Paid for by Future Forward USA Action, futureforwardusa.org.
Future Forward USA Action
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In 2023, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with a strong MAGA following, published an extreme plan called “Project 2025” to overhaul the entire government after the next election. The plan is available online for all to read, and it urges readers to “Get the facts” in bold red letters. Spanning over 922 pages, it outlines a plan to radically reshape the U.S. government — and the American way of life.
It explains how basic rights and personal freedoms would be extremely limited or removed. The checks and balances system would be greatly reduced.
In just a few months, the democratic government that the Founding Fathers fought to build more than two centuries ago would be restructured under a fast-and-furious timeline explained in the introduction.¹ Scientists have expressed alarm about the danger this plan poses to the progress that has been made in fighting climate change and protecting public health.
Here’s a snapshot of how it could impact everyday life for Americans and the environment, from weather reports to safe air quality.
1. Eliminating the National Weather Service
Many Americans start their day by checking the weather. Project 2025 targets the National Weather Service as part of its attack on nearly every facet of the U.S. government.
Established by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870 under his Republican administration, the National Weather Service monitors weather to protect the lives and property of everyday Americans, as well as the nation’s economy. Its data helps communities prepare for extreme situations, such as heat waves, floods and wildfires.
Project 2025 criticizes the practice of preparing for unpredictable events like hurricanes, labeling it as ‘the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable.’² It also proposes breaking up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), which could leave people in the path of destructive weather events at risk, uninformed or force them to pay for life-saving information.³
2. Open public lands to drilling
U.S. history is a source of pride for many Americans that they want to preserve. The patriotic song “America the Beautiful” celebrates natural wonders “from sea to shining sea.” But the natural beauty of America is another area that Project 2025 targets — the Antiquities Act.
Signed into law in 1906, An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities (Antiquities Act) was enacted under President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican leader for most of his career. It provides legal protection of cultural and natural resources of historic or scientific interest on federal lands. In practice, it prevents Big Oil companies from drilling on public lands.
Project 2025 suggests giving the president full authority to sell off the nation’s precious treasures to the highest bidder. This means national lands and endangered species’ habits could be closed to the public and open for oil drilling. This could lead to increased pollution in the water and air.
3. Halting climate action
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created on Dec. 2, 1970, by President Richard Nixon to protect human health and the environment. Nixon, a Republican, also served as vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Since its inception, the EPA has had support from both sides of the aisle. Among its successes is the 98% decrease in lead concentrations in U.S. air from 1980 to 2005, following the phase-out of leaded gasoline and emissions controls, along with other national and state regulations.
Project 2025 proposes a conservative EPA that only serves its own agenda —which is largely to bow to corporate interests over people — including weakening protections against PFAS, pollutants that contaminate air and water.⁴
This also includes attacks to programs like the Justice40 Initiative introduced to promote clean energy investments in disadvantaged communities.
‘Facts of life’ for the future
Project 2025 doesn’t just roll back decades of climate and public health progress. It also bundles political issues, such as privatization, with religious fundamentalism, such as abortion rights, removing all barriers between church and state. It also proposes a risky overhaul of U.S. government structures.
That means it’s not just the planet’s future that will be affected by Project 2025. While the U.S. is already listed with nations like Nicaragua and El Salvador by the Center for Reproductive Rights for limiting a woman’s right to an abortion, Project 2025 aims to ban abortion nationwide as a top priority.
Given what’s at stake, from clean energy to job security, every American should read the plan firsthand to see if its “facts of life” match their own.
Paid for by Future Forward USA Action, futureforwardusa.org.
Sources:
¹Page xiii, https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
²Page 625, https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
³Page 674, https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
⁴Page 417, https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
Members of the editorial and news staff of USA TODAY Network were not involved in the creation of this content.
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Publish date : 2024-08-28 02:00:00
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