Story highlights If passed, the bill would dramatically remake the current immigration system

The proposal faces long odds in Congress

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump threw his support Wednesday behind legislation that looks to curb the level of legal immigration into the United States by proposing a skills-based immigration system.

Trump backed the effort from Republican Sens. David Perdue and Tom Cotton in a speech at the White House. But the plan faces long odds in Congress, where both Democrats and Republicans have responded to the proposal with skepticism.

The proposals also get into an already crowded line of measures that Congress is considering, including health care, tax reform, a budget and raising the debt ceiling, making it unlikely that the plan will get passed any time soon.

Top White House aides have been working with Perdue and Cotton on the bill that -- if passed -- would dramatically remake the current immigration system, which allows a number of ways to bring family members to the US along with job-based visas.

Trump cast the proposal as a way to protect American workers by reducing unskilled immigration and creating a merit-based system that grades possible immigrants based on their ability to work in the United States.

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