Government And Institutions

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says it's time to look into the "next generation" of North American free trade.

The House has given final legislative approval to a long-delayed bill to boost energy efficiency, sending the measure to the White House.

America's foremost labor federation is asking Congress to block the "fast track" authority that President Barack Obama seeks to advance trade deals being negotiated with numerous nations.

A group representing Wal-Mart workers is asking labor regulators to go to court to force the discounter to rehire all 2,200 employees affected by the abrupt temporary closing of five stores in four states a week ago.

Cuts to Medicare and the health care law and almost $40 billion in unrequested money for overseas war-fighting operations top the agenda as congressional negotiators meet to begin ironing out a Republican budget blueprint for next year and beyond.

Proposals to kill Ohio's tax on commercial activity, fund absentee-ballot mailings and allow counties to privatize jails are among dozens of revisions that a legislative panel considered Monday as it prepared to put finishing touches on the two-year, $71.5 billion state operating budget.

President Barack Obama has invited Democratic and Republican lawmakers to the White House for a reception thanking them for their work on legislation permanently changing how Medicare pays doctors.

Republican or Democrat, the next president will have the chance to remake the nation's health care overhaul without fighting Congress.

The North Dakota House endorsed a bill Monday that will cut an exemption for oil companies if crude prices continue to slide, in exchange for a lower and permanent flat tax rate.

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is calling for a reshaping of the U.S. financial oversight regime, which he says is splintered and ineffective.

Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated).

Bus and rail commuters on New Jersey Transit would face fare increases for the first time in five years and see some service cuts under proposals released Monday that seek to close an estimated $60 million budget gap.

Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed a bill Monday that would have increased regulations on ride-hailing companies like Uber, a decision that could face an override vote when the Legislature returns from its annual recess April 29.

As oil gushed from BP's ruptured well five years ago and public outrage built by the day, the Obama administration issued a six-month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Five years after the nation's worst offshore oil spill, the industry is working on drilling even further into the risky depths beneath the Gulf of Mexico to tap massive deposits once thought unreachable.

The world's financial leaders see a number of threats facing a global economy still on an uneven road to recovery, with U.S. and European officials worrying that Greece will default on its debt.

Shanghai stocks rose Monday after China's central bank announced a boost for the slowing Chinese economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is urging Greece to reach a deal with its creditors, warning that a default would "create immediate hardship for Greece" and damage the world economy.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage's administration has revoked the city of South Portland's "business friendly" status because of a local ordinance that bans tar sands oil from being exported from the city's harbor.