Congressional Leaders Form Task Force to Counter Project 2025 and Defend Democracy

Task Force designed to stop far-right government takeover outlined in ultra conservative manifesto

June 11, 2024

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) announced the formation of a new working group designed to stop Project 2025, a far-right roadmap for Donald Trump to seize “supreme” powers and radically undermine reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, racial justice, free speech, and other democratic institutions and freedoms. The Stop Project 2025 Task Force will serve as a central hub for pro-democracy Members of Congress, civil society, and affected communities to coordinate on examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting this rightwing plot to undermine democracy.

“Project 2025 is more than an idea, it's a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will. This is an unprecedented embrace of extremism, fascism, and religious nationalism, orchestrated by the radical right and its dark money backers. We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late,” said Rep. Huffman. “Through this Task Force, leaders across the ideological spectrum and experts in every policy area that’s under attack are uniting to protect democracy as we know it. Donald Trump and those behind Project 2025 are ready to turn America into a theocratic regime if they get the chance – and we are going to be ready to stop them.” 

Members of the Task Force represent the diversity of the Democratic Caucus and are leaders on many of the issues currently under attack by Project 2025. Founding members joining Rep. Huffman are Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (CA-36), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-28), Equality Caucus and Labor Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and Ranking Member of Oversight Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07).

“Project 25 is a radical, extreme, pro-authoritarianism plan pushed by conservatives who are desperate to take our country backwards,” said Rep. Lieu. “It is a movement led by far-right extremists that attacks our nation’s founding principles, such as our system of checks and balances, freedom of speech and of the press, and separation of church and state. These are the very principles that keep our country strong and make America the best nation on earth. Beyond that, the project’s reckless policy proposals include banning abortion, removing protections for LGBTQI+ Americans, abolishing the Department of Education, and abandoning efforts to fight climate change. Project 25 presents a bleak and dangerous vision for America. I’m pleased to join this task force to counteract Project 25 and protect our democracy.”

“As we face the critical juncture of the upcoming election, where fundamental rights like abortion access hang in the balance, this task force is not just timely - it’s essential,” Rep. DeGette said. “We must counteract the radical roadmap laid out by Project 2025 to ensure that our country does not go backwards at the hands of their extremist agenda.”

“Project 2025 is the product of a coordinated effort by extremists who want to strip away protections for minority communities, including LGBTQI+ people, and undermine the foundations of our democracy,” said Rep. Pocan. “I look forward to working with members of this task force to thwart Project 2025’s extreme vision for the country, expose their dangerous plot to the American people, and work to safeguard the rights of the queer community and other minorities against this radical manifesto.”

“Project 2025 is Donald Trump’s blueprint for destroying our democracy. It attacks the very foundations that this country was built on and seeks to limit Americans’ rights to further embolden MAGA extremists. We can and must stand up to ensure that Project 2025 never sees the light of day, and instead ensure that our Proposition Agenda, bold, progressive and popular policies, are at the forefront,” said Rep. Jayapal.

“The aspiring felon-in-chief, his think tank allies and all the political criminals he pardoned have previewed ‘Project 2025’ for a nightmarish second term,” said Rep. Raskin. “This far-right roadmap for a ‘post-constitutional’ America would make January 6th extremism a governing ideology. They plan to centralize all power in the presidency, exercise political control over the Justice Department, implant Christian white nationalism throughout the government, strip tens of thousands of professional government workers of their civil service protections, create an army of political loyalists and sycophants in government, ban abortion nationwide, set up immigrant detention camps, deport millions of people, repeal all climate safety regulations and exact criminal revenge against reporters, judges and Democrats. Constitutional patriots and democracy defenders must have proactive and aggressive strategies to fortify our democratic institutions through 2025 and beyond. I thank Representative Jared Huffman for rallying our Task Force colleagues around this essential cause: to reject the path of right-wing authoritarianism and defend constitutional democracy and personal freedom in America.”

“This Task Force will serve a critical role as we look to bring attention to and counter Project 2025, an extreme right-wing policy and staffing blueprint for a potential Trump second-term. The policies laid out and the staff identified by Project 2025 represent a threat to civil rights, democracy, reproductive freedoms, climate action, and racial justice. We will not remain silent in the face of these threats. It is our duty to stand up, speak out, and take decisive action to fight for the rights of all Americans and foundations of our democracy that have put in place to protect those rights,” said Rep. Barragán.

The Task Force is supported by many partner organizations, including leading civil society groups dedicated to the defense of democracy, good government, reproductive freedom, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, workers rights, and racial, economic, environmental, and social justice.

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More on Project 2025

The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank funded by shady dark money interests, has been plotting Project 2025, an unprecedented scheme to help the next conservative president quickly enact the most radical agenda in the history of the country. The plan is laying the groundwork for a new president to seize power and enact broad changes that are deeply unpopular with the American people. This includes vastly expanding the ability of the president to purge civil servants who are not sufficiently loyal to this extreme right-wing agenda.

Within the first 180 days of taking office, the plan calls for attacks on reproductive rights, the rule of law, and the expansion of the cruel and inhumane immigration policies from the Trump administration. Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan that would touch every department of the federal government and fundamentally reshape the lives of the American people. The Project’s four-pronged strategy that includes:

  • A laundry list of extreme policies to be enacted across the federal government;  
  • A blueprint for how to use existing authority – or expand the power of the presidency – to implement right-wing policy proposals;
  • A database of right-wing ideologues who wholeheartedly endorse this power grab and far-right policies;
  • Training for staff so they can more efficiently enact this extreme agenda.

While Project 2025 is being run out of the Heritage Foundation, its advisors include former Trump White House aides like Stephen Miller, and more than half the groups supporting the effort have received $21.5 million in funding from Leonard Leo’s dark money network.