California House Democrats seek to tie Trump to conservatives' controversial Project 2025
California House Democrats — seeking to connect former President Trump to the ultraconservative policy blueprint Project 2025 — held a public hearing Tuesday to lay out "its devastating impact on hardworking American taxpayers."
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) founded the Stop Project 2025 Task Force in June, designating it a "central hub" for preempting what members see as a "right-wing plot to undermine democracy."
Democrats see bringing attention to Project 2025 as a winning election strategy. Numerous polls have shown that the detailed plan is unpopular among a majority of voters.
Read more:Project 2025 director leaving post; Trump campaign welcomes 'demise' of right-wing playbook
House Republicans in recent weeks have pursued their own campaign strategy, hosting hearings and official events about the border crisis and illegal immigration in hopes of appealing to frustrated voters.
Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025. He has claimed he doesn't know what it's about or who is behind it, though it was drafted in part by his former advisors. His campaign has its own policy platform, called Agenda47.
The 922-page Project 2025 was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, with input from former Trump administration advisors. Among the proposals are disbanding the Department of Education, slashing climate protections, deploying the military to the southern border and limiting abortion access.
Last week, the task force launched a confidential tip line seeking information about a Project 2025 playbook for the first 180 days of a second Trump presidency that hasn't been made public.
At the hearing, speakers included an ultrasound tech at an abortion clinic in Georgia who must deny care to women because of the state's six-week ban; an hourly worker at a Ford plant in Michigan who spoke of how Project 2025 would attack workers' rights; and a retiree from Virginia who depends on Social Security income who detailed the dangers she believes Project 2025 poses to Medicare.
Read more:Why Project 2025 and the GOP platform bash California
Huffman called Project 2025 the culmination of years of work by extreme Republicans. As evidence, he pointed to the three conservative Supreme Court justices Trump appointed, who overturned federal abortion rights and ruled that he has immunity from criminal prosecution for some of his conduct as president.
Huffman also played an ad in which he narrates how he believes Project 2025 would ruin the country.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) recalled going public in 2021 with her decision as a 16-year-old to travel to Mexico for an abortion before the procedure was legalized in the U.S. In the 1960s, unsafe abortions were the primary killer of African American women and girls, she said.
"If Donald Trump has his way, a 16-year-old person like me, like so many today, wouldn't have the freedom to make their own decisions," she said. "And if they tried, the government would try to find a way — and would find a way — to punish them."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
