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Articles by Stephen Dinan

President Obama signed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplace executive order, affecting how contractors do business with the federal government. (Associated Press/File)

Federal workers hit record number, but growth slows under Obama

President Obama will set a record for the size of the basic federal workforce, leaving office with more than 1.4 million people collecting government salaries in the civilian agencies in 2017, according to the budget he delivered to Congress on Tuesday.

February 9, 2016
In another blow to the Obama administration's regulatory agenda, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the EPA's regulations limiting carbon emissions. (Associated Press)

Obama carbon emissions rule halted by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court halted the EPA's major anti-global warming initiative late Tuesday evening, dealing a major blow to President Obama's hopes of overseeing a green energy transition in his final year in office.

February 9, 2016
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton campaigns outside a polling place during the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Judge to speed up Hillary Clinton emails

A federal judge told the State Department to speed up the final release of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails, saying the voting public has an interest in seeing them as the primaries are underway.

February 9, 2016
In this March 3, 2015 photo, a person arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is electronically fingerprinted, at their headquarters, in New York, after a series of early-morning raids. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement say an increasing number of cities and counties across the United States are limiting cooperation with the agency and putting its officers in dangerous situations as they track down foreign-born criminals. Instead, more of its force is out on the streets, eating up resources and conducting investigations because cities like New York and states like California have passed legislation that limits many of the detention requests issued by immigration authorities. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) **FILE**

Eight illegal immigrant families released after New Year’s raids

Federal immigration officials have released eight of the families they targeted for deportation raids earlier this year, advocacy groups said Tuesday as they questioned the Obama administration's new get-tough approach on the surge of illegal immigrants from Central America.

February 9, 2016
The Virginia House bill, written by Delegate Robert G. Marshall, Prince William Republican, would allow victims of sanctuary city policies to claim compensation from the state's criminal injuries fund. That bill passed on a 68-29 vote, with three Democrats joining Republicans in approving the bill. (Associated Press)

Virginia lawmakers push to hold sanctuary cities liable for illegal immigrants’ crimes

It's unclear whether any Virginia jurisdictions qualify as sanctuary cities, but the state legislature is determined to make sure none of them stray across the line, with Republican senators and delegates pushing to withhold money from those that refuse to cooperate -- and even considering making them have to pay restitution to those harmed by illegal immigrants within their borders.

February 8, 2016
President Barack Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office with Speaker of the House Boehner, Saturday, August 31, 2013. Vice President Joe Biden listens at right. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Congress snubs Obama’s budget chief, works on own spending plan

The chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees canceled the invitation they issue to the White House budget chief every year to come and explain the new blueprint, saying President Obama's latest plan is going nowhere and there is no need to bother hearing from him.

February 4, 2016
Newly arrived people who were caught in Arizona by the U.S. Border Patrol are initially processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., on Aug. 9, 2012. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obama reinstates ‘catch-and-release’ policy for illegal immigrants

The Obama administration has revived the maligned illegal immigrant "catch-and-release" policy of the Bush years, ordering Border Patrol agents not to bother arresting and deporting many new illegal immigrants, the head of the agents' labor union revealed Thursday.

February 4, 2016
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen answers to the House Oversight Committee at the Capitol in Washington on March 26, 2014, in the panel's continuing probe of whether tea party groups were improperly targeted for increased scrutiny by the government's tax agency. (Associated Press) **FILE**

IRS promises to stop erasing hard drives

The IRS has put an emergency stay on deleting its computer hard drives and devices such as BlackBerrys, with the commissioner saying in a letter to Congress on Wednesday that the agency goofed in deleting a key hard drive last year that was supposed to be preserved as part of a court case.

February 3, 2016
Rubens

VA vows to punish employees after judges void sanctions

The VA insisted Tuesday it will still find a way to punish two employees accused of bilking the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses after federal judges ruled that the department bungled its case against them, restored their full salaries and awarded them backpay.

February 2, 2016
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called the drop "encouraging," but said his department must keep up the pressure on illegal immigrants in order to prevent a relapse. (Associated Press)

Illegal immigrant border surge subsides in January

The tide of illegal immigrant families and unaccompanied children receded in January and Homeland Security claimed a partial victory Tuesday, saying stepped up enforcement has gotten the message back to Central Americans that they shouldn't try to make the trip north.

February 2, 2016