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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Sens. John McCain (left) and Marco Rubio (right), and Sen. Lindsey Graham — who all collaborated with Mr. Obama and Democrats last year to pass a broad legalization bill in the Senate — said in a letter that the president lacks the legal authority to act on his own. (Associated Press)

Obama warned against illegal immigrant amnesty executive action

Three of President Obama's GOP partners on immigration warned him Thursday not to try to act on his own to grant legal status to illegal immigrants, saying the border is not yet secure enough from either illegal immigration or potential terrorist threats.

October 30, 2014
Detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at the  Karnes County Residential Center,  a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border, in Karnes City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Illegal immigrant children get tilapia farm, guitar lessons, miniature ponies

One of the contractors housing some of the surge of illegal immigrant children from this summer offers them a petting zoo with miniature ponies, a Tilapia fish-farm operation and guitar lessons, according to documents releasedThursday by a senator who questioned whether the plush accommodations were a good use of taxpayers' money.

October 30, 2014
In this Sept. 5 file photo, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine agent looks for signs along trail while on patrol near the Texas-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Rubio, McCain tell Obama border security trumps legalization

Three of President Obama's GOP partners on immigration warned him Thursday not to try to act on his own to grant tentative legal status to illegal immigrants, saying the border is not yet secure enough from both illegal immigration and potential terrorist threats.

October 30, 2014
Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, is taking to task those veterans who are abusing the government benefits system. He said veterans' benefit programs need to be streamlined to avoid duplicate payments. (Associated Press)

Veterans caught triple-dipping on benefits

One veteran on disability collected nearly $210,000 in benefits in 2013, while another earned more than $122,000 — nearly three times what his actual military pay would have been — according to a watchdog report being released Thursday that found tens of thousands of veterans are triple-dipping on disability.

October 30, 2014
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat (Associated Press) **FILE**

Harry Reid warns of impeachment fears in fundraising email

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned in a fundraising pitch Wednesday that Republicans could try to impeach and remove President Obama from office if the GOP wins control of the Senate in next week's elections.

October 29, 2014
FILE - In this July 31, 2014 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. After the Federal Reserve began buying $600 billion in U.S. government bonds in November 2010 as part of its expanded quantitative easing program, Boehner argued that the central bank risked creating “hard-to-control” inflation, a weak U.S. dollar and market bubbles. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Boehner: Obama confusing friends and enemies over Israel, Iran

House Speaker John A. Boehner issues a stinging rebuke to President Obama on Wednesday, telling him to get his troops in order after an administration official was quoted calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a wimp, in more colorful language.

October 29, 2014
A hazmat worker looks up while finishing up cleaning outside an apartment building of a hospital worker, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, in Dallas. The Texas health care worker, who was in full protective gear when they provided hospital care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died, has tested positive for the virus and is in stable condition, health officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

State Department plans to bring foreign Ebola patients to U.S.

The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise that the U.S. will be the world's medical backstop.

October 28, 2014
Though Sen. Kay Hagan, North Carolina Democrat, voted last year for the Senate bill that would have legalized most illegal immigrants, the North Carolina Dream Team, a group of "dreamers," young adult immigrants who were brought to the country illegally, said the rest of her record makes her unworthy of Hispanic votes. (Associated Press)

Hispanic vote unclear as border surge clouds immigration politics

Immigrant rights advocates unveiled a campaign billboard in North Carolina on Thursday attacking Democratic Sen. Kay R. Hagan for being too strict on illegal immigrants, raising questions of how Hispanic voters will approach this year's elections.

October 23, 2014
Waste watcher: "The only way to stop wasteful Washington spending is by shining a light on it whenever and wherever it occurs, even if it is in your own state," says Sen. Tom Coburn, who is releasing his last Wastebook before retiring. (Andrew Harik/The Washington Times)

Tom Coburn highlights ridiculous government spending in final Wastebook

This year's Wastebook does not show the $5,210 that the State Department tried to spend on a blowup, human-size foosball field for an embassy in Belize. But the fact that the project isn't in Sen. Tom Coburn's annual report on ridiculous spending choices is probably one of the biggest victories of the report, because it means the State Department canceled the project after the senator's staffers asked about it.

October 22, 2014
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson speaks at the Canadian American Business Council in Ottawa, Ontario, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick) ** FILE **

Ebola-country travelers to be funneled to five airports

The Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday that it will force travelers from three Ebola-outbreak countries to enter the U.S. through the five airports where federal officials are prepared to screen them for the disease, marking the latest tightening of travel restrictions.

October 21, 2014
Soldiers from the 35th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade pack their gear as they prepare for deployment to west Africa to aid against the spread of the Ebola virus in Fort Gordon, Ga., Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/The Augusta Chronicle, Michael Holahan)

Ebola guidelines updated as U.S. struggles to control outbreak

The World Health Organization declared that Nigeria has overcome its Ebola outbreak, giving Africa's most populous country a clean bill of health even as federal officials in the U.S. still struggled to control their own outbreak, releasing new guidelines for health workers late Monday.

October 20, 2014
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., speaks alongside Rob Astorino, New York republican gubernatorial candidate, during a news conference to discuss New York Gov. Andrew Coumo's response to questions about the states preparations against the Ebola virus at Grand Central Station, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Bobby Jindal orders Louisiana to develop Ebola plans

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered state officials Monday to come up with rules governing how some state residents can travel to Ebola-stricken countries, stepping in to fill what he said was a gap left by President Obama's failure to act.

October 20, 2014