Thousand-Page Bucket List of Extremist Policies Would Destroy Federal Government As We Know It

“It is their pathway to enact widespread, wholesale policy violence.”

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) sounded the alarm on the far-right manifesto “Project 2025,” a thousand-page bucket list of extremist policies that would uproot every government agency and disrupt the lives of every person who calls America home.

In her line of questioning, Rep. Pressley highlighted the harm of Schedule F, an executive order that would replace tens of thousands of civil servants with partisan sycophants and destroy government infrastructure. She also discussed other harmful policies called for in Project 2025, including eliminating the Department of Education; expanding and expediting use of the federal death penalty; national book bans in schools; and banning the federal government’s use of words such as “diversity,” “gender,” “reproductive health,” and “abortion.”

A full transcript of her exchange with the witness is below and the full video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Sounds Alarm on Far-Right Manifesto “Project 2025”
House Committee on Oversight and Reform
May 22, 2024

REP. PRESSLEY: Thank you for being here, Mr. Shriver.

The federal government has the largest and most diverse workforce in the country and Schedule F – an Executive Order that would replace tens of thousands of civil servants with partisan sycophants would destroy our government infrastructure—destroy it.

It is critical that we understand that the far-right extremists who are advocating for Schedule F see it as a means to an end. It is their pathway to enact widespread, wholesale policy violence.

One thing I know for sure about Trump and his sycophants is that they telegraph their harm.

Mr. Shriver, are you familiar with Project 2025?

MR. SHRIVER: Congresswoman, I’ve read about that.

REP. PRESSLEY: For many people, this is their first time hearing about it, and we must sound the alarm. 

Project 2025 is a far-right manifesto. It is a one-thousand-page bucket list of extremist policies that would uproot every government agency and disrupt the lives of every person who calls this country home.

I won’t detail every aspect, but I’ll share some highlights:

The Department of Educationwould be eliminated, cutting students off from civil rights protections and ending essential title one funding for K through 12 schools.

The Department of Justicewould go on a murdering spree. It would rush to use the death penalty and expand its use to even more people while circumventing due process protections.

Project 2025 not only calls for national book bans in schools, but also creates a list of banned words for the federal government that would be deleted from quote, “every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, and piece of legislation that exists,” end quote.

Here are just a few of the words on the list: diversity, gender, reproductive health, and of course conservatives want to ban the word abortion.

On that note,abortion care would be inaccessible and illegal, no matter where you live.

Take it from them: on page six of its playbook, Project 2025 states, quote “The Dobbs decisionis just the beginning,” end quote.

People even in my district, the Massachusetts 7^th, a leader in repro[ductive] justice, would be criminalized for pursuing essential healthcare.

Now, we could have an entire hearing on how these policies would quite literally ruin and end lives – and I didn’t even touch upon proposals for housing, climate change, worker protections, and more.

If enacted, Project 2025 would destroy the federal government as we know it.

I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an Associated Press article titled “Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and to replace it with Trump’s vision.”

CHAIR: Without objection so ordered.

REP. PRESSLEY: Now, some may be wondering why this is germane to today’s hearing with the Office of Personnel Management.

Mr. Shriver, do you know who the director of Project 2025 is?

MR. SHRIVER: No, Congresswoman, I don’t.

REP. PRESSLEY: The director is Paul Dans, former chief of staff of OPM under the Trump administration.

And I am concerned about the ethics of Mr. Dans leveraging non-public information or relationships forged during his government service to lead and advance this far-right, extremist agenda.

We need oversight and accountability of Project 2025.

Thank you and I yield back.

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