Project 2025 a ‘Cheesecake Factory menu’ for conservative policy
Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, told USA Today that Project 2025 is a manual for conservative policy thought.
One phrase is nearly impossible to escape this election cycle: Project 2025, the political action plan by The Heritage Foundation, a well-established conservative think tank.
The over 900-page document, formally titled the Mandate for Leadership, is the brainchild of a massive coalition of conservative organizations across the country—many of which Tennessee lawmakers are members of.
The proposed plan is intended to serve as a transitional plan for a potential incoming Donald Trump administration and has stirred intense controversy in recent months for its expansive conservative policy proposals, some which include massive cuts to federal agencies and notable First Amendment concerns.
Who is behind the plan, and how is it connected to Tennessee?
In the opening pages of the lengthy Project 2025, a list of over 50 conservative organizations on the plan’s advisory board can be found, along with eight pages of individual contributing authors.
Of the 54 advisory organizations analyzed by The Tennessean, 19 had notable connections to the Volunteer State, along with others that have minor connections.
The organization with the largest Tennessee involvement is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a national nonprofit organization of conservative legislators who create model legislation for state distribution.
There are 28 Tennessee lawmakers listed as members of the organization, including Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, and Sen. Ed Jackson, R-Jackson, who each serve as the Tennessee state chair for the organization.
Neither Todd nor Jackson returned requests for comment on whether they contributed to the project.
Members also include U.S. District Court Judge and former Sen. Mark Norris, who served on the group’s Civil Justice Task Force, and former Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron, who formerly served as the former state chair.
Another organization listed on the advisory board with Tennessee connections is the Conservative Partnership Institute, a networking organization. U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, paid the organization $4,000 in membership dues in January, according to FEC filings, while U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, paid the organization $5,000 in November, also according to FEC filings.
A spokesperson for Ogles said the payment was directly related to his role on the Board of Directors for the House Freedom Caucus, while a spokesperson for Burchett said that to her knowledge, the representative “has not been involved with the development of the Mandate for Leadership.”
One Tennessee state lawmaker, Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, has an affiliation with the Heritage Foundation listed in his representative biography.
When asked if he contributed to the report in any way, and what his thoughts were on the policies within, Powers said he “did not have anything to do with putting the document together,” but he did “agree with the positions they have taken,” while noting that he “just scanned through it.”
Other notable Tennessee connections include:
American Center for Law and Justice: Chief Counsel and co-founder is Jay Sekulow, a well-known conservative lawyer and media personality who defended Trump during his impeachment trial, who later came under fire in 2020 after an Associated Press investigation found he had absorbed over $65 million in funds from his various charities. He lives with his family in Brentwood.Concerned Women for America: A conservative evangelical political action group that “protects and promotes Biblical values and Constitutional principles,” according to its website. The group campaigns heavily against abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage and secular education. A Tennessee chapter of the organization is active. Family Policy Alliance and the Family Research Council: This organization is a conservative Christian organization that lobbies for key religious issues, including opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, types of sex education, and transgender rights. Former state Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, is president of the Tennessee chapter, Family Action Council of Tennessee. In a statement provided to The Tennessean, Fowler said the group was “not personally involved in any way in the development, publication, or dissemination of Project 2025 nor was the Family Action Council of Tennessee or Alliance for Law and Liberty.”Forge Leadership Network: A recruiting network for young conservatives, this organization sends students to professional development summits to train them to become conservative leaders. The organization held its most recent summit in Nashville in June, meeting with Gov. Bill Lee at the Capitol.FreedomWorks: U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, is an active member and received the group’s Freedom Fighter award in June 2020 alongside U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee.Independent Women’s Forum: A nonprofit conservative organization that specializes in economic policy and its effect on women, the organization was a major driving force behind the Tennessee Women’s Bill of Rights legislation, which was passed in 2023 and that codified the definition of “sex” as being determined by a person’s anatomy at the time of birth. The bill was largely decried by LGBTQ+ rights activists as a measure to further stigmatize those who identified as transgender, nonbinary or were born intersex.Oracle Corp: While not listed on the advisory board, the tech giant, which recently announced that it will be moving its world headquarters to Nashville under a $1.2 billion investment plan, was contracted by the Heritage Foundation to help pre-screen thousands of government workers using artificial intelligence, according to reporting by the New York Times. The screening is to create a list of Trump loyalists for him to potentially hire upon a potential second term, according to The Heritage Foundation.Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America: One of the largest nonprofit lobbying organizations for anti-abortion issues, the group embarked on a massive campaign effort to help solidify anti-abortion policies in Tennessee. In secret recordings obtained by ProPublica, the group — alongside Tennessee Right to Life — gave state lawmakers tips on how to avoid adding exceptions to the near-total ban on abortion, discussed tracking doctors who administer abortions at higher rates and advised that lawmakers wait for outrage to die down before revisiting regulating in vitro fertilization.Young America’s Foundation: One of the most influential young conservative nonprofit organizations in the nation, the group began on Vanderbilt University’s campus in 1969. It is now headquartered in Virginia.What is in Project 2025?
The Mandate for Leadership outlines an expansive list of conservative goals that intend to “rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left” and “build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration,” according to the Heritage Foundation’s website.
Despite Trump’s recent statements on social media claiming that he knows “nothing about Project 2025,” has “no idea who is behind it” and has “nothing to do with them,” the Heritage Foundation has wielded heavy influence within every conservative administration since 1973 — including the previous Trump administration, in which Trump passed 64% of the Foundation’s policy recommendations in his first year alone, according to data obtained from the Heritage Foundation.
Key initiatives in the project include, but are far from limited to:
Mass deportation of undocumented immigrants (Chapter 5)Rescinding regulations that bar discrimination “on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics” (pg. 584)Opposition to same-sex marriage and same-sex couples adopting children by seeking to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family” (pg. 481)Reversal of all DEI programs and termination of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity (pg. 5, 708)Ending the Head Start program, which provides preschool and early child development services to low-income families (pg. 482)Tightening restrictions on children receiving free school lunch (pg. 302)Outlawing pornography and imprisoning anyone who “produces or distributes” it. (pg. 5)Registering educators and librarians who are found “purveying” material deemed pornographic as sex offenders (pg. 5)
In addition to these initiatives, it calls for reorganizing or dismantling federal agencies including the FBI, the Department of Education, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—which includes the National Weather Service—the Department of Homeland Security and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as banning drugs used in medication abortions and making drastic changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
A highly anticipated addition to the project titled “Project Sovereignty 2025” will be a publicly released list of names of federal employees that the Heritage Foundation and affiliated organization American Accountability Project deem “anti-American bad actors burrowed into the administrative state.”
Tennessee serves as a ‘canary in a coal mine’ for restrictive policies, state rep says
Amid the noise in Tennessee about what Project 2025 could bring, one lawmaker is drawing attention to what is already here.
“I’ve been telling people that Project 2025 is Tennessee 2024 because we have been the tip of the spear in experiencing some of these rollbacks that would be expanded nationally under this proposal,” said Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville.
He called the document a “blueprint of eroding democracy,” pointing out how similar the proposed policies are to laws recently passed by the Tennessee legislature. He cited the task force created to study whether the state could reject federal funding for education because of “federal strings” attached to the funding as one example.
A substantial portion of Project 2025 calls for the dismantling of the Department of Education. In its place, Project 2025 calls for a number of privatized solutions — including ones similar to Lee’s push for school choice legislation.
An additional section of Project 2025 calling for the registering of educators and librarians who are found “purveying” material deemed pornographic as sex offenders echoes a growing movement in Tennessee to monitor and ban content deemed inappropriate—which often includes sex education material or any mention of LGBTQ+ issues—within public and school libraries.
More: ‘Wild West’ of book bans: New legislation, complaints lead to increasing debates
Jones said watching these issues across Tennessee can show how Project 2025’s similar policies could impact people nationwide, especially on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, education and religious freedom.
“I really think that Tennessee can be a canary in the coal mine to warn the nation,” he said. “We must recognize that we are the laboratories where they test out regressive policies before nationalizing them.”
The USA TODAY Network – Tennessee’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham
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Publish date : 2024-08-06 23:03:00
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