Washington, D.C. — Lawmakers and experts convened at the Center for American Progress to highlight concerns regarding Project 2025, a plan they argue would undermine the country's system of checks and balances, granting far-right politicians, judges, and corporations increased control over American lives.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) characterized the initiative as an extension of the January 6th insurrection efforts. “I see this as basically a continuation of the work of January 6th,” Raskin stated. He detailed several goals of the plan, including cutting federal funds for public schools, abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, restricting voting rights, politicizing federal employees, and reversing progress on climate change initiatives.
The proposal also aims to replace approximately 50,000 career federal workers with right-wing ideologues to reshape government operations. According to Raskin, this aligns with broader objectives such as dismantling Social Security and Medicare programs, weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice against political opponents, and weakening union organization efforts.
“We’ve got to be moving democracy forward, not regressing to some kind of semimonarchical, fascistic form of government,” Raskin added.
State lawmakers noted that similar shifts in executive power are already occurring in states like Florida, Iowa, and Texas. State Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) expressed concerns about proposed nationwide bans on abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF), contraception, gay marriage—and potentially even recreational sex—under Project 2025’s framework. “This is the Christian Taliban,” Talarico said. “They are perverting my Christian faith and subverting our democracy.”
Mary McCord, former U.S. assistant attorney general for national security highlighted a recent Supreme Court decision that grants presidents presumptive immunity for official acts and absolute immunity when exercising core constitutional powers. She warned that this could enable presidents to direct investigations by the Department of Justice without fear of repercussions.
“That means launching sham investigations into probably some of us in this room...directing the FBI to engage in various types of surveillance,” McCord explained.
Panelists also discussed Project 2025’s intent to undermine civil rights by eliminating terms such as “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” “reproductive health,” and “gender” from agency regulations. The plan advocates halting ongoing Title IX investigations and legalizing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights remarked that Project 2025 "calls us to a second civil war." She emphasized its potential threat to democratic principles established through historical civil rights victories.
“Either we’re going to stand on the victory...of understanding the role of a federal government in ensuring that we all have civil rights [or] we will not have a democracy," Wiley concluded.
For more information or expert commentary contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].
