The Facts on the RAISE Act, What’s Killing Retail, and the 100% Renewable Fraud
Here’s What You Need To Know
Last week, President Trump endorsed the RAISE Act, legislation sponsored by Senators David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that would be the most significant reform of the U.S. immigration system since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. There’s a lot of exaggerations from both supporters and critics of the bill circulating in the news and in social media, so here are the facts on the RAISE Act:
- Limitations On Family-Based Sponsored Immigration: Under current law, U.S. citizens can sponsor their spouses, children, siblings, and parents to come into the country, and lawful permanent residents (LPR) can sponsor their spouses, minor children, and adult unmarried children. As a result, family-based immigrants are the largest category of legal immigrants. The RAISE Act would limit both citizens and LPRs to family-based immigration sponsorship of only spouses and minor children.
- Limitations On Refugee Admittances: The President currently maintains the authority to adjust refugee levels at their discretion. Under this structure, refugee admittances have varied from 50,000 in 2012 to 85,000 in 2016 under President Obama. It went back down to 50,000 this year as a result of an executive order Trump signed in January. The RAISE Act would limit this presidential discretion by making the 50,000-cap permanent.
- Elimination Of The Diversity Lottery: One way individuals gain legal status is through a so-called “Diversity Lottery” that grants 50,000 green cards each year to immigrants from countries that comprise a low percentage of total admittances. The RAISE Act would abolish this program.
- Elimination Of Per-Country Caps: Under current law, no country can get more than 7 percent of green cards in any capped category of legal immigration. The RAISE Act would remove this limit so that applicants compete as individuals rather than by nationality.
- Institution Of A Merit-Based Points System: Under the RAISE Act, applicants for U.S. green cards would be assigned based on a quantitative system, with points based on age, education level, English ability, whether they have a job offer, the salary of any job offer, any major achievements, and potential investments. If they met a minimum level of points, applicants would be eligible to apply for a visa. This change would make the U.S. immigration system more like other countries with similar points systems, such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The net effect of all these changes would be to cut legal immigration in half within a decade and prioritize higher-skilled immigrants over lower-skilled immigrants. The bill appears to have little chance of passing in its current form as a result of strong opposition from Democrats and skepticism from many Republicans.
However, it is possible that the bill could be an opening bid in negotiations for a bipartisan compromise down the road. With these facts in hand, the question remains if reducing such legal immigration will be good for the country and economic growth.
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ACTIVISTS PAY FOR CREDIBILITY
The environmental lobby is paying outside consultants to pass off attacks advancing their agenda as unbiased. A new report written by “a well-regarded electronics engineer and consultant,” accuses the hardware tech industry of diluting green standards by stacking boards that determine whether or not a tech product should be labeled “green” with their cronies, and recommends replacing these board members with non-profit leaders and academics.The report was commissioned by the Repair Association, which represents exactly the types of people they suggest placing on these boards. This dynamic shows the importance of monitoring these type of tactics to respond to misleading attacks before they gain traction and reveal the true motives of the groups promoting them.
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