Stephen Dinan

High court unleashes political ad spending

In a decision with profound implications for the role of money in American campaigns, the Supreme Court gave interest groups, unions and corporations the right to pour money into issue advertising in political races.

January 22, 2010

O’Connor exit set stage for campaign ad ruling

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has either restored fundamental freedom or aided the destruction of American democracy, depending on how you see the Supreme Court's campaign-finance ruling Thursday.

January 22, 2010

Divided court strikes down campaign money restrictions

Interest groups, unions and corporations are now allowed to pay for political ads, a Supreme Court decision that will carry profound implications for money's role in American campaigns.

January 21, 2010

‘Scott Brown’ candidates rising up

As Washington struggled to discern a meaning from Massachusetts' special election, candidates outside the Beltway said one message is clear: Outsider, grass-roots campaigns that tap voters' anger at Washington arrogance will win in 2010.

January 21, 2010

Tough reviews for Obama’s first year

A year ago, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of anti-war protest group Code Pink, was seated on the Capitol's West Front, 100 feet from the inauguration stage, watching Barack Obama be sworn in as president.

January 20, 2010

Social Security rarely uses E-Verify

Despite helping run the government's electronic database designed to weed out illegal-immigrant workers, Social Security failed to run E-Verify checks on its own employees nearly 20 percent of the time.

January 18, 2010

Illegal Haitians get short-term legal status

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday granted an 18-month amnesty to Haitians who were in the U.S. as illegal immigrants or legal visitors at the time of this week's earthquake.

January 16, 2010

Debate on Haitian refugees’ status begins

Americans are already pouring humanitarian aid into Haiti, but the next question for President Obama will be whether to grant temporary legal residence to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and legal visitors from Haiti.

January 15, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wins more spending cuts than Bush

President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled George W. Bush for years.

January 14, 2010

Troops confused, Republicans say

Congressional Republicans just back from a trip to Afghanistan said Tuesday that the Obama administration's approach to the war has confused U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights.

January 13, 2010

GOP: Obama’s Afghan policies confusing

Republican lawmakers just back from Afghanistan say the Obama administration's approach to the war has befuddled U.S. troops, leaving them "dangerously" preoccupied with worrying about captured enemy fighters' rights.

January 12, 2010

Obama in no rush for State of Union

The State of the Union address may be going the way of the NFL's Super Bowl, another January tradition that has become a February fixture.

January 12, 2010

Pro-immigration groups ready to fight

Pro-immigration groups are more united, better-funded and, unlike the last battle in 2007, are ready to fight back against what they say is a wave of hatred from opponents as they gear up for another bruising immigration fight in Congress.

January 11, 2010

Departures called ‘profound loss’ for Senate ‘expertise’

As Sens. Byron L. Dorgan and Christopher J. Dodd announced their retirements this week, their colleagues lamented the years of experience they'll take with them.

January 7, 2010

Dorgan to retire; GOP sees opening

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election this year, becoming the first elected Democratic senator to say he will retire — and creating an opening for Republicans this fall.

January 6, 2010

Making progress on pork busting

Earmarks — the pet projects members of Congress slip into spending bills — have become a symbol of how Washington works and of its worst excesses.

January 5, 2010

‘Historic’ health care bill passes Senate

At the break of dawn on Christmas Eve, Senate Democrats passed their version of health care reform, advancing the issue further than ever before and setting up a potentially rocky reconciliation with the House legislation.

December 25, 2009

Senate passes health care bill in historic vote

UPDATED: The Senate early Christmas Eve morning passed its version of a health care overhaul, advancing the issue further than ever before and setting up a bruising stretch-run early next year to get a final bill to President Obama.

December 24, 2009

Long history of vote-trading on Capitol Hill

UPDATED: As it has come down in history, President Andrew Johnson's narrow escape from being the first president convicted on impeachment charges in 1868 depended on the honorable doings of Sen. Edmund Ross of Kansas.