The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has become a focal point in national politics, attracting positive attention for its conservative policy proposals. Democrats are actively organizing against the initiative, highlighting what they perceive as an extreme right-wing agenda.
What is Project 2025?
The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, a comprehensive 900-page “governing agenda,” outlines conservative priorities for a potential Republican administration. The project, developed with input from over 400 scholars and policy experts, is structured into five sections and 30 chapters. The sections are titled “Taking the Reins of Government,” “The Common Defense,” “The General Welfare,” “The Economy,” and “Independent Regulatory Agencies.”
Key Policy Proposals
Project 2025 aims to reshape executive branch powers, dismantle smaller government agencies, and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion language from federal operations. A notable proposal is the reimplementation of Schedule F, which would reclassify thousands of federal employees, making them easier to fire. This move could impact up to 50,000 workers, a policy initially introduced by former President Trump and later revoked by President Biden.
The agenda also targets abortion, advocating for the elimination of federal funding for abortions and urging the FDA to reverse its approval of abortion pills like mifepristone. The foreword of the document calls for a cultural shift, stating that the next president must “make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors” by removing terms related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and other progressive concepts from federal regulations.
Support and Criticism
Over 50 organizations, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Young America’s Foundation, and the National Center for Public Policy Research, support the project. During a recent hearing, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) questioned co-author Jonathan Berry, who reaffirmed his support for reintroducing Schedule F. Heritage Foundation leader Kevin Roberts expressed optimism about the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, suggesting it could lead to a “second American Revolution.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) praised the initiative, stating, “The next conservative president must dismantle the administrative state and return power back to the states and the American people. This publication is a blueprint to do just that.”
Democratic Response
Democrats have seized on Project 2025 to criticize former President Trump and his alignment with its proposals. Biden’s campaign highlighted the project during last week’s debate by projecting a QR code in Atlanta that led to a campaign page warning about the potential loss of reproductive rights under Trump’s presidency.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) is leading a campaign to counter Project 2025, stating, “Americans don’t understand just how far down the road to a dystopic, right-wing theocracy we are right now. And that, for me at least, is the priority: making sure people know it, and making sure we’re ready to confront it.” Critics have labeled the project as “authoritarian” and “un-American.”
