Beltway Buzz, March 20, 2026

Mullin It Over. This week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs advanced the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to serve as the next secretary of homeland security. The committee’s 8–7 vote in favor of the nomination broke mostly along party lines, though Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against Mullin’s nomination, while Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) voted for it. Accordingly, the next procedural step in the nomination process will be a confirmation vote on the Senate floor. President Donald Trump nominated Mullin on March 5, 2026, to replace outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem, who is scheduled to step down as homeland security secretary on March 31, 2026.

DOL Joint-Employer Proposal on the Move. On March 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) a proposed rule titled, “Joint Employer Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.” At this stage of the rulemaking process, the proposal is not publicly available, but according to the abstract on OIRA’s website, the proposal “would guide WHD’s enforcement of [Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)] joint employer liability, and help promote greater uniformity among court decisions nationwide.” During the final year of President Trump’s first administration, the DOL issued a regulation for determining joint-employer status under the FLSA, the major portions of which (i.e., the regulation) were vacated by a federal district court. The Biden administration subsequently rescinded the rule in July 2021.

Employer Groups Seek NLRB’s Return to Employee-Focused Representation Process. After the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision striking down a 2023 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that had upended the standard for union representation, on March 12, 2026, thirteen employer associations filed a petition for rulemaking, asking the Board to abrogate the same case. According to the petition, the Board’s 2023 case should be rescinded because it established a representation process that “operates to completely nullify employees’ choice as expressed in a Board-supervised secret-ballot election and does so with no clearly articulated or rational standard for doing so.” The rulemaking petition further requests that the Board promulgate a rule to restore the Board’s long-standing representation process, consistent with Supreme Court of the United States precedent, that emphasizes a preference for secret-ballot elections as the most reliable indicator of employee choice.

The lack of an affirmative third vote on the Board continues to prevent it from reversing Biden-era adjudications, but the Board’s rulemaking powers are not similarly constrained. Thus, rulemakings provide a potential avenue for the Board to rebalance the labor-management policy landscape even with only two affirmative votes.

House Committee Advances Bill to Curb Frivolous ERISA Suits. This week, the House Committee on Education and Workforce approved the “ERISA Litigation Reform Act” (H.R. 6084).The bill responds to the proliferation of meritless and costly prohibited-transaction class action lawsuits filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Plaintiffs’ counsel often engineer these purpose-built lawsuits to extract large settlements from defendants (e.g., an employer ERISA-plan sponsor, a plan service provider, etc.), while class members sometimes receive minimal recoveries. Specifically, the bill responds to a 2025 Supreme Court decision by amending ERISA to require plaintiffs to survive a motion to dismiss to prove that the alleged prohibited transaction they are challenging is not exempt under the statute. The legislation would also automatically pause discovery while the court considers the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Bill Would Exempt Healthcare Workers From $100,000 Visa Fee. This week, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced the “H–1Bs for Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act,” a bill to exempt any individual “who is employed (or has received an offer of employment) in the health care workforce” (as defined in the Affordable Care Act) from President Trump’s proclamation issued on September 19, 2025, “Restriction On Entry Of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers.” The bill would also prohibit any new H-1B-related fees that are not authorized by Congress from being levied against healthcare workers. Proponents of the legislation argue that the $100,000 H-1B fee will negatively affect the delivery of healthcare services, as the industry is already experiencing significant workforce shortages.

PBGC Relaunches Opinion Letters. This week, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) relaunched its opinion letter program. According to the accompanying announcement, “[t]hese opinion letters will provide the Corporation’s views on the meaning of the provisions of Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and their application to individual fact patterns.” The relaunch of the program is consistent with other DOL agencies’ renewed focus on opinion letters.

Friends of Ireland. On March 17, 2026—St. Patrick’s Day—President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson hosted Taoiseach of Ireland, Micheál Martin, for the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon in the U.S. Capitol. The annual tradition dates to 1983, when it was started by President Ronald Reagan and Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. (Since 1987, the event has included the Taoiseach of Ireland.) The Friends of Ireland Luncheon celebrates the long-standing friendship between the United States and Ireland. Indeed, no other foreign country claims as many native sons and daughters—122—who have served in the U.S. Congress. (England is second, but not even close, with 58 members.) This includes current U.S. Representative Sean Casten (D-IL), who was born in Dublin, as well as County Wicklow, Ireland–born Matthew Lyon (1749–1822), later of Vermont and Kentucky, the only member of Congress to win an election while in jail. Several Founding Fathers—Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire, James Smith of Pennsylvania, and George Taylor of Pennsylvania—were born in Ireland and signed the Declaration of Independence. Similarly, Irish-born signatories to the U.S. Constitution included Pierce Butler of South Carolina, James McHenry of Maryland, and Thomas Fitzsimons of Pennsylvania.

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