[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 142 (Thursday, September 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Project 2025

  Mr. President, now on Project 2025, the more people learn about 
Donald Trump's 2025 agenda, the more they realize how devastating it 
would be for our country. Later today, I will join with my Democratic 
colleagues to shine a light on this revolting MAGA agenda.
  On its surface, Project 2025 proposes the most conservative, most 
radical, most unhinged collection of policies in modern history. Let me 
say that again: Project 2025 proposes the most conservative, the most 
radical, the most unhinged collection of policies in modern history.

  And when you dig even deeper, Project 2025 is even worse than that. 
It reads like a hard-right wish list for some of the nastiest, most 
harmful policies you can imagine. Project 2025 would devastate American 
education by abolishing the Department of Education and eliminating 
Head Start for 2.9 million students.
  Republicans claim they care about families, but eliminating Head 
Start means Republicans want to kill a program that studies show makes 
it far more likely that low-income kids will graduate high school, 
attend college, earn more money, and lead healthier lives. That is what 
Republicans would eliminate by killing Head Start.
  Project 2025 would send the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs 
soaring, repealing the $35 cap on insulin for seniors on Medicare that 
Democrats enacted into law. The $35 cap on insulin for seniors was a 
lifesaving reform--literally, a lifesaving reform. It will help ensure 
seniors won't go broke trying to manage their diabetes. But Project 
2025 callously, cruelly would kill that measure and tell seniors who 
struggle to afford insulin that they are on their own--utter cruelty.
  Project 2025 would also intensify the GOP's war on reproductive 
freedom by laying the groundwork for a national abortion ban, pushing 
States to monitor women's pregnancies. Let me repeat that: Project 2025 
pushes States to monitor women's pregnancies.
  This is what they call freedom? Give me a break.
  Project 2025 would betray our veterans by cutting disability benefits 
for veterans and defunding VA hospitals, including the only VA on Long 
Island. The Northport VA could potentially, given their cuts, be 
defunded.
  And, finally, 2025 would make it harder for Americans to own a home 
by privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, causing dramatic spikes in 
mortgage rates.
  Owning a home is a hallmark of the American Dream. We shouldn't make 
it harder for people to own homes, and that is precisely what 2025 
would do.
  So let me be clear: Project 2025 is the Trump agenda. Its staff reads 
like a who is who of the first Trump administration, and many of them 
would be part of a second Trump administration and be in charge of 
writing policy. So make no mistake, America, if Donald Trump returns to 
the White House, Project 2025 will be the playbook his staff will use 
for implementing the policies of his new administration, and we are all 
in danger should that occur.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.