A false report on AP's hacked Twitter of an attack on the White House caused the Dow to nosedive.

Obama nominated Howard Shelanski for administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a gatekeeper agency for federal regulations.

Financial regulators want to place limits on banks' short-term lending schemes that some worry can take advantage of borrowers.

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A powerful House chairman vowed Thursday to put legislation on President Obama’s desk that would give regulators more power to track prescription drugs.

“I commit today that I will do all that I can to make it happen,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said during a hearing.

Lawmakers on Thursday examined a draft bill from Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) that attempts to address loopholes in the drug supply system and give regulators tools to close them. However, while testing the waters for an electronic tracking system, the draft bill falls short of implementing one.

A Democratic lawmaker says he intends to strengthen “toothless” regulations surrounding plants that process large amounts of dangerous chemicals.

In the wake of a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, that killed 14 people and left hundreds more injured or homeless, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a bill that would make avoiding chemical reporting requirements a federal crime.

“The chemical reporting laws on the books today are toothless and do little to help us protect communities from chemical explosions. Facilities that break the reporting rules today essentially get away with just a warning,” he said.

The blast at the plant last week caused a tremor in the earth equivalent to a 2.1 magnitude earthquake.

Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are pushing to unify the nation's scrambled set of egg regulations.

A bipartisan group led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation in the Senate on Thursday that would provide a single national standard for egg labeling and humane treatment of hens.

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) introduced a companion bill in the House.

Many egg rules are currently set at the state level, and while most are similar, legislatures and voters in six states have enacted their own rules for egg production.

As a result, farmers have to contend with a patchwork of different standards.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Thursday that it would close 16 of its smaller field offices to save money. The downsizing will affect 120 of its 9,300 workers, the department said.

It cites a 2010 presidential memo directing federal agencies to eliminate excess properties and adopt other money-saving efforts, such as consolidating offices and leasing less expensive real estate.

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Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley are calling upon the Obama administration and Congress to clamp down on international “blood money” laundering operations that annually wash well over $1 trillion for drug traffickers and other criminals.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Grassley (R-Iowa), the leaders of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, contend that a combination of regulatory actions in the United States would effectively curtail laundering and, in turn, the drug trade.

“Drug traffickers are motivated by one thing: money,” Feinstein said. “The illicit proceeds from their crimes are blood money, and blood money has no place in our financial system.” 

Sens. Brown and Vitter introduced legislation to require large banks to hold more capital in reserve.