U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Rule Changes

Plaintiff in a separate earlier federal suit challenging the fee

Two federal judges have blocked the Trump administration's $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions. A Boston judge ruled in June that the fee is an unlawful tax Congress never authorized, and a California judge ruled Sept. 30 that the administration skipped required rulemaking.

Updated Nov 2

Rule Changes

Lost lawsuit challenging $100,000 H-1B fee, December 24, 2025

The wage-weighted H-1B selection rule took effect February 27, 2026, replacing the random lottery. The first registration period under it ran March 4–19. Under the new system, a worker offered a Level IV wage (the top tier) gets four entries in the selection pool; a Level I worker gets one. The rule was designed to curb the duplicate-registration fraud that inflated FY 2024 submissions to 758,994 for 85,000 slots.

Updated Oct 16

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Lead plaintiff, prevailed at district court

The Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification form went largely unchanged for 48 years. When the Federal Trade Commission tripled its compliance burden in 2024, business groups sued, and a Texas federal judge just agreed.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Lead plaintiff in HSR rule challenge

The United States raised the federal antitrust review threshold to $133.9 million on February 15, 2026—up from $126.4 million the previous year. Companies planning mergers or acquisitions above this threshold must file premerger notifications with the FTC and DOJ and await government clearance before closing.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Filed amicus brief supporting employers

When employers exit multiemployer pension plans, they owe a share of unfunded benefits—a calculation that hinges on assumptions about future investment returns. The IAM National Pension Fund changed its interest rate assumption from 7.5% to 6.5% in January 2018, weeks after the measurement date, and applied it retroactively to employers who had already withdrawn. The result: withdrawal liabilities tripled from $935 million to over $3 billion.

Updated May 22