By Justin Paget and Nathan Kramer ( February 25, 2019, 3:38 PM EST) -- In October 2017, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017,[1] which, among other things, drastically increased the post-petition quarterly fees payable by certain Chapter 11 debtors to the office of the United States Trustee.[2] At the high end of the new fee scale,[3] Chapter 11 debtors with quarterly "disbursements" that equal or exceed $1 million are now subject to having to pay up to $220,000 more per quarter in quarterly fees to the U.S. Trustee, an 833 percent increase in the maximum amount of quarterly fees payable.[4] Some view these increases to the quarterly fees as imposing an additional financial hardship on medium and large Chapter 11 debtors at a time when their balance sheets often are at their leanest — during bankruptcy and just after confirming a reorganization plan....