Stephen Dinan

House votes to block NSA snooping through Americans’ emails

Riding a wave of anti-government snooping sentiment, the House voted Thursday to stop the intelligence community from poring over Americans' emails and other data scooped up as part of its dragnet collection.

June 11, 2015

House clears first trade bill, setting stage for Friday showdown

The House cleared the first piece of the complex package of trade bills Thursday, easily approving preferences for Haiti and African countries in a move President Obama and GOP leaders hoped would pave the way for the bigger votes later this week.

June 11, 2015

Jeff Flake takes aim at ‘Jurassic pork’ earmarks

Congress may have banned new earmarks, but one senator said Thursday that federal law is still littered with billions of dollars worth of old earmarks that were never spent -- but still could be if a spendthrift administration decided to do so.

June 11, 2015

Border Patrol sued over immigrant detention conditions

The ACLU and other immigrant rights groups are asking a federal court to clean up Border Patrol detention facilities in Arizona, arguing Wednesday that illegal immigrants are held for too long, kept in cold, smelly cells, starved and denied medical care, and left without toilet paper or beds.

June 10, 2015

Vice Adm. Peter Neffenger, nominee for TSA chief, likely to face ‘inefficiencies’

The man President Obama tapped to head the TSA said travelers may have to face more "inefficiencies" in the short term as the agency has to deal with a 96 percent failure rate in tests of whether screeners could spot weapons and explosives.

June 10, 2015

GOP leaders move to cut immigration out of trade talks

GOP leaders moved to ban President Obama from negotiating global warming policy and changes to U.S. immigration policy in any new trade deal, working feverishly Wednesday to secure final support as they prepare for a Friday showdown on granting the White House fast-track trade authority.

June 10, 2015

Democrats seek budget summit, see possible shutdown

Senate Democrats demanded a new bipartisan budget summit, saying Tuesday that the blueprint the GOP crafted and passed through Congress little more than a month ago is a non-starter that could lead the government into another shutdown.

June 9, 2015

Immigrants with criminal records go free in U.S. because home countries refuse to accept them

Hundreds of Cuban criminals are released onto the streets of the U.S. every year because that nation won't take them back -- even though the Obama administration is trying to broker a more open relationship with the communist island nation.

June 9, 2015

Franken-trade: Deal’s ‘living agreement’ provision takes fire

The secret Pacific trade deal President Obama is negotiating contains a "living agreement" provision that could allow it to change and grow, including eventually roping China into the group of nations involved, according to lawmakers who are demanding more transparency before they give the White House fast-track powers.

June 9, 2015

Jeh Johnson: Illegal immigration lowest since 1972

Illegal immigration across the southwestern border is on pace for the lowest year since 1972, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday, claiming success a year after the surge of illegal immigrant children and families exposed major holes in U.S. policy.

June 8, 2015

Obama derides judge who blocked amnesty

President Obama scoffed at the "individual district court judge" who blocked his deportation amnesty, insisting Monday that he still believes his policy is legal despite repeated legal setbacks and vowing to push ahead where he can on aiding illegal immigrants.

June 8, 2015

Jason Chaffetz, Blake Farenthold assess Mexico border security after drug cartel attack on border

Two top members of Congress headed to the border Sunday to investigate a drug cartel attack on a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter, which raised more concerns about escalating violence spilling north.

June 7, 2015

Paul Ryan, Obama seek House votes for fast-track trade by end-of-month deadline

House Republican leaders Thursday set an end-of-month deadline for passing fast-track trade powers, kicking off an all-out push that will test their surprising alliance with President Obama as they search for the final votes to win a majority.

June 4, 2015

Data breach: Chinese hackers stole 4 million federal employees’ personal information

China-based hackers stole sensitive personal information on as many as 4 million current and former federal employees from government computers, officials said Thursday, underscoring the growing threats to data stored even in what are supposed to be the most secure of systems.

June 4, 2015

John Boehner: U.S. ‘losing ground’ to terrorists

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that the U.S. and its allies are "losing ground" to the terrorists in Iraq and demanded President Obama come up with a better strategy for the fight.

June 4, 2015

TSA chief nominee clears first hurdle

A key Senate panel cleared President Obama's pick to head the TSA on Thursday, moving quickly just days after a report that airport screeners missed most of the contraband weapons investigators tried to sneak by them in tests.

June 4, 2015

Jason Chaffetz presses Mary Howard on IRS on transparency

The House's top investigator vowed Wednesday to bring the IRS to heel after he had to issue a subpoena to compel the agency's top transparency officer to appear before Congress to talk about transparency — a move Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said was embarrassing for the IRS.

June 3, 2015

3,700 illegal immigrant ‘Threat Level 1’ criminals released into U.S. by Homeland Security

Most of the illegal immigrant criminals Homeland Security officials released from custody last year were discretionary, meaning the department could have kept them in detention but chose instead to let them onto the streets as their deportation cases moved through the system, according to new numbers from Congress.

June 3, 2015

IRS finally admits illegals can get back taxes under Obama amnesty

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has confirmed to Congress that illegal immigrants granted amnesty under President Obama's new programs could claim back refunds even when they never filed returns to pay their taxes in the first place.

June 3, 2015

NSA phone program doomed as Senate passes USA Freedom Act

The National Security Agency's phone-snooping program is on its last legs after senators approved the USA Freedom Act Tuesday, rewriting the sweeping Patriot Act to ban bulk collection of Americans' data and adding more transparency checks to the secret court that oversees intelligence gathering in the hopes of heading off future surprises.

June 2, 2015