The budget policies of President Barack Obama would see an improvement in the growth of the US economy by 1 percent, with the majority coming from his proposal for immigration reform, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The nonpartisan agency takes into account the speedier economic growth and claims that the federal deficit would be reduced by as much as $2.4 trillion over the course of the next decade if Obama’s plans were implemented, in contrast to the current projections for a total deficit of $9.2 trillion.
The great majority of that difference would be accounted for by the comprehensive immigration reform proposal floated by the President, which the office believes would result in 11 million more people living in the US by the year 2026 than is currently anticipated.
The increase in population would see a boost to the overall economic output of the US; however, it would also slow down output growth per capita, the CBO says, because a lot of the new immigrant arrivals would be low earners that would drag the per capita numbers downwards even if the earnings of US natives actually increased. The other proposals made by the President, including increasing taxes on investment, oil, and high incomes, would actually limit the reduction of the deficit and slow economic growth, according to the analysis.
The budget for the 2017 fiscal year prepared by Obama, which was released back in February, shows how he would have changed spending and taxing over the next decade, but was largely ignored by Congress.