[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 146 (Thursday, September 19, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Project 2025

  Mr. President, now on Project 2025, later today, Senate Democrats 
will hold a press conference to expose Donald Trump's Project 2025 for 
what it actually is. Project 2025--Trump's Project 2025--is the most 
harmful, most unhinged, and most extreme conservative agenda in recent 
American history.
  By now, many Americans have heard about Project 2025. And the more 
people learn about Trump's plan, the more they realize how disastrous 
it would be for our country.
  I could speak about Project 2025 every morning for the remainder of 
the work period and still not have enough time to cover all of the 
nasty things hiding inside this agenda.
  For middle-class families, Project 2025 will raise taxes by $3,000. 
And it caters to the ultrawealthy by giving people who earn more than 
$10 million a $1.5 million tax break.
  For workers, Project 2025 will undermine overtime pay, resulting in 
less pay for longer hours for middle-class Americans who work hard and 
often have to work more than 40 hours a week. As many as 4.3 million 
Americans will have their overtime and wage protections erode.
  For our national security, Project 2025 will make us less safe by 
gutting Agencies charged with protecting Americans at home and around 
the world.
  And for our border security, Project 2025 rejects the bipartisan plan 
we released earlier this year, the strongest bipartisan border security 
measure in decades. It also adopts a policy of utterly cruel mass 
deportations with little to no due process and even risks deporting 3 
million Dreamers.
  How cruel; deport 3 million Dreamers? It is in Project 2025.
  And finally, Project 2025 will weaken our democracy by opening the 
floodgates to foreign interference and big money in politics.
  And if all of that isn't enough, just yesterday, Donald Trump's 
running mate actually proposed going back to the days when having a 
preexisting condition meant you pay far more for your health insurance.
  That is right. Under the Trump-Vance plan, anyone with a chronic 
condition--or an estimated 129 million Americans--could face 
outrageously expensive healthcare costs.
  This is all beyond sinister stuff. And while Donald Trump tries to 
run away from Project 2025, here is the simple truth: Donald Trump owns 
Project 2025 and every single one of its proposals.
  Project 2025 has been led by hundreds of former Trump administration 
officials, chomping at the bit to get back in government and impose 
their horrible plans. Some of these sections were written by Trump's 
own Cabinet officials. And Trump himself said in his speech that the 
Heritage Foundation--which houses Project 2025--would ``lay the 
groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our moment will do.''
  Let me say that again. This is Donald Trump talking about the 
Heritage Foundation, which has created Project 2025. It would ``lay the 
groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our moment will do.''
  And the head of the Heritage Foundation said earlier this year that 
his goal was ``institutionalizing Trumpism,'' including with Project 
2025.
  Let me say it again: ``Institutionalizing Trumpism.''
  Whom are these guys fooling? Now, of course, even Trump himself is 
backing off, with all the criticism, because it is so far away. These 
rightwing ideologues want to steer America over the cliff and hurt just 
about every average American. And then when it becomes public what they 
want to do--when the public learns more of what they want to do--they 
try to say: Oh, well, we really didn't mean it. But we know they did.
  Watch out, America. Watch out for Project 2025. It will hurt you; it 
will hurt your family; and it will be implemented by Donald Trump and 
his rightwing coterie if he gets elected.