With a major battle over federal debt, taxes, and spending expected next year, Congress also needs to address a more fundamental problem: how to revive the nation’s anemic birth rate and prevent a population decline. The United States needs more future workers for many practical reasons, including sustaining economic growth, keeping the Social Security program solvent, and maintaining the nation’s military capacity.
U.S. residents are dying at a faster rate than they are being born. A major reason almost half of adults say they are unlikely to ever have a child is the cost of raising one. Low-income and working-class women have the highest childbirth rates in the U.S. With fewer financial resources, they also face perhaps the greatest stresses in splitting their time between work and taking care of their children.
