By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO
On Sept. 24, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.-8), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.-5), Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.-33) and members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee held a discussion about Project 2025 at the U.S. Capitol to warn voters of what is at stake if former President Donald Trump is reelected.
During the discussion, representatives touched on several key issues that Project 2025 proposes, which includes criminalizing abortion nationwide, increasing the cost of living and slashing Social Security and Medicare programs.
Clark told reporters that Project 2025 is “devastating.”
“Less freedom for you, more control for them. Less money in your pocket, more tax breaks for their rich friends,” said Clark.
“They have done us one favor: they’ve warned us,” added the Democratic lawmaker. “So when they tell us that Donald Trump’s second term will be even worse than his first, we need to believe them.”
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30) attended the hearing and told the AFRO that the most vulnerable will be impacted if Project 2025 is implemented.
“It’s about getting rid of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. It’s meant to destroy us and democracy and also looks at consolidating power at the hands of the president,” said Crockett. “When we look at what the U.S. Supreme Court did when they decided they were going to crown him king Trump and give him immunity, that has never been warranted in this country.”
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-7) told reporters that matters will worsen under a Trump presidency.
“Republicans will not stop until abortion is criminalized nationwide,” said Pressley. “After all, just six pages into the more than 900 pages of Trump’s Project 2025 it says, ‘The Dobbs decision is just the beginning,’ and we just saw how they celebrated the Dobbs decision.”
Jeffries told reporters that House Democrats have vowed to work with House Republicans on “any issue…in order to make life better for the American people.”
“At the same time, we’ve also made clear that we will push back against Republican extremism whenever necessary and we have repeatedly been called upon to do just that,” said Jeffries.
The House minority leader told the AFRO that “Project 2025 will end American life as we know it.”
The hearing also featured testimony from U.S. citizens working in health care, including Gracie Ladd, a nurse located in Milwaukee, Wisc.; Suki O., an ultrasound technician who works at an abortion clinic in Georgia and Vicki Gonzalez, a nurse stationed at a local hospital in Miami, Fla. During each testimony, the witnesses discussed how they all felt the impacts of Trump-enacted policies and urged voters to cast their ballots in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to avoid the implementation of Project 2025.
In recent months, Trump has denied that he has any ties to Project 2025 and some House Republicans have come to his defense.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.-14) told the AFRO that Project 2025 is simply a talking point for Democrats.
“I think the biggest concern if [Democrats] stay in office, they’re going to keep our borders open, inflation will continue to be high,” said Greene, “senior citizens in my district are having to choose between paying rent and being able to afford their medications.”
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.-19) told the AFRO voters should not be concerned with Project 2025.
“This is the typical political gaslighting that happens when you start getting close to the elections,” said Donalds. “The RNC released their plan, that’s the overall framework that President Trump is going to move his agenda through.”
Despite Trump and House Republicans’ efforts to distance the former president from Project 2025, Jeffries told reporters and voters that, “Republicans don’t simply have concepts, they have a plan.”
“It’s a detailed plan. It’s a 922-page plan,” said Jeffries. “It’s a dangerous, diabolical and dastardly plan that if implemented would destroy our democracy as we know it.”
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