Chuck Darwin<p>Democrats have warned of the damage that <a href="https://c.im/tags/Project2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Project2025</span></a> could do to the federal government and access to reproductive care if former President Trump wins in November.</p><p>Why it matters: The <a href="https://c.im/tags/Heritage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Heritage</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Foundation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Foundation</span></a>-backed plan would do far more than that. Its 900-page wishlist could reshape daily life for millions of Americans if some of its less publicized recommendations are adopted.</p><p>The big picture: The foundation has been a fixture in conservative politics for decades, and its roadmap for the next Republican administration zeroes in on programs and initiatives the GOP has long targeted.</p><p>At least 140 former Trump administration officials contributed to Project 2025, CNN reports.</p><p>Trump has publicly disavowed the project; his campaign has pointed to his own policy plan, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Agenda47" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Agenda47</span></a>, and the official Republican Party <a href="https://c.im/tags/platform" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>platform</span></a> as his agenda if he wins in November.</p><p>Yes, but: <br>The foundation boasted that the GOP presidential nominee carried out roughly two-thirds of its 2015 recommendations within a year of taking office the first time.</p><p>⭐️Here is some of what it wants during a second Trump presidency.</p><p>🔥Privatizing weather forecasts</p><p>The project calls for dissolving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and either transferring its functions to other agencies or eliminating them entirely.</p><p>It argues NOAA must be terminated because its research on the effects of human-caused climate change from greenhouse gas emissions <br>"is harmful to future U.S. prosperity."</p><p>The National Weather Service (NWS), one of NOAA's sub-agencies that produces free <a href="https://c.im/tags/weather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>weather</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/forecasts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>forecasts</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/warnings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>warnings</span></a> for the public, <br>💥"should fully commercialize its forecasting operations," the plan recommends.</p><p>Effectively privatizing weather data could <br>💥hinder Americans' access to weather data and how the U.S. accesses other countries' weather models, the Atlantic reports.</p><p>Zoom out: Throughout all scientific agencies in the government, the plan calls on the president to "ensure appointees agree with administration aims," which may <br>💥allow political ideologues to overrule the expertise of trained scientists.</p><p>🔥Shrinking the social safety net</p><p>Critical federal programs meant to support people experiencing economic hardship and children living in poverty would be significantly overhauled or eliminated under the plan.</p><p>Its reforms would make it 💥more difficult for people to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as "food stamps."</p><p>SNAP is the country's largest nutritional assistance program, serving an average of around 41 million people <br>— or over 10% percent of the population — per month.</p><p>The foundation also wants to roll back changes made by the Biden administration to increase SNAP benefits over 10 years to keep up with rising food costs.</p><p>Zoom in: The foundation wants Trump to tighten the criteria for when states may give people exemption waivers for SNAP's work requirements, which are issued to ensure access to food stamps during times of high unemployment.</p><p>The recommendation echoes a reform the Trump administration had pursued during his first term before being sued by a coalition of states and D.C.</p><p>At the time, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that the changes would strip about 688,000 people of their SNAP benefits.</p><p>The foundation would also like to make it harder for people to qualify for SNAP benefits if they also receive aid from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, another federally funded assistance program.</p><p>The recommendation would revive yet another Trump-era policy that was never finalized.</p><p>The USDA estimated at the time that 3.1 million people <br>— or 9% of SNAP recipients at the time <br>— would have lost their benefits from the change and would disproportionately affect households with at least one elderly member.</p><p>💥Eliminating free preschool</p><p>The foundation wants to end another key federal program: Head Start, which offers free early childhood education, health and nutrition services to children from low-income families.</p><p>That would eliminate services for the families of roughly 800,000 children, two-thirds of whom are Black, Hispanic or Latino.<br>It seeks to limit the number of children who can qualify for free school meal programs while also calling for Republicans to block any effort to implement universal free school meal programs.<br>Capping funding for Medicaid</p><p>The plan calls for caps to how much federal funding states may receive to help pay for Medicaid costs, though it doesn't specify how such caps would be determined.</p><p>The caps would ensure that federal Medicaid spending does not keep pace with expected enrollment and health care cost increases, resulting in a <br>💥significant cut to funding over time.</p><p>It calls for setting time limits on Medicaid coverage and imposing lifetime caps on benefits "to disincentivize permanent dependence."</p><p>[1/2]</p><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/07/20/project-2025-trump-what-to-know" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">axios.com/2024/07/20/project-2</span><span class="invisible">025-trump-what-to-know</span></a></p>