Beltway Buzz, October 24, 2025

Shutdown Update. This is day twenty-four of the 2025 federal government shutdown, and Republicans and Democrats remain at loggerheads. The U.S. Senate has voted—unsuccessfully—twelve times on the continuing resolution (CR) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. As the shutdown drags on, however, the CR grows more stale, as it only extends current funding levels until November 21, 2025. So, as the shutdown creeps closer and closer to November 21, 2025, the less viable the current CR becomes in terms of its goal of buying time to negotiate. If lawmakers are forced to pivot to a lengthier funding patch, this could provide an off-ramp from the current shutdown traffic jam.

Also this week, the U.S. Senate failed to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act (S.3012), which would have provided pay to federal government workers—such as Transportation Security Administration employees and air traffic controllers—who are required to work without pay during the shutdown. Three Democrats—Senators John Fetterman (PA), Jon Ossoff (GA), and Raphael Warnock (GA) —joined the Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

As for the ongoing impacts employers are feeling as a result of the shutdown, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced that as of October 20, 2025, U.S. federal courts no longer had funding to fully operate and instead would only be able to “maintain limited operations necessary to perform the Judiciary’s constitutional functions.” This means that federal judges will continue to serve, but staff will be limited. According to the announcement, “[e]ach appellate, district, and bankruptcy court will make operational decisions regarding how its cases and probation and pretrial supervision will be conducted during the funding lapse.”

H-1B Proclamation Update: USCIS Issues New Guidance. On October 20, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published further guidance on the practical application of President Donald Trump’s September 19, 2025, proclamation denying processing of H-1B petitions and entry into the United States by H-1B visa holders unless accompanied by a payment of $100,000. The key points:

• Scope. According to the guidance, the proclamation applies to H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025, “on behalf of beneficiaries who are outside the United States and do not have a valid H-1B visa.” The guidance also states that the “Proclamation does not apply to previously issued and currently valid H-1B visas.” (Emphasis added.) The proclamation also does not apply to petitions requesting an amendment, change of status, or extension of stay for a foreign national inside the United States. H-1B holders who travel outside the United States will not be subject to the fee upon their return.
The proclamation will apply if the petition requests consular notification, regardless of where the petitioner is located. Similarly, if the petition requests a change of status or amendment or extension of stay but is denied (e.g., because the petitioner departs the United States prior to the adjudication of a change of status request), then “the Proclamation will apply and the payment must be paid according to the instructions provided by USCIS.”


• Exceptions. Regarding exceptions, the guidance notes that they should be “extraordinarily rare.” The guidance further speaks specifically about the “alien worker” and does not discuss potential companywide or industrywide exceptions, even though the proclamation states its restriction on entry “shall not apply to any individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry,” if the secretary of homeland security determines that their hiring “is in the national interest.”
Additionally, the guidance sets forth the criteria under which an exception may be granted: (1) the secretary finds that the H-1B worker’s presence is in the national interest; (2) no American workers are available to fill the role; (3) the H-1B worker does not pose a threat to national security; and (4) requiring the employer to pay the fee “would significantly undermine the interests of the United States.”

Philip K. Sholts and Maurisa Iacono have the details.

H-1B Proclamation Update: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Files Legal Challenge. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a legal challenge to President Trump’s proclamation. The lawsuit is the second legal challenge to the proclamation. Like the first lawsuit, the Chamber alleges that the proclamation exceeds the president’s authority and contravenes the “carefully crafted” H-1B program that the U.S. Congress created in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The complaint argues that “the President may not use his control over entry into the United States to supplant or nullify Congress’s statutorily enacted immigration policy.” The complaint requests that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia enjoin the implementation and enforcement of the proclamation as to the Chamber and its members.

Comment Docket Closes on H-1B Selection Proposal. In more H-1B-related news, today, October 24, 2025, is the deadline for stakeholders to submit comments in response to USCIS’s notice of proposed rulemaking, titled, “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H–1B Petitions.” The proposal revives a regulation from the first Trump administration that would prioritize higher-skilled and higher-paid petitioners in the H-1B selection process. The administration will likely try to finalize this rule in time for the fiscal year (FY) 2027 H-1B cap season beginning in March 2026.

Senate Committee Holds Second Hearing on Labor Reform. On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing, titled, “Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward.” As the name indicates, the hearing follows a similar hearing held by the HELP Committee on October 8, 2025. Witnesses discussed the Employee Rights Act and SALT Act, as well as the Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act and the Modern Worker Empowerment Act, among other bills.

Edward D. Baker: Lawyer, Politician, Soldier. Senator Edward D. Baker died on October 21, 1861. A lawyer from Illinois, Baker got his start in national politics in 1844 by defeating his close friend, Abraham Lincoln, to win the nomination and a seat in Congress as a Whig. On December 24, 1846, Baker resigned his position to lead a regiment of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Mexican–American War. After the war, Baker returned to Congress, representing a different district in Illinois for one term, then moved to San Francisco, California, in 1852 to establish a law firm, and ultimately settled in Oregon (which was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859), where he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 1860. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Baker retained his seat in the Senate while volunteering to lead a regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was killed just months later, on October 21, 1861, at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia. Baker remains the only sitting U.S. senator to have died in military combat.