The Senate returned the nomination of Peter A. Diamond, an economics professor, to the White House, saying he was too inexperienced for the Federal Reserve board.

The Senate sent back the nomination to the White House on Thursday night, mainly because one unidentified senator objected to Mr. Diamond, 70, a prominent professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for more than four decades.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he is delaying a committee vote on the nuclear arms reduction treaty until mid-September to build bipartisan consensus. A Senate committee Tuesday delayed consideration of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, a sign that the White House and its Senate allies are still struggling to line up Republican votes for the ...

Senate Republicans blocked legislation imposing new restrictions on political activity by special interest groups Tuesday, likely dealing a fatal blow to a drive by the White House and congressional Democrats to rewrite campaign rules in the run-up to the midterm elections.

The US Senate passed the biggest overhaul of financial-industry regulation since the Great Depression, sending a bill inspired by the 2008 credit crisis to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature.Senators voted...