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Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would exempt physicians and other healthcare workers from a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa petitions critics said would exacerbate workforce shortages. The Physicians and the Healthcare Workforce Act (PDF) is endorsed by a slew of provider and hospital associations. Alongside addressing the elevated, $100,000 fee outlined in President Donald Trump’s September executive order and implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shortly after, it would also block additional fees for healthcare workers beyond those already outlined in immigration law. (Muoio, 3/17)

National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya promised a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that, despite the sluggish pace of grant awards, the agency will spend its full budget by the end of the 2026 fiscal year. (Wosen, 3/17)

A housewife’s place … is in the Capitol: A heavy dose of “Housewives” are hitting the Hill. Several stars from different iterations of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” — including Nene Leakes, Erika Jayne, Luann de Lesseps, Phaedra Parks, Melissa Gorga, Candiace Dillard Bassett and Marysol Patton — will be swapping their on-camera fireworks for the political drama in Congress with a visit to Congress. The group — which ITK is dubbing the Housewives Caucus — will head to the Russell Senate Office Building on Wednesday to advocate for expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment. (Kurtz, 3/17)

President Donald Trump is aggressively pushing the Senate to pass voter verification legislation, speaking about it at length, posting repeatedly on social media and threatening to withhold endorsements from defectors. But as a marquee housing bill containing one of his signature affordability proposals flounders on the Hill, he’s been virtually silent on it. (Messerly and Gangitano, 3/18)