Stephen Dinan

Senate’s liberal lion falls to cancer at 77

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a one-time presidential hopeful and nine-term senator who evolved from the overshadowed youngest son to the patriarch of the country's most famous political dynasty, died late Tuesday.

August 27, 2009

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy dies at 77

It boggles the mind to imagine the decisions that were reached behind the closed doors of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's hideaway, the private office he kept near the Senate chamber.

August 26, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: House quietly gives ‘bonuses’ to top aides

Members of the House of Representatives quietly gave their own staffers a potential bonus by making even their top-earning aides eligible for taxpayer dollars to repay their student loans.

August 25, 2009

Fresh fight looms over immigration

With President Obama putting off the immigration reform debate until next year, immigrant rights groups are pushing the administration to suspend tough enforcement practices so illegal immigrants aren't punished under the current system.

August 18, 2009

Pace of stimulus spending plummets

Stimulus bill spending has slowed to a trickle, despite President Obama's June order to his Cabinet to speed it up.

August 14, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: Bill requires doubling nuke use

To satisfy House Democrats' low-cost solution to global warming, Americans would have to double their reliance on nuclear energy by 2030.

August 12, 2009

Obama puts off immigration bill

President Obama said Monday that Congress would not be able to pass an immigration bill until next year, acknowledging that more pressing items on his agenda have crowded out the issue.

August 11, 2009

Prospects dim for Mexican firearms treaty

President Obama's call for the Senate to ratify a hemispheric small-firearms treaty dominated his last visit to Mexico, but in the four months since, both the treaty pledge and the drug violence that prompted it have dropped off the radar - a victim of Congress' full schedule and gun politics.

August 9, 2009

Sotomayor confirmed to Supreme Court

Making history by breaking another color barrier, the Senate on Thursday voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the nation's first Hispanic, third woman and 111th justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

August 7, 2009

3 states scolded for unspent stimulus funds

Florida has done the worst at spending stimulus bill transportation money, with only 2 percent of its available highway construction money being used already, according to a congressional study.

August 7, 2009

Florida lags in using transportation funds

Florida has done the worst at spending stimulus bill transportation money, with only 2 percent of its available highway money being used already on construction projects, according to a congressional study.

August 6, 2009

Senate confirms Sotomayor

Breaking another color barrier, Sonia Sotomayor won overwhelming Senate approval Thursday to become the first Hispanic and third woman justice on the Supreme Court.

August 6, 2009

Fed study: Climate bill spells gloom for jobs

Despite President Obama's prediction that it would create new jobs, the climate change bill passed by the House will mean fewer jobs by 2030 than if Congress did nothing at all, according to the first comprehensive study of the measure by the federal government.

August 5, 2009

Government study: climate bill could cost jobs

Despite President Obama's prediction that it will create new jobs, the global warming bill passed by the House of Representatives will mean fewer jobs by 2030 than if Congress did not act at all, according to the first comprehensive study of the measure by the federal government.

August 4, 2009

Gun foes see new hope with Sotomayor

After years of losing, gun control advocates say this week's vote on confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court will be their long-awaited win that shatters conventional wisdom and proves that the Second Amendment is no longer the unstoppable force of Washington politics.

August 4, 2009

Obama wins spending battle over F-22

President Obama had his biggest spending cuts win Thursday, going toe-to-toe with Congress's biggest defense spenders and forcing them to stop funding an Air Force fighter jet the Pentagon says it doesn't need.

July 31, 2009

Obama loses immigration allies

Three years after President Obama marched alongside Hispanic and immigrant rights activists, they took to the streets Wednesday to march against him, saying he has betrayed them by embracing George W. Bush administration efforts to stem illegal immigration.

July 30, 2009

Oklahomans hit Justice’s meddling on English-only move

Oklahoma's bipartisan congressional delegation this week accused the Obama Justice Department of trying to strong-arm the state into rejecting an English-only referendum by saying it could cost Oklahoma federal funding.

July 30, 2009

Dodd’s ‘grand strategy’ to test Obama’s coattails

The Connecticut Senate race is shaping up as a key test of whether presidential attention can carry Democrats to the election finish line, as embattled Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has taken every opportunity to grasp Barack Obama's coattails.

July 28, 2009

Dictionary adds Hill favorite: ‘Earmark’

In what amounts to another dubious milestone for Congress, "earmarks" - the pork-barrel spending projects loved by lawmakers but hated by those looking to control spending - is now part of the dictionary.

July 20, 2009