Banks, privacy groups, payment processors and small-business owners are fighting an uphill battle to scuttle a provision requiring the credit card industry to report customer financial data to the Internal Revenue Service.

The proposal requires credit card companies, …

How long does it take for Congress to stray from an anti-earmark diet?

About a year.

After many ethical breaches, prosecutions and new disclosure rules, Congress last year cut back on the appropriations items it added to the president’s budget …

Anheuser-Busch’s rejection of a $46 billion takeover bid last week means there’s a lobbying war brewing here in Washington. You might call it a brewhaha.

The increasingly hostile suitor InBev, a global brewer based in Belgium, has assembled a lobbying force …

Investors and some California state legislators are pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to require full disclosure of the risk that global warming poses to corporations.

The investors’ appeal to federal regulators could get a boost if a …

A push by Democrats for two major overhauls in the food and drug industries could be jeopardized as they encounter industry opposition in the middle of an abbreviated election-year legislative schedule.

At stake are proposals to regulate foreign food …

There are commercials mocking people carrying cash as unhip. There are ATMs in every corner convenience store. Clearly, debit cards have become a way of life for many American consumers.

And, according to consumer rights’ groups, banks and credit unions are …

The term of art is “rifle shot”: That’s what you call it when Congress passes a provision to benefit just one person or company.

And that’s what happened on Monday in a case that could have implications for …

The Air Force has two months to develop a new plan for its top acquisition priority: the purchase of 179 aerial refueling tankers. And there’s no shortage of options.

One would be to quickly call for new bids and correct the …

A perfect storm of $4-plus gasoline, an election year and pressure from President Bush has green lobbyists rushing to their battle stations to thwart renewed efforts to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling.

The House Appropriations Committee …

Sometimes in Washington, stealth is more important than strength.

In recent years, hedge fund managers, who oversee those secretive and lightly regulated pools of billions of dollars of investment capital, have gotten increasingly worried about whether Washington will …