The new, in-depth analysis of Project 2025’s policy priorities implemented without congressional approval demonstrates that it is among the most profound threats to the American people.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Democracy Forward released a groundbreaking report outlining the devastating impacts for people and communities that would result if Project 2025, a far-right roadmap for a future presidential administration, was implemented. This is the first report that focuses on “kitchen table” issues and the ways that Americans could be at risk on the first days of a future administration that chooses to align with this radical agenda. From policies that would reduce worker pay and eliminate good-paying jobs, to those that keep drug prices high or would decimate core programs that Americans rely on to make ends meet, the report showcases the risks to people and communities presented by efforts to implement Project 2025. 

Democracy Forward analyzed the more than 900-page plan developed by the Heritage Foundation and aligned groups to understand what Project 2025 seeks to have federal agencies under a far-right presidency do without waiting for congressional action. The results of this analysis show a well-funded and highly coordinated effort to institute a systemic, ruthless plan to undermine the quality of life of millions of Americans, remove critical protections and dismantle programs for communities across the nation, and do the work of special interests and ideological extremists as opposed to doing work for the American people. 

Analyzed in detail throughout the guide, proposals from Project 2025 that its authors claim can be implemented through executive branch action alone without new legislation include efforts to:

  • Cut overtime protections for 4.3 million workers
  • Stop efforts to lower prescription drug prices
  • Limit access to food assistance, which an average of more than 40 million people in 21.6 million households rely on monthly
  • Eliminate the Head Start early education program, which serves over 1 million children annually
  • Cut or change American Rescue Plan (ARP) programs that were expected to create or save 220,000 jobs in 2022
  • Restrict access to medication abortion
  • Push more of the 33 million people enrolled in Medicare towards Medicare Advantage and other worse, private options 
  • Expose the 368,000 children in foster care to the risk of increased discrimination
  • Make education inaccessible by denying students in 25 states and Washington, D.C. access to student loans because their state provides in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants
  • Roll back civil rights protections across multiple fronts, including cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion-related (DEI) programs and LGBTQ+ rights in health care, education, and workplaces

“America lives up to its promise when our government is truly of, by, and for the people. Project 2025 fundamentally seeks to upend our democratic principles by rolling back our civil rights, legalizing discrimination and limiting workplace protections, gutting programs like Medicare, and outright eliminating critical government services like Head Start,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Project 2025 is a grave threat to communities across the country and our leadership abroad—and that’s why our report seeks to help the American people understand what’s at stake and how we plan to fight back.”

Democracy Forward has been a leader in responding to rising threats to people and democracy as outlined in Project 2025, highlighting these threats before a House Judiciary Subcommittee in testimony earlier this year and working with people, communities, and organizations across the pro-democracy community to counter these threats.

Most recently, Democracy Forward has announced plans to prepare counter-measures including litigation to disrupt any effort to implement Project 2025. This comes alongside efforts by U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) and other lawmakers to form a new working group that seeks to defend our democracy from right-wing attacks. The Stop Project 2025 Task Force will serve as a central hub for pro-democracy Members of Congress, groups like Democracy Forward, civil society, and affected communities to coordinate on examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting this rightwing plot to undermine democracy.

“Project 2025 is different and much more sinister than the policy wish lists we’ve seen in the past from groups like the Heritage Foundation. This is a detailed roadmap for consolidating and wielding executive power, written by MAGA extremists who could hold key positions in a future far-right administration. It is, in the words of MAGA leaders, a “war plan” they aim to complete in their first 180 days. It calls for the rapid dismantling of the federal workforce and democratic institutions, elimination of checks and balances on executive power, eviscerating church-state separation, and politically weaponizing what’s left of the federal government to impose a dystopic social and political agenda that takes away fundamental rights and freedoms,” said Rep. Huffman, Founder of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force. “Together with our pro-democracy allies, our Task Force is uniting leaders across the political spectrum and experts in every policy area to bring this scheme out of the shadows so that the American people can understand how dangerous it is, and why it must be stopped now.”

Earlier this year, Democracy Forward exposed how key Project 2025 proposals would hurt communities in every state and undermine the government’s ability to serve people through threatening the nation’s civil service. As attacks on the independent civil service continue to ramp up, including proposals to reinstitute the Trump administration’s “Schedule F” policy, Democracy Forward has also worked with a broad and diverse coalition to protect workers from threat of political interference. The successful campaign led the Biden administration to issue regulations earlier this year to address some of these threats.

For more information about our work, please visit www.democracyforward.org. 

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