The nation's largest group of doctors wants to treat obesity as a disease and limit marketing of energy drinks to children, in a boon to lawmakers pushing for reforms.

The American Medical Association (AMA) voted to adopt the new policies during its annual meeting in Chicago on Wednesday.

The nation’s credit unions are looking to one of the financial industry’s harshest critics as a potential ally in the push for relief from a “regulatory tidal wave” generated in response to the 2008 economic recession.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans told administration officials they’re “troubled” by a recent change to the way agencies calculate benefits from carbon regulations.

The lawmakers say they’re concerned the higher “social cost of carbon” authorized by the Obama administration will be used to justify more aggressive greenhouse gas emission rules.

“This is a significant change to an already highly controversial estimate, and as such requires transparency, open debate, and an adherence to well-understood and previously agreed-upon rules,” the GOP senators, led by committee ranking member David Vitter (R-La.), wrote to agency chiefs at the Energy Department, White House Office of Management and Budget and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a letter publicized Wednesday.

Businesses prefer detailed, comprehensive regulations to shorter and ambiguous ones, according to the nation's top consumer finance watchdog.

More precise regulations prevent unfair competition and give companies clear guidelines for the future, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray said on Wednesday.

"Agencies are sometimes derided for writing long and complicated rules, but the plain truth is that many businesses prefer comprehensive rules that answer more questions up front, leave less terrain undefined and uncertain, and minimize the prospect of protracted and costly litigation," Cordray said, according to prepared remarks.

A group of health and environmental organizations are filing a lawsuit to force the Obama administration to review its standards for smog pollution.

The four groups are looking for the court to set a deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review current limits for ozone, which were set in 2008.

"What we're looking at is getting some answers for people so that we know when we're going to be able to provide, hopefully, what we see as stronger protection for public health," Janice Nolen, assistant vice president for national policy and advocacy at the American Lung Association, told The Hill on Wednesday.

The Justice Department violated its own regulations in its leak investigation, the president of The Associated Press charged Wednesday.

Lawmakers are expressing concerns over a new safety mandate that could cost the railroad industry more than $20 billion, questioning if there are more effective ways to prevent accidents.

The measure, called Positive Train Control (PTC), would send a signal to automatically stop trains that don't slow down when approaching red lights.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is reviewing a petition to reopen its investigation of a 1996 plane crash, officials with the agency confirmed on Wednesday.

The petition asks the agency to revisit its ruling that the crash of now-defunct TWA Airlines Flight 800 in July 1996 was caused by a mid-flight explosion en route from New York to Paris that was sparked by a wiring failure. 

The petition is reportedly being filed by the makers of a new documentary film about the accident and former regulators who were involved in the initial investigation, which killed 230 people.  

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Wednesday announced the formation of a working group to press for greater oversight of compounding pharmacies.

The Working Group on Pharmaceutical Safety comes amid growing scrutiny of state-regulated compounding manufacturers who tailor drugs’ dosages or other properties to fit specific patient needs.