For the

week
ending
April 7

Venture Capital Rules: The House voted,

Y Y Y Y Y 417-3, to raise from 100 to 250 the number of
investors allowed to join so-called angel
funds before Securities and Exchange
Commission registration rules take effect. A
yes vote was to pass a bill (HR 1219) to spur
investment in start-up firms.
Justice Neil Gorsuch: The Senate
N N confirmed, 54-45, Neil M. Gorsuch, 49, a
federal appeals judge, as a Supreme Court
justice. He fills a vacancy created when
Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016
and kept open since then by Senate
Republicans. A yes vote backed Gorsuch.
`The Nuclear Option: Voting 48-52, the
Y Y Senate changed filibuster rules to set a
simple-majority vote as the bar for advancing
Supreme Court nominees, replacing three-
fifths majorities (usually 60 votes) as the
hurdle. A yes vote was to avert the nuclear
option and retain the 60-vote hurdle.
Filibuster Against Gorsuch: The Senate
N N failed, 55-45, to reach 60 votes for ending a
Democratic filibuster against the Neil Gorsuch
Supreme Court nomination. This prompted
GOP leaders to invoke the nuclear option
and set a simple majority as the bar for
advancing high-court nominees.
KEY VOTES AHEAD 2017 Voterama in Congress www.voterama.biz
When Congress returns from Easter-Passover recess in the week of
April 24, it will take up a massive spending bill to fund agencies and keep
the government in operation after April 28.