U.S. extends $100,000 fee on skilled-worker visas.
Today's events
Skilled-worker visa fee.
Trump renewed the $100,000 fee on certain H-1B petitions for another year, to September 21, 2027, and ordered agencies to weigh an employer's recent layoffs of American workers when judging its applications.1Sep 18 · WHMedicaid drug prices.
Every state Medicaid program, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, now buys brand-name drugs at the lowest price paid by comparable developed countries — nearly $65 billion in savings over a decade.2Sep 18 · WHShareholder proposals.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a 196-page proposal to rescind Rule 14a-8, the federal requirement that public companies carry qualifying shareholder resolutions in their proxy materials. It publishes September 21.3Sep 18 · SECUnderwater drones.
State removed uncrewed underwater vehicles weighing up to 8,000 pounds from the U.S. Munitions List unless they carry advanced navigation, moving their export licensing to Commerce. The interim rule takes effect October 19.4Sep 18 · StateSilicon Valley Bank review.
An independent review found Federal Reserve supervisors knew of the bank's vulnerabilities as early as March 2022 and did not act, blaming a culture of risk aversion rather than the 2018 regulatory-tailoring law.5Sep 18 · FedHandgun age limit.
Justice's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the federal bar on licensed dealers selling handguns to adults aged 18 to 20 violates the Second Amendment and may not be criminally enforced.6Sep 18 · DOJLinux kernel flaws.
CISA added two actively exploited Linux kernel vulnerabilities — a race condition and an out-of-bounds write — to its catalog, and a third in a separate alert the same day, obliging federal agencies to patch exposed systems.7Sep 18 · CISAFraud enforcement rules.
Justice rewrote its manual so that agency guidance lacking the force of law cannot ground a fraud claim, and told prosecutors to consider dismissing whistleblower suits the government declines to join.8Sep 18 · DOJSeoul talks.
Rubio and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun pledged cooperation on semiconductors and supply chains, pressed for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and reaffirmed the goal of a fully denuclearized North Korea.9Sep 18 · State
This week
Canada import bans.
Three proclamations signed September 11 barred certain Canadian motor vehicles, dairy and alcoholic beverages from entering the United States, using a 1930 tariff law that permits outright exclusion rather than duties. Tariffs on the same goods had taken effect August 22. Five further proclamations on September 14 extended the bans and reset the product scope, one citing Saskatchewan's new 50 percent levy on American drinks. First carried in the September 13 brief.1Sep 11 · Fed. Reg.Canada procurement cut.
A presidential memorandum of September 16 directed budget and trade officials to remove Canadian-origin goods from the federal civil procurement system, citing Canada's “Buy Canadian” preferences. Canadian firms currently have access to more than $280 billion in U.S. federal contracts. The order moved the dispute from the border to government purchasing five days after the import bans, and it is the second escalation of the week. Carried September 17.2Sep 16 · WHRate rise to 3.75–4 percent.
Federal Reserve policymakers voted 12-0 on September 16 to raise the benchmark rate a quarter point, saying inflation remains elevated and the move supports a timelier return to the 2 percent goal. Two days later the Fed's supervision chief published an independent review of Silicon Valley Bank finding supervisors knew of the bank's vulnerabilities as early as March 2022 and did not act. Carried September 17 and 19.3Sep 16 · FedKremlin murder network charged.
Justice charged five Russian intelligence operatives on September 15 with financing terrorism and murder-for-hire, alleging they paid people to surveil and kill targets inside the United States and to attack infrastructure in European states backing Ukraine. All five remain at large. The same week Commerce renewed export bans on Aeroflot, UTair and Azur Air, and a Russian-Estonian-Swiss citizen pleaded guilty to routing nearly $2 million in aerospace parts to Russia. Carried September 16.4Sep 15 · DOJPower-plant carbon rules repealed.
The Environmental Protection Agency repealed most of the 2024 greenhouse-gas standards for fossil-fuel power plants on September 17, dropping carbon-capture requirements for coal units and new gas turbines, and proposed rescinding the rest. Six days earlier the Energy Department ordered a Washington state coal unit to stay available through December 11, past its scheduled 2025 closure. Commerce separately finalized dumping and subsidy duties on solar cells from India, Indonesia and Laos. Carried September 13, 16 and 17.6Sep 17 · Fed. Reg.
Allied Governments
Australian patrols.
Australian P-8A maritime patrol aircraft will fly from Kadena Air Base in Japan from mid-September to early October, watching for banned ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean-flagged vessels. Washington and Seoul restated the same disarmament goal the same day.aSep 18 · Japan MoFACivilian-harm group.
NATO headquarters hosted the multinational contact group on civilian harm with the Netherlands and Britain, examining protection of energy, transport and health infrastructure and the effects of military activity on shipping and undersea cables.bSep 18 · NATOAtlantic sea lanes.
Britain's First Sea Lord told a naval-research symposium that the Atlantic is existential for the country: almost all its trade, energy, food and exports move by sea, and undersea cables carry nearly all its data and transactions.cSep 17 · UK MoD
Voices
“Many employers have laid off large numbers of highly qualified, highly skilled American workers, only to promptly hire large numbers of H-1B workers who are often lower-skilled and lower-paid.”
White House fact sheet on the skilled-worker visa program · Sep 181
“Staff believed it was personally safer to take no action unless they were certain the action was exactly right.”
Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, Federal Reserve · Sep 185
“Eighteen-year-olds may vote, serve on juries, be drafted, and face adult criminal penalties, including capital punishment.”
AAG T. Elliot Gaiser, DOJ Office of Legal Counsel · Sep 186
“The Department of Justice should enforce the law, not make law through enforcement.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. · Sep 188
“Secretary Rubio reiterated the importance of cooperating to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz…”
State Dept. readout, Rubio–Foreign Minister Cho meeting · Sep 189
“The Department maintains the [U.S. Munitions List] such that it comprises those defense articles or defense services that provide a critical military or intelligence advantage.”
Interim final rule, International Traffic in Arms Regulations · Sep 184
Sources
- White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Further Enhances Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the H-1B Visa Program,” September 18, 2026. whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/…/h-1b-program-integrity
- White House, “President Trump Extends Most Favored Nation Pricing to Every Medicaid Program in America,” September 18, 2026. whitehouse.gov/releases/…/mfn-pricing-every-medicaid-program
- Federal Register (Securities and Exchange Commission), “Rescission of Rule 14a-8's Federal Regulation of Shareholder Proposals and Amendments to Rule 14a-4,” filed for public inspection September 18, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/rescission-of-rule-14a-8
- Federal Register (U.S. Dept. of State), “International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Modification of U.S. Munitions List Category XX(a),” September 18, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/itar-munitions-list-category-xx
- Federal Reserve, “Bowman, Initial Findings from Independent Review of Silicon Valley Bank,” September 18, 2026. federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/…/bowman-svb-review
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Concludes Federal Ban on Handgun Sales to 18 to 20-Year-Olds is Unconstitutional and Cannot Be Criminally Enforced,” September 18, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/handgun-sales-18-to-20
- CISA, “CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog,” September 18, 2026. cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/…/two-known-exploited-vulnerabilities
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “DOJ Revises Justice Manual to Strengthen False Claims Act Enforcement,” September 18, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/false-claims-act-justice-manual
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Secretary Rubio's Meeting with Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Cho,” September 18, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/rubio-rok-foreign-minister-cho
- Japan MoFA, “Monitoring and surveillance activities by Australia against illicit maritime activities including ship-to-ship transfers,” September 18, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/australia-ship-to-ship-monitoring
- NATO News, “NATO hosts International Contact Group on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response,” September 18, 2026. nato.int/news/…/civilian-harm-mitigation-contact-group
- UK Ministry of Defence, “Battle for the Atlantic” (First Sea Lord Gen. Sir Gwyn Jenkins, Admiralty House), September 17, 2026. gov.uk/government/speeches/battle-for-the-atlantic