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Articles by Stephen Dinan

This photo taken Nov. 25, 2013 shows microbiologist Heather Carleton pulling up results of Listeria bacteria DNA while demonstrating a whole-genome sequencing machine called a MiSeq in a foodborne disease outbreak lab at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The nation's disease detectives are beginning a program to try to outsmart outbreaks by routinely decoding the DNA of deadly bacteria and viruses. The initial target: Listeria, a kind of bacteria that's the third-leading cause of death from food poisoning, and one that's especially dangerous to pregnant women. Already, the technology has helped to solve a small listeria outbreak that killed one person in California and sickened seven others in Maryland.(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Businesses ask Congress for more ‘high-tech’ visas

It took less than a week for businesses to apply for all 85,000 specialty visas under the government's H-1B program, which is generally used to bring high-tech workers into the country, and the quick pace could be the spark that reignites the immigration debate in Congress this year.

April 7, 2014
Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona Democrat, applauded Congress' bipartisan effort to reverse the planned cuts to Medicare Advantage payments. (Associated Press)

Medicare will see boost, not cuts, in 2014

Bowing to intense election-year pressure from both Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration reversed course Monday and said that rather than cutting Medicare Advantage payments, it will actually boost them next year.

April 7, 2014
President Barack Obama meets with business leaders to discuss immigration reform, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Immigration activists to keep vigil outside White House

Illegal immigrants and their supporters said Thursday they will keep up a continuous vigil outside the White House until President Obama agrees to stop deportations, as they seek to ramp up pressure on the White House.

April 3, 2014
**FILE** Former IRS official Lois Lerner speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 5, 2014, during the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the the agency's targeting of tea party groups, where she invoked her constitutional right not to incriminate herself. (Associated Press)

House GOP sets first vote to hold Lois Lerner in contempt over IRS targeting

House Republicans have scheduled a vote next week to hold Lois G. Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about her role in the Internal Revenue Service's tea party targeting scandal, setting up a major battle over constitutional rights versus Congress' ability to oversee the government.

April 3, 2014
Sen. Tom Coburn (left) says opening up coverage to more veterans could lead to longer wait times for injured and low-income veterans already receiving care, and Sen. Richard Burr (right) is arguing against using spending from the Afghanistan War to pay for additional spending. (Associated Press)

Feds charge money for free reports that can be found on Google

The agency that congressional watchdogs criticized for charging other agencies tens of millions of dollars to buy reports already freely available online is actually charging people to buy the very watchdog report that criticizes it for charging people.

April 3, 2014
Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt told Fox News that states should have the right to decide who can carry concealed weapons. "If the guy wants to enjoy the full benefit of residing in the United States, become a citizen." (Associated Press)

New Mexico’s immigrant ruling to bolster gun rights cases

A federal judge ruled Monday that legal immigrants have the same right to concealed-carry permits as American citizens, in a New Mexico case that gun rights advocates said strengthens their argument that the Second Amendment is a fundamental personal right.

March 31, 2014
**FILE** Cesar Chavez gestures as he speaks during a Los Angeles news conference March 8, 1989. Chavez, the United Farm workers president who staged a life-threatening fast against pesticide use in 1988, said the union's boycott of California table grapes is a success that has forced growers to lower prices and dump fruit they couldn't sell. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Cesar Chavez resolution blocked by GOP

Republicans said they would have allowed a resolution to pass if Democrats had accepted additional language that recognized Chavez supported strict enforcement of immigration laws in order to help protect American workers' wages.

March 31, 2014
Todd Jones, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is slated to testify Wednesday before Congress on Operation Fearless. (Associated Press)

Watchdog: ATF allowed official’s salary double-dip

A former ATF official who approved the botched Fast & Furious gun-running operation was allowed to double-dip on salary with the approval of his supervisors, according to an internal auditor's report that adds to the troubles surrounding the embattled agency.

March 31, 2014
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is confident in the Friday ruling, saying the Constitution gives states the right to determine voter qualifications. (Associated Press)

Civil rights groups appeal voter registration form ruling

Civil rights groups on Friday appealed a federal court decision that said states can require proof of citizenship on their voter registration forms — a ruling the activist groups said runs counter to Supreme Court precedent.

March 30, 2014