WASHINGTON - The U.S. Treasury said Friday that it took in a rare surplus of $113 billion in April, the largest in five years. Steady economic growth and higher tax rates have boosted the government's tax revenue, keeping this year's annual budget deficit on pace to be the smallest since 2008. A smaller deficit is also likely to give negotiators more time to work out a deal on raising the nation's borrowing limit. Through the first seven months of the budget year, the deficit was $488 billion. That's lower than last year's deficit of $720 billion over the same period.

WASHINGTON - The GOP-controlled House voted Thursday to make sure U.S. bondholders and people on Social Security get paid if the government hits its borrowing limit. The move comes as Republicans grapple with the hot-potato issue of raising the government's borrowing limit later this year, one of the few must-do items on a dysfunctional Washington's agenda this year. The legislation is a nonstarter with Democrats controlling the rest of Washington and is likely to be an afterthought when the debt limit debate turn serious this summer or fall.

By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to give states the power to enforce their sales tax laws on online purchases, but the legislation faces a tougher fight in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 69 to 27 to back the measure, which pits brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and cash-hungry state governments against such Web retailers as eBay Inc and Republicans wary of new tax measures.

WASHINGTON - The new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission says she will review the agency's policy of letting companies and individuals settle charges without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Mary Jo White defended the policy at a budget hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, saying it has enabled the government to quickly return money to investors without a trial. But White, who became chairman in April, told the panel she is reviewing it with the agency's enforcement division to be certain.