Stephen Dinan

Obama: U.N. can’t impose Mideast peace

Struggling to head off a divisive showdown on Palestinian statehood at the U.N. later this week, President Obama on Wednesday told the world body there can be "no shortcut" to peace in the Middle East and called on other countries to insist both sides negotiate a solution rather than have it imposed by the international community.

September 21, 2011

Obama: Libya is international model

Libya's transition provides lessons for how to proceed in the future, President Obama said.

September 20, 2011

Obama ties Medicare cuts to tax hikes on the rich

Seeking to put his stamp on deficit-reduction talks, President Obama on Monday said he will veto any debt plan that cuts Medicare benefits without also imposing higher taxes on the wealthy, and he embraced a broad call that all millionaires be made to pay an effective higher tax rate on income than middle-class families do.

September 19, 2011

Obama calls for broad tax increases

President Obama on Monday proposed a deficit reduction plan that calls for about $3 in new tax increases for every dollar in additional spending cuts as he seeks to put his imprint on the ongoing talks with Congress over reducing the government's staggering debt.

September 18, 2011

Patent bill signing caps week of bipartisan deals

Capping a rare week of bipartisanship in Washington, President Obama on Friday signed into law a measure that is designed to revamp the way patents are won in the U.S., and which its backers said could spur creation of jobs.

September 16, 2011

Senate OKs stopgap funding for highways and FAA

In a flurry of bipartisan cooperation late Thursday, the Senate cleared a $7 billion bill to boost federal disaster funding and measures to keep the Federal Aviation Administration and federal highway spending going for the rest of this year, as lawmakers brushed aside conservatives' concerns over the deficit.

September 15, 2011

Boehner advocates rewrite of tax code

House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday ruled out tax increases as an option for the deficit supercommittee, but in a broad speech laying out his goals for Congress, he urged the 12-member panel to lay the groundwork for a full rewrite of the U.S. tax code.

September 15, 2011

Nationwide use of E-Verify goes before committee

After months on the back burner, the immigration issue returns to the political forefront Thursday when House Republicans take the first steps to require all businesses to verify their employees' work status electronically.

September 14, 2011

Budget director cuts time for supercommittee to reduce deficit

Congress' chief scorekeeper effectively shortened the window for the new deficit supercommittee to reach a deal, saying Tuesday that if lawmakers are going to meet their Thanksgiving deadline, his office will need to see an agreement at the beginning of November.

September 13, 2011

Jobs plan paid for as Obama says, but with tax hikes in future

At its root, President Obama's jobs stimulus plan pays for spending and tax cuts now by promising tax increases that wouldn't kick in until 2013 — after next year's elections — and would last through the rest of the decade.

September 12, 2011

House chairman: Obama uncle’s got ‘backdoor amnesty’

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Friday that President Obama's half-uncle, an illegal immigrant who was picked up but has reportedly been released from jail, appears to have benefited from the new "backdoor amnesty" the administration announced last month.

September 9, 2011

Feds’ deficit streak hits 35 months

The federal government ran a $132 billion deficit in August, marking a record 35th straight month in the red, according to preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

September 8, 2011

Perry vs. Paul: A Texas-sized war

The scrap between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney may have gotten more attention in Wednesday's presidential candidates debate, but it was tame compared to the dust-up between Mr. Perry and Rep. Ron Paul, two Texans who apparently have spent plenty of time digging up dirt on each other and aren't afraid to use it.

September 8, 2011

In wide field, it’s Romney vs. Perry

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry wasted little time in going straight at each other Wednesday night, sparring over whether the former's business experience or the latter's decade as governor of Texas is better training for boosting jobs as the occupant of the White House.

September 7, 2011

Romney predicts 4% growth, 11.5M jobs

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Tuesday for deeper discretionary spending cuts and a broad rewrite of the relationship between businesses and Washington, saying he will lead the country to 4 percent annual growth and create 11.5 million jobs.

September 6, 2011

Hopefuls court tea party at S.C. forum

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised Monday to support repeal of a full range of financial-regulation legislation enacted over the past few decades as he sought to woo conservative and tea party voters in South Carolina, and pledged that his vice-presidential pick would be pro-life.

September 5, 2011

Academics dub tea partyers devout, racist

Two years after it burst onto the political scene, the tea party is getting a critical eye from political science academics who say the movement generally is populated by knowledgeable and religiously devout voters, but they are hypocritical and more likely to be motivated by "racial resentment."

September 4, 2011

Dark-cloud financial forecast precedes president’s speech

Ahead of President Obama's major speech next week, his administration on Thursday released a gloomy picture of the government's finances that shows that even with the deficit supercommittee's action, the government will pile up nearly $10 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

September 1, 2011

Two senators riled by EPA payouts in lawsuits

A new government watchdog report says environmental lawyers have collected millions of dollars in lawyers' fees from taxpayers by suing and winning cases against the Environmental Protection Agency.

August 31, 2011

Napolitano wants National Guard to stay on Mexican border

Funding for National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexico border runs out in another month, but Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday she would like to see them stay there — if Congress or the Defense Department can find the money.

August 30, 2011