Many business groups praised the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of legislation aimed at lawsuits by so-called "patent trolls." But some fear the legitimate rights of small businesses could be trampled on as Congress rushes to protect companies from bad actors. In recent years, companies across the industry spectrum have found themselves settling patent claims simply because they cannot afford the litigation to fight them, says the sponsor of the legislation. But the National Small Business Association is concerned the bill could put undue burdens on individual inventors, technology startups and innovative small companies. Read more about the issue in the Memphis Business Journal.

The Democratic-controlled Senate today voted 52-48 to eliminate the use of the filibuster against most presidential nominees, the New York Times reports. Democrat leaders moved forward with this option over frustration that Republicans were blocking President Barack Obama's nominees. The most recent incident, according to Business Week, was the filibuster earlier this week that blocked a third nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The new rule will apply only to executive and lower court judicial nominees. Consideration of Supreme Court nominees will still require a 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.

Senator Bob Corker said today that he is joining in as a co-sponsor of a bill that he and 37 other Republican cosponsors say "would provide relief from Obamacare standards for current health care policies, giving Americans the freedom to keep their current health care plans if they so choose." The Chattanoogan has more.

Senate Republicans yesterday blocked President Barack Obama’s picks of Patricia Millett to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Rep. Melvin Watt, D-North Carolina, to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, prompting Democrats to threaten curtailing the GOP's ability to derail nominations. The defeats immediately subjected Democratic leaders to pressure from liberal groups and newer Democratic senators to change Senate rules that let the minority — currently Republicans — force the majority to muster 60 votes on controversial nominations, instead of a simple majority. WKRN News 2 has more from the Associated Press. A Republican-sponsored bill would also eliminate three seats on the D.C. Circuit Court, reducing the total number of authorized judgeships from 11 to eight. Learn more from Gavel Grab.

After the global uproar over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, Congress is beginning to make some legal changes, CNN reports. The Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday approved a bill 11-4 to make some limited changes to the law that governs the NSA's surveillance activities. The proposed changes include requiring the NSA to publicize annually the number of telephone metadata inquiries from the NSA database and the number of times such queries led to an FBI investigation; a limit on the number of people who may authorize such queries; a requirement for a "reasonable articulable suspicion" that someone is associated with international terrorism; and a five-year limit on the retention of the records.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander is cosponsoring a bill to repeal the federal estate tax, the Nashville Business Journal reports. The legislation, introduced by Sen. John Thune (R- South Dakota) in June, is like one passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in April 2012 that will eliminate Tennessee's inheritance tax after 2015. "Nobody should be forced to sell the farm or family-owned small business they've just inherited in order to pay the tax bill," Alexander said in a news release.

Republican state Sen. Lamar Alexander told Fox News yesterday that he is going to introduce a bill next week to “force” the administration to provide answers about the Affordable Care Act rollout. The Chattanoogan reports that the proposal would require the administration to provide weekly reports to Congress andto  states on enrollment, efforts to resolve the site’s technological problems and information about the organizations that have contracted as navigators.

Nashville Democrat Jim Cooper and Gallatin Republican Diane Black, along with dozens of other members of Congress, say they will forgo their salaries during the federal government shutdown, Nashville Public Radio reports. Law mandates they still get paid during the shutdown, while hundreds of thousands of federal workers face furlough. Members of Congress make $174,000 a year, which comes to almost $500 per day, before taxes. Cooper and Black both say they will donate their salaries to charity.

Implacable Republican opposition to Obamacare has Congress once more veering to gridlock, according to the Memphis Daily News. In the House, more than 50 conservatives support tacking a one-year delay in implementing the health care law onto a bill needed to prevent a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1. Although President Barack Obama has already ordered a postponement for businesses, news sources report the President and Democrats will resist any further delay.

In another effort to undo part of the 2010 health care reform law, the House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Diane Black that would bar federal subsidies for people participating in newly created health insurance exchanges until the Obama administration sets up a system to verify if they are eligible. According to the Tennessean, the vote marked the 41st time the GOP-controlled House has tried since 2011 to repeal or delay the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Democratically controlled Senate is not expected to take up Black’s bill, and the president has threatened to veto it if it would pass.