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The US Federal Reserve was widely expected to keep its key lending rate at virtually zero percent Tuesday as financial markets look for signals of future monetary policy tightening.

Republican lawmakers came out swinging Monday against President Barack Obama's hard line toward Israel over its controversial plans to expand a settlement in disputed east Jerusalem.

A Democratic leader in the House voiced confidence Monday that his side has the votes necessary to pass the health care reform bill, and may do so as early as this week.

After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.

A reform bill would create a consumer protection bureau within the Federal Reserve to write regulations governing lending transactions, but bank regulators could appeal those regulations if they believe they would affect the health of the banking system.

Communications regulators are unveiling a sweeping proposal to overhaul U.S. broadband policy. Their aim: to bring affordable, high-speed Internet connections to all Americans and make access much faster for people who already have broadband.

Torrential rains and high winds pounded the Northeast for a third day Monday, taking a heavy toll on people and property in a region that only recently restored power or finished digging out from the last of several major winter storms.

Capitol Hill Republicans are crafting hundreds of amendments in hopes of tripping up the health care overhaul if Democrats scrape up the votes needed to resuscitate the long-stalled measure by week's end.

This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes -- nearly $29 billion more.

The White House and Democratic leaders, who express certainty that the House will approve a Senate-passed health care bill, insist the widely-reviled bill won't become law even though President Obama must sign it into law before changes demanded by House lawmakers can be made.