Stephen Dinan

President’s fidelity to oath on autopilot?

One day after Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. helped President Obama bungle the oath of office on Inauguration Day 2009, the president held a do-over at the White House out of "an abundance of caution" over constitutional hiccups.

June 19, 2011

Obama extends National Guard deployment on southern border

President Obama notified Congress Friday he will keep 1,200 National Guard troops on the border for at least another three months, following demands from southwest lawmakers who said there is still work to be done on security.

June 17, 2011

Obama administration changes deportation focus

Under fire for its stepped-up deportation program, the Obama administration said Friday it will take a number of steps intended to focus on criminal aliens and make it less likely illegal immigrants without convictions are deported.

June 17, 2011

Senate strikes at ethanol handout

In a signal that austerity is now the prevailing attitude on Capitol Hill, the Senate voted Thursday to end billions of dollars in annual tax credits for blended ethanol — a once-sacrosanct program that has fallen victim to troubled government finances.

June 16, 2011

Objecting ATF agents ‘told to fall in line’

Federal agents testified to Congress on Wednesday that their superiors told them to stand down and watch as weapons flowed from gun dealers in Arizona to criminals and violent drug cartels in Mexico part of a now-discredited operation designed to catch gunrunners.

June 15, 2011

Lawmakers sue to end U.S. role in Libya fight

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers went to court Wednesday to try to stop President Obama's troop deployment to Libya, saying it violates the law, but the White House submitted a report to Congress arguing that it is adhering to the War Powers Resolution because it is not actually engaged in "hostilities."

June 15, 2011

Kucinich demands international court probe of Libya mission

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, who on Wednesday went to a U.S. court in an effort to stop President Obama's troop deployment in Libya, also has told the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to look into whether NATO's bombing campaign has broken international law.

June 15, 2011

Senate preserves ethanol subsidy, for now

The Senate voted Tuesday to preserve billions of dollars in government subsidies for ethanol in a vote that showed senators are not yet ready to undo the corporate handouts that have proliferated throughout the tax code in recent decades.

June 14, 2011

Boehner gives Obama Friday deadline on Libya

Stepping up a simmering constitutional conflict, House Speaker John A. Boehner warned President Obama on Tuesday that unless he gets authorization from Congress for his military deployment in Libya, he will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution.

June 14, 2011

CBO: ‘Great deal of the pain’ of downturn still to come

Congress' official scorekeeper said Tuesday that the United States will continue to see slow economic growth for the next several years as job openings and a lack of demand for goods and services continue to block a speedier rebound.

June 14, 2011

Ethanol vote to set off GOP subsidy battles

A long-simmering fight among Republicans will burst onto the public stage Tuesday when the Senate votes on eliminating government subsidies for ethanol producers — the first skirmish in what is expected to be a much bigger war over tax breaks, carve-outs and other taxpayer funding that boosts U.S. businesses and can fund American jobs.

June 13, 2011

Weiner asks for leave from House as pressure to resign grows

Amid reports of an expanding official investigation into his online habits, top House Democrats on Saturday called on Rep. Anthony Weiner — but he reportedly said he will instead take a leave of absence and seek treatment.

June 11, 2011

Romney runs in front; Dems try trip-ups

In the past month, Mitt Romney has delivered a widely panned defense of the health care legislation he signed as governor of Massachusetts and been the constant target of national Democratic attacks -- and also has seen his poll numbers rise and his status solidified as the best-positioned candidate to win the GOP nomination and take on President Obama.

June 9, 2011

Judges seem receptive to health care challenge

President Obama's health care law received a chilly reception Wednesday from a federal appeals court that seemed wary of approving a major expansion of government coercion over the economic activity of millions of Americans.

June 8, 2011

Government tax revenue growing in 2011

The job market still may be struggling, but wages and salaries are improving, and that helped shrink the federal deficit to $59 billion for May, according to the Congressional Budget Office — the lowest deficit in five years for that month.

June 7, 2011

States balk at illegals program

Massachusetts announced Monday that it will refuse to join the federal government's Secure Communities initiative, becoming the latest state to balk at the Obama administration's key anti-illegal immigration program designed to target gang members and violent felons for deportation.

June 6, 2011

Weiner remorseful, but not resigning

Admitting he lied to the public after being caught sending a lewd photo of himself in underwear to a college student, Rep. Anthony D. Weiner on Monday acknowledged making "terrible mistakes," but said he wouldn't step down from Congress.

June 6, 2011

British, French forces launch new air attacks on troops of Gadhafi

British and French forces launched new air attacks Sunday on Col. Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan forces - two days after Congress expressed growing impatience with President Obama's decision to involve the U.S. in the conflict.

June 5, 2011

Bipartisan Congress rebuffs Obama on Libya mission

Crossing party lines to deliver a stunning rebuke to the commander in chief, the vast majority of the House voted Friday for resolutions telling President Obama he has broken the constitutional chain of authority by committing U.S. troops to the international military mission in Libya.

June 3, 2011

U.S. debt rating faces downgrade

Moody's ratings agency warned Thursday that it probably would have to downgrade the U.S. government's debt rating unless the White House and Congress work out a "credible agreement on substantial deficit reduction" by the middle of next month.

June 2, 2011