- author, Mike Wendling
- role, BBC News
President Joe Biden’s Democrats are campaigning against Donald Trump’s policies of governing if he is elected president this November.
The blueprint, called “Project 2025,” was created by the conservative Heritage Foundation and is one of the think tank’s proposals for Trump’s policies.
The more than 900-page bill calls for the firing of thousands of civil servants, expansion of presidential powers, dismantling the Department of Education and other federal agencies, and sweeping tax cuts.
The Heritage Foundation released its agenda last April but has faced growing opposition from liberals as polls show a close race between Democrat President Biden and Republican former President Trump.
It’s common for Washington, DC, think tanks to propose policy wish lists for the next administration; the liberal Center for American Progress, for example, was called an “ideas factory” during President Barack Obama’s tenure.
But on Tuesday, California Assemblyman Jared Huffman announced a “Project 2025 Cancellation Task Force.”
“Project 2025 is more than just an idea; it is a dystopian plot already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at the separation of church and state, and impose a far-right agenda that violates fundamental freedoms and runs counter to the will of the people,” Huffman said.
“We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late.”
Heritage said Biden’s party was stoking fear with “press releases that lacked seriousness and were riddled with errors.”
“House Democrats are using taxpayer money to wage a smear campaign against a united effort to restore self-governance to ordinary Americans,” said Kevin Roberts, the foundation’s president.
“Under the Biden administration, the federal government has been weaponized against the American people, our borders have been invaded, and our institutions have been taken over by woke ideologues.”
The Project 2025 document outlines four pillars: restoring the family as the center of American life, dismantling the administrative state, protecting national sovereignty and borders, and ensuring individuals’ God-given right to live freely.
This is one of the policy documents in the policy platform known as “Agenda 47” because if Trump wins he will become the 47th president of the United States.
The Heritage Foundation said Project 2025 was created by several former Trump appointees and included input from more than 100 conservative groups.
Some key suggestions are outlined below.
government
Project 2025 proposes placing the entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies such as the Department of Justice, under the direct control of the president, a controversial idea known as the “unitary executive theory.”
In practice, this would streamline decision-making and allow the president to directly implement policy in a variety of areas.
The proposal also calls for eliminating job protections for thousands of government workers, who could be replaced by political appointees.
The document describes the FBI as a “bloated, arrogant and increasingly lawless organization” and calls for sweeping reform of the FBI and other federal agencies, including the abolition of the Department of Education.
Immigration
The document proposes increasing funding for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of President Trump’s signature proposals in 2016.
But what is more noticeable is the consolidation of America’s various immigration agencies and the vast expansion of their powers.
Other proposals include raising fees for immigrants and allowing expedited applications for those who pay a premium.
Climate and Economy
The document proposes deep cuts to federal funding for renewable energy research and investment and calls on the next president to “end the war on oil and natural gas.”
Carbon reduction targets would be replaced by efforts to improve energy production and security.
The paper presents two competing visions for tariffs, dividing opinion on whether the next president should seek to promote free trade or raise export barriers.
But economic advisers have recommended that a second Trump administration should drastically cut corporate and income taxes, abolish the Federal Reserve and even consider returning to a gold standard currency.
abortion
Project 2025 does not call for a nationwide ban on abortion.
However, it has proposed removing the abortion drug mifepristone from the market.
Technology and Education
Under the proposal, pornography would be banned and tech and telecommunications companies that facilitate access to such content would be shut down.
The document calls for school choice and parental control over schools, and targets what it calls “woke propaganda.”
The bill proposes removing a number of terms from all laws and federal regulations, including “sexual orientation,” “diversity, equity and inclusion,” “gender equality,” “abortion” and “reproductive rights.”
The Heritage Foundation is one of the most influential of the many think tanks that have produced policy documents for President Trump’s reelection.
Since the 1980s, the Heritage Foundation has produced similar policy documents as part of its “Commitment to Leadership” series.
Project 2025, which has a budget of $22 million (£17 million), also sets out a strategy for implementing the policies immediately after the president takes office in January 2025.
Trump has supported many of Project 2025’s ideas in speeches and on his website, but his campaign has said the candidate has the final say on policy.
Many of the proposals would face immediate legal challenges if implemented.
