Co-sponsored by Republican senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, the bill sought to reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by 50% by halving the number of green cards issued.

[14] The Penn Wharton Budget Model projects that the RAISE Act would increase per-capita GDP by 0.02 percent in the first decade, before falling in the long run by 2040.

"[6] The "only evidence that the administration has cited as justifying its proposals" is the work of economist George Borjas,[16] who has defended the bill, arguing that it "makes sense" and that "low-skill immigration, which would likely suffer the largest cuts in the proposed bill, imposes costs on taxpayers and it imposes costs on low-skill workers already here.

"[17] Other economists have sharply contested Borjas's conclusions; economist Giovanni Peri stated that "The average American worker is more likely to lose than to gain from immigration restrictions" and "most studies put the negative impact on low-skilled wages closer to zero,"[16] and Michael Clemens argues that Borjas's position is based on a study with critical flaws.

[11] Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said that "Trump wants to tear apart communities and punish immigrant families that are making valuable contributions to our economy.

"[11] Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called the bill "nothing but a series of nativist talking points and regurgitated campaign rhetoric that completely fails to move our nation forward toward real reform.

[24] The eighth member of the Gang of Eight, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, said that he had "a big difference of opinion with this bill is that it sets an arbitrary cap on the number of people that are able to come through with a green card.

"[21] The technology industry immigration-policy advocacy group FWD.us said the bill, if enacted, "would severely harm the economy and actually depress wages for Americans.

[29] Under the legislation, a maximum of 140,000 points-based immigrant visas would be issued per fiscal year, with spouses and minor children of the principal applicant being counted against the 140,000 cap.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/raise-act-dramatic-change-family-immigration-less-so-employment-based-system The revised version of the bill (S. 1720) provided that a person who accrued 30 points under the following allocation scheme would be eligible to submit an application.