The RAISE Act is exactly what a Congress would pass if it were committed to the idea of helping tens of millions of struggling Americans in stagnant jobs or outside the labor market altogether.
It is the job of us who work at NumbersUSA -- and, I hope, the mission of the 8 million members of our on-line network -- to keep this legislation and its lofty goals in front of the Members of Congress, of the news media and of the President and his administration. The President endorsed this bill when it was first introduced in 2017. It is a fulfillment of many of his most popular campaign promises.
Keep in mind that this legislation is about our system for legal permanent immigration system and does not address issues of illegal migration or temporary worker programs.
Below is the statement that we sent to the nation's news media and will be distributing to all politicians here in Washington.
NumbersUSA PRAISE FOR THE RAISE ACT & RISING WAGES
Statement by Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA
The more than 8 million U.S. citizens in NumbersUSA's on-line network want to continue the recent momentum of American workers getting a raise, and nothing Congress can do this year would be more helpful than passing the newly re-introduced RAISE Act.
In sponsoring this legislation, Senators Tom Cotton, David Perdue and Josh Hawley, and Representative Francis Rooney offer the opportunity to significantly reduce the indiscriminate flow of permanent foreign workers to compete directly and unnecessarily with Americans for jobs and wages.
Thus, the RAISE Act would allow free market forces to raise Americans' wages faster, something that economic historians have found has occurred every time immigration has been substantially reduced over the last 200 years.
Current immigration policies distribute more than one million lifetime work permits every year to foreign citizens. More than 85% of those immigrants are admitted without regard to their skills or whether those skills are needed or how they would affect Americans with whom they would compete. The RAISE Act would reduce this insensitive labor competition by hundreds of thousands.
The people who would gain most from the RAISE Act can be found among the 16 million who today want a full-time job and can't find one, and among the 43 million working-age Americans who are not in the labor market at all at this time.
People who have jobs -- both legal immigrants already here and native-born Americans -- also stand to gain. Despite the properly applauded recent wage improvements, the inflation-adjusted wages in most occupations that don't require a college degree are still below where they were 45 years ago!
The RAISE Act compassionately takes seriously the job and wage needs of a large portion of our national community by limiting family-based immigration to spouse and minor children, by accepting our fair-share of internationally recognized special needs refugees and by holding steady on the current level of employment-based immigration tied to a new merit points system.
The goals of the RAISE Act are supported by most voters. Current annual immigration is around double the level of the 1980s and quadruple the level of the 1950s and 1960s. The RAISE Act would still allow annual immigration at around the 1980s level. Surveys of American voters by several polling firms have found that the majority supports this kind of reduction in legal immigration, with most of those favoring much deeper cuts.
The RAISE Act is an offer of hope to the tens of millions of struggling Americans in stagnant jobs or outside the labor market altogether. NumbersUSA stands with these Americans in wholeheartedly endorsing the RAISE Act and pledging our support to the far-sighted, compassionate sponsors.
Click here for more details about the RAISE Act.
ROY BECK, NumbersUSA Founder & CEO
