Stephen Dinan

Fake disability claims cost taypayers billions

Social Security paid out $2 billion in bogus disability claims approved by 44 administrative law judges over the last seven years, the agency's internal auditor said in a report Friday that details some of the problems with fraud in the troubled disability program.

November 16, 2014

House approves Keystone pipeline, setting up final Senate showdown

House lawmakers, in their first major vote since last week's elections, easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring crude oil from Canada to the U.S., sending the bill over to the Senate which will have a major showdown Tuesday.

November 14, 2014

Mitch McConnell rules out govt. shutdown to block Obama immigration moves

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that Republicans could use a spending bill to block President Obama's planned executive action to grant work permits to illegal immigrants, but his Senate counterpart ruled out a government shutdown over it, canceling the one major piece of leverage the GOP has in the fight.

November 13, 2014

Charles Rangel asks court to overturn House censure, blames racism and lack of due process

Rep. Charles Rangel went to a federal appeals court Thursday to try to have his 2010 censure from fellow members of Congress expunged, arguing the committee that investigated him was racist and violated his constitutional rights.

November 13, 2014

Immigration causes Medicaid enrollment spike, report shows

Nearly half the growth of Medicaid enrollment from 2011 to 2013 was due to immigration, according to a new study being released Thursday that argues the generous U.S. immigration system is straining the federal safety net.

November 13, 2014

Terrorists smuggled across U.S. southern border before capture in Texas

Four Turkish men with ties to a U.S.-designated terrorist group were nabbed by Border Patrol agents in Texas after paying $8,000 apiece to be smuggled across the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

November 12, 2014

NSA phone snooping ban set for Senate vote

Senate Democrats took the first steps Wednesday to set a final vote on a bill to halt the National Security Agency's phone snooping, signaling a developing consensus to try to shut down the program before the end of the year.

November 12, 2014

Republican pressure builds to block Obama’s unilateral immigration order

Dozens of House Republicans have signed onto a new letter that insists the GOP include language in the upcoming spending bill to prevent President Obama from taking unilateral action on immigration, escalating a simmering fight between Congress and the White House.

November 12, 2014

Harry Reid vows to cooperate when Dems become Senate minority

Sen. Harry Reid said Wednesday he's seen obstruction from Republicans and has no intention of adopting those tactics when he lands in the minority next year.

November 12, 2014

Illegal immigrants with ‘old’ DUI, ID theft charges spared deportation, lawsuit shows

The Obama administration told federal immigration lawyers to release illegal immigrants with "old" drunken-driving convictions and those found guilty of stealing other people's identities, according to a lawsuit filed by one of the lawyers at the center of the operation.

November 11, 2014

EPA sued over Gina McCarthy’s deleted text messages

A congressional committee chairman demanded an investigation Monday into whether EPA employees are illegally deleting text messages after the agency officially notified the National Archives last month that Administrator Gina McCarthy expunged her phone texts, which are now the subject of a lawsuit.

November 10, 2014

Obama to face immigration foe in incoming Judiciary chairman

President Obama and his administration will face a new pair of scrutinizing eyes next year after Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an oversight maven who has investigated everything from the Fast & Furious gun operation to border security, said Monday he will likely become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year.

November 10, 2014

Loretta Lynch attorney general confirmation likely to wait for Republican Senate

The Senate's top Republicans said this weekend that confirming President Obama's late-season attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch, should be put off until next year when Republicans have control of the chamber, setting up the first lame-duck power struggle with a politically damaged president.

November 9, 2014

Ben Carson leaves Fox News role

Fox News severed ties Friday to Dr. Ben A. Carson, a rising conservative star who is considering running for president in 2016, in what he said was an amicable parting.

November 7, 2014

Immigration agency nepotism ‘pervasive,’ federal investigators find

Top federal immigration officials repeatedly used their agency as a jobs program for their children, nieces and nephews, pressuring colleagues to hire their relatives in what investigators described in a report this week as a "pervasive culture of nepotism and favoritism."

November 6, 2014

Boehner vows House will repeal Obamacare

John A. Boehner promised Thursday the House will vote to repeal Obamacare and warned President Obama not to "poison" chances for cooperation with Congress on immigration by moving unilaterally.

November 6, 2014

Obama dismisses GOP warnings against immigration executive action

Republicans issued stern warnings to President Obama on Wednesday not to act on his own on immigration, but Mr. Obama vowed to plow ahead nonetheless with moves to halt deportations and grant legal status to many illegal immigrants.

November 5, 2014

Alonzo Cushing: Medal of Honor for Civil War hero sparks new battles

Seldom has the Army faced the challenge of staging an award ceremony like the one Thursday, when President Obama is slated to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to distant relatives of 1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing, who died leading the artillery defense that halted Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.

November 5, 2014

Mitch McConnell urged to keep Democrats’ anti-filibuster ‘nuclear option’

Conservative leaders penned a memo to Senate Republicans on Wednesday urging them not to be hasty in undoing Democrats' "nuclear option," directly challenging GOP leader Mitch McConnell and foreshadowing a host of internal battles ahead.

November 5, 2014

Nancy Pelosi vows to stay on as leader

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked her fellow Democrats to keep her on as their leader in the new Congress next year, saying she still has unfinished goals she wants to accomplish.

November 5, 2014