[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5654-H5655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SOUNDING ALARM ON PROJECT 2025

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Massachusetts (Mrs. Trahan) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm about the 
dangerous and extreme policies put forward in Project 2025, the self-
described blueprint for the Republican President to take over total 
control of the Federal Government and our lives.
  Spanning more than 900 pages, Project 2025 lays out not a concept of 
a plan but a plan for Donald Trump or another GOP President to ignore 
the Constitution and unilaterally turn back the clock on working 
families, women, and our children.
  For families, Project 2025 calls to eliminate overtime pay and kick 
people with preexisting conditions off of their healthcare insurance.
  For women and girls, Project 2025 calls for taking the Republican 
abortion bans that are devastating women in Georgia and Texas and 
jeopardizing IVF in Alabama and doing the same nationally.
  For our children, Project 2025 calls for eliminating the Department 
of Education and defunding our public schools.
  Each and every one of these proposals would have been devastating for 
millions of Americans. I know that, Mr. Speaker, because every one of 
them would have ruined my life.
  My dad was a union ironworker. He picked up overtime whenever 
possible so that he could keep a roof over our heads and put food on 
the table. Like so many families, Project 2025 taking away the chance 
to work overtime could have meant us losing our home or going to bed 
hungry.
  When my dad was diagnosed with MS at just 48 years old, he needed his 
health insurance to visit the doctor and afford his medications. 
Project 2025 allowing an insurance corporation to kick him off his 
healthcare coverage just because he was sick would have been a death 
sentence, just as it could be for millions of Americans with 
preexisting conditions.
  When my husband and I decided to start our family but struggled to 
get pregnant, we were forced to turn to IVF, and we are so fortunate to 
have our two beautiful daughters, but as we saw in Alabama, Project 
2025's proposals that endanger IVF fertility treatments can be 
physically and mentally debilitating for couples turning to fertility 
treatments as their last hope.
  Finally, I am the proud product of Lowell Public Schools, from 
elementary to high school. Like any public school student, I can tell 
you so many stories of teachers who made the most of the little 
resources they had to give us every opportunity to succeed.
  Ripping that lifeline away from working families, as Project 2025 
proposes, is a horrible idea, plain and simple.
  Project 2025 will take us backward to a time when life was great if 
you were wealthy or well connected, but that same time was hard. It was 
hard for workers and parents like mine who wanted nothing more than to 
give their kids a better life than they had. That is why I am here to 
say that we can't and we won't go back.
  House Democrats will move our country forward with a vision where 
people are proud to be an American again.
  They are proud because working families aren't just getting by and 
making ends meet, but they are getting ahead.

[[Page H5655]]

  They are proud because women have the freedom to make their own 
healthcare decisions without the fear of politicians getting in the 
way.
  Lastly, they are proud because our children can go to class and 
thrive while us moms and dads don't have to worry about their school 
being defunded or, worse, the next target of a deranged mass shooter.
  Mr. Speaker, that should be something all of us can get behind, and 
it is why I will urge my Republican colleagues to reject Project 2025 
and work with us to build a future where people have every chance to 
get ahead.

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