PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Aug 2, 2017
Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act or the RAISE Act
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to:
eliminate the diversity visa program;
replace the current employment visa system with a skills-based point system;
revise the worldwide level of family-sponsored immigrants, including by eliminating certain family-based immigration preferences;
establish a 50,000 annual limit for refugees given permanent resident status; and
create a nonimmigrant visa for parents of U.S. citizen children who are at least 21 years old.
The bill prohibits an alien from being be naturalized if his or her sponsor has not repaid the federal government for all means-tested public benefits received by the alien during the five-year period beginning on the date the alien was lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
People & committees
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1720 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1720 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1720 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1720 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.