Beltway Buzz, March 27, 2026

Mullin Confirmed. On March 23, 2026, the U.S. Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as U.S. secretary of homeland security by a vote of 54–45. Democratic Senators John Fetterman (PA) and Martin Heinrich (NM) voted in favor of Mullin, while Rand Paul (KY) was the lone Republican to vote against him. Following the confirmation vote, Mullin, the onetime junior senator from Oklahoma, resigned from the Senate. He was sworn in as secretary of homeland security by Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 24, 2026, in an Oval Office ceremony hosted by President Donald Trump.

At the Buzz, we are most interested in the potential impact that Mullin may have on the employment-based immigration policies emanating from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which are both part of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). During his time in Congress, in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, Mullin did not play a significant role in advancing immigration legislation. In addition, because current immigration policy decisions are likely to be predominantly driven by subagency leaders (such as Joseph Edlow, director of USCIS) and the White House, the Buzz expects Mullin’s impact on employment-based immigration policies to be minimal. Further, regarding the current funding lapse at DHS and the current negotiation stalemate in Congress, the Buzz wonders whether Mullin’s presence at the agency may serve as a catalyst for dealmaking. (Today is day forty-one of the DHS shutdown.)

DOL Proposes Increase to Prevailing Wages for Immigration Programs. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), titled, “Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States.” The proposal would amend regulations implementing the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program and Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) to increase the prevailing wage levels that must be paid to EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based immigrant visas (via PERM), as well as H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 nonimmigrant visa holders. The proposed increases, based on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage survey administered by the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), are as follows:

OEWS Wage Level	Current OEWS Wage Distribution	Proposed OEWS Wage Distribution
Wage Level I	17th percentile	34th percentile
Wage Level II	34th percentile	52nd percentile
Wage Level III	50th percentile	70th percentile
Wage Level IV	67th percentile	88th percentile

According to the NPRM, “The Department is proposing this rule because the current methodology for setting prevailing wages often allows employers to pay alien workers significantly less than what similarly qualified U.S. workers earn for the same jobs in the same area of intended employment.” During the first Trump administration, the DOL promulgated a similar rule, which was successfully challenged in federal court and subsequently withdrawn by the Biden administration. The DOL is also pursuing this latest effort because it was instructed to do so in President Trump’s H-1B proclamation. Brian D. Bumgardner and Philip K. Sholts have additional details.

White House Releases AI Policy Framework. Late last week, the White House published its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. The comprehensive outline provides instructions for Congress to develop AI-related legislation that, among other areas, protects children and ensures intellectual property rights, all while protecting free speech and encouraging innovation. The Framework discourages the creation of new federal agencies and instead advises that the “development and deployment of sector-specific AI applications” should be overseen by “existing regulatory bodies with subject matter expertise and through industry-led standards.” As for AI’s impact on the workplace, the Framework encourages training, education, and apprenticeships, but does not advocate for any federal laws that would create new causes of action. Finally, to address the potential growing patchwork of state and local AI-related laws, the Frameworks states, “Congress should preempt state AI laws that impose undue burdens to ensure a minimally burdensome national standard consistent with these recommendations, not fifty discordant ones.” Danielle Ochs, Jennifer G. Betts, Patty Shapiro, and Zachary V. Zagger have the details.

Bipartisan House Bill Would Codify OPT. Representatives Sam Liccardo (D-CA), Jay Obernolte (R-CA), and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) have introduced the “Keep Innovators in America Act” (H.R. 8013) to codify the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. OPT provides F-1 student visa holders with one year of work authorization after graduation, and an additional two years if they graduate with a STEM degree. However, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the OPT program is lawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act, its regulatory structure is not expressly mandated by the statute. The Keep Innovators in America Act would change this by amending the INA to explicitly authorize the OPT program. In its most recent Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, the administration has indicated that it will issue a proposal to amend the existing OPT “regulations to address fraud and national security concerns, protect U.S. workers from being displaced by foreign nationals, and enhance the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s capacity to oversee the program.”

Associate Justice Charles Evans Whittaker. On March 25, 1957, Charles Evans Whittaker (1901–1973) was sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. A native Kansan, Whittaker dropped out of high school in the ninth grade to work on the family farm. After developing an interest in the law, Whittaker returned to night school to earn his high school degree while also taking law classes at the Kansas City School of Law (now the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law). Though not a well-known Supreme Court justice, Whittaker nevertheless had an interesting career:

• During Whittaker’s time at law school, future U.S. President Harry S. Truman was a classmate. (Truman never completed law school, though in 1996 was granted a posthumous honorary law license by the Supreme Court of Missouri.)
• Prior to being elevated to the Supreme Court, Whittaker first served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He was the first judge to serve on a federal district court, a federal court of appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
• Whittaker retired from the Court in 1962, after suffering a nervous breakdown during the deliberation surrounding the Baker v. Carr decision.

The federal courthouse in Kansas City—the Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse, which is home to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri—is named in Whittaker’s honor.

The Buzz will be on hiatus next week but will publish again on April 10, 2026.