The US has a population growth problem. Democrats have plans for that

More Americans are dying. Fewer Americans are being born. And fewer people are immigrating to America. Democratic policy proposals will help with all of it.

According to new census data released this year, 2021 saw the slowest growth of the U.S. population in history. A recent study in Wisconsin found population growth has slowed to the lowest rate on record at 3.6% in the Badger State. The decline in population growth has been a trend for years. But last year the numbers fell off a cliff.

Three factors are responsible for the jarring slowdown, all of which could be mitigated with proposals by the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress.

1. Deaths: More people are dying. Losing a million Americans to COVID-19 is obviously a factor. And hopefully, one that will be an enormous outlier. So the solution here is straightforward – more vaccinations or boosts and staying vigilant so that the country can ward off any new variants is crucial. Which is exactly why President Biden and Democrats are pushing for much needed funding to do just that. 

2. Births: Fewer Americans are having kids. Amid a growing crisis in housing availability and affordability, debilitating childcare costs that are keeping parents out of the workforce, and education costs that continue to increase this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. As a country, finding ways to make parenting more affordable is something we absolutely must do. Unfortunately, Republican members of the US Senate have refused to work with the Biden Administration on legislation to address these very issues – many of which were supported by every Democrat in Congress in the version of the Build Back Better bill that passed the House last year. 

3. Immigration: Between a nativist, xenophobic Trump presidency and Republican efforts to curb both illegal and legal immigration, new immigrants to America have fallen from 1 million to around 250,000 over the last five years. Those are policy choices that are not only impacting our population growth, but the dynamism of our economy. Recently, the Biden Administration rolled back some of the Trump era policies that were limiting legal immigration. 

There are actual public policy proposals and actions that would impact (or are already impacting) each of these three factors grinding US population growth to a halt. They’re out there, you can find them, some of them have even been voted on by Congress. Just don’t be surprised when you find none of them are supported by Republican politicians, or that they don’t have any alternatives of their own.