republican senator says he'll keep it that way, blocking a nearly $20,000 raise for the high-level appointee until the administration approves more deep-water oil drilling. Published May 22, 2011

Interior Secretary Salazar’s pay hike spurs Senate fight

Thanks to a constitutional quirk, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes less than most of his colleagues in President Obama's Cabinet, and a Republican senator says he'll keep it that way, blocking a nearly $20,000 raise for the high-level appointee, until the administration approves more deep-water oil drilling. Published May 20, 2011

GOP’s drilling bill is defeated easily

Republicans' oil drilling bill fell flat in the Senate on Wednesday, unable to garner even the support of all members of the GOP and underscoring the gridlock that prevails in Congress on energy issues. Published May 18, 2011

Senator questions benefits to ‘adult baby’

A key senator has asked the Social Security Administration to investigate how people who live their lives role-playing as "adult babies" are able to get taxpayer-funded disability payments — after one of them was featured on a recent reality TV episode wearing diapers, feeding from a bottle and using an adult-sized crib he built. Published May 17, 2011

Mothers crying over raw milk

Four weeks after the government moved to shut down Amish farmer Dan Allgyer for selling fresh, unpasteurized milk across state lines, angry moms who made up much of his customer base rallied on the Capitol's grounds Monday to demand that Congress rein in the food police. Published May 16, 2011

Federal government hits $14T debt limit

The federal government officially bumped up against its borrowing limit Monday, an unhappy milestone that signals the beginning of a two-month sprint during which Congress and the White House will try to agree on whether to raise the debt ceiling while imposing spending restraints. Published May 16, 2011

Social Security deficits now ‘permanent’

Social Security will run a permanent yearly deficit when looking at the program's tax revenues compared to what it must pay out in benefits, the program's trustees said Friday in a report that found both the outlook for Social Security and Medicare, the two major federal social safety-net programs, have worsened over the last year. Published May 13, 2011

Senators scold oil executives on Hill

With gas prices once again flirting with $4 a gallon nationally, Democratic senators called CEOs from the country's five major oil companies to Congress on Thursday for what has become a regular scolding over their high profits, and said the time has come to end tax breaks the industry enjoys. Published May 12, 2011

Mexican flag casts giant shadow on Obama at border

It's usually a reliable rule of thumb that everything is bigger in Texas, and in the U.S. in general - everything, that is, except for flags. Published May 10, 2011

Obama says border is secure enough to begin legalization

Facing a political gridlock that has doomed immigration legislation for years, President Obama, making his first visit to the border since taking office, turned to activists and immigrant-rights supporters across the country Tuesday and said it's now up to them to force Congress to act. Published May 10, 2011

Obama to keep National Guard on border

President Obama will keep the National Guard on the U.S.-Mexico border past their current June deadline, agreeing to the demand by a number of border lawmakers who say having the military there deters illegal activity. Published May 10, 2011

Democrats hit Obama with gap on illegals

President Obama is pledging border security and pleading for help from Republicans as he steps up his campaign to pass an immigration reform bill, but new polling suggests the rift within his own party is actually deeper than within the GOP on the issue. Published May 9, 2011

Boehner: Spending cuts must outweigh debt increase

Drawing a line on how far Republicans are willing to go in raising the nation's debt limit, House Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that any increase must be accompanied by an even bigger cut in spending. Published May 9, 2011