10 things Michiganders should know about Project 2025

Republicans’ Project 2025 agenda promises sweeping changes for the federal government—and it could have a profound effect on Michiganders’ way of life.  

MICHIGAN—A detailed, 900-page plan to unleash an extreme, far-right agenda across the federal government if Donald Trump is elected in November threatens to reshape policies dealing with everything from public education and reproductive rights to student loans and tax rates.

And for Michiganders, the stakes couldn’t be higher ahead of this year’s presidential election.

A new report released this week from the Center for American Progress shows how Project 2025 would effectively gut a system of checks and balances within the federal government in order to enact an extreme, far-right agenda that would take power away from everyday Michiganders to give politicians, judges, and corporations more control over their lives.

What is Project 2025?

Project 2025 is an authoritarian policy playbook (crafted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation) to take over the federal government and enact a far-right agenda. 

The 900-page plan details how a second Trump administration could work to overrule and abolish various agencies in the federal government, consolidate power in the presidency, and then enact wholesale changes that would disrupt nearly every aspect of American life.

In recent weeks, and with polls showing that only 13% of Michiganders actually support the plan, Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025. On social media, he now claims to have “no idea” who assembled the 900-page blueprint—despite at least 140 of those people having worked in his administration, including six of Trump’s former cabinet secretaries. 

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has said that Trump is only trying to “gaslight” Michiganders on the issue, and has vowed to keep the Project 2025 agenda at bay if she’s elected president.  

What would Project 2025 mean for Michiganders?

Here are 10 ways that Project 2025 would harm Michiganders, according to a recent analysis from the Center for American Progress, which analyzed the projected impact in each state.

1. You would pay more taxes—unless you’re a multi-millionaire.

Project 2025 details plans to shift the tax burden from the wealthy onto the middle class.

Under the plan, the typical family of four in Michigan would see a tax increase of $2,979 per year, while 45,000 households in America reporting more than $10 million in income would each see an average annual tax cut of $1.5 million, according to the Center for American Progress.

2. You could lose your Social Security benefits.

Project 2025 outlines plans to raise the retirement age (from 67 to 69) for roughly 71% percent of Michigan residents—or about 7.2 million people. According to the Center for American Progress, that would cut their benefits by up to $8,900 after just one year of implementation.

All told, a media-wage retiree in Michigan would lose up to $100,000 in benefits over 10 years.

3. Michigan would lose thousands of new jobs.

Project 2025 calls for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which would jeopardize billions of dollars in clean energy investments that are poised to create thousands of new jobs in Michigan—including plenty of new automotive manufacturing jobs. 

A recent report shows that at least 58 new clean energy projects have been announced or moved forward in Michigan since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which has led to at least $25.4 billion in direct investment across Michigan and at least 21,490 new jobs statewide.

Cutting funding for federal infrastructure could also delay or halt critical projects underway across Michigan, leading to deteriorating roads, bridges, and public transportation systems. 

4. Forget about your reproductive rights. 

Project 2025 calls for the US Department of Justice—under Trump—to start enforcing the Comstock Act of 1873. That old federal law bans the mailing of “anything designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,” which could be interpreted to include medical instruments.

According to the Center for American Progress, that would effectively result in an abortion ban in Michigan without needing to pass any new laws at all. It would also mean that about 1.4 million women in Michigan would lose guaranteed access to free emergency contraception.

Another key part of the plan involves ending insurance coverage for reproductive care—including blocking the Department of Veterans Affairs from offering abortions to veterans, prohibiting the disbursement of Medicaid funds to states that require insurers to cover abortions, and cutting off funding to hospitals that perform abortions, even to save the life of the mother.

Project 2025 also instructs the Department of Justice to take legal action against local officials who refuse to bring cases against women and doctors who violate state-level abortion bans.

5. Child care would get more expensive.

Project 2025 includes plans to eliminate the Head Start program, which provides access to no-cost child care, among other services, for about 28,000 low-income children in Michigan.

According to the Center for American Progress, eliminating the program would wipe out a critical supply of child care in rural and other underserved communities that are already facing a child care shortage. Estimates show that more than 1 in 3 child care slots that are currently available in rural Michigan communities would be eliminated by cutting the Head Start program.

6. Public schools would be in trouble. 

One of the most extreme aspects of Project 2025 calls for eliminating the US Department of Education altogether—including Title I, which provides funds to ensure schools serving low-income students have additional resources beyond what’s available through local taxes.

Ending Title I would eliminate about 5,400 teaching positions across Michigan, which currently serve about 89,000 students statewide, according to the Center for American Progress.

7. Medicaid would never be the same.

Project 2025 also includes a proposal to impose “limits or lifetime caps” on Medicaid benefits—which would put about 430,000 low-income Michiganders on Medicaid at risk of losing coverage because they lack access to alternative forms of affordable health care coverage. 

According to the Center for American Progress, the plan would also raise the cost of prescription drugs for up to 673,000 Michiganders by eliminating out-of-pocket Medicare drug cost limits, as well as preventing the federal government from negotiating lower drug prices.

8. The Great Lakes would be in jeopardy.

Besides derailing clean energy investments that are set to combat climate change, Project 2025 also includes a proposal to revisit the federal designation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS) as hazardous substances—a move that could reportedly endanger Michigan’s efforts to get a handle on toxic pollution that has contaminated thousands of sites statewide.

The plans featured in Project 2025 also suggest various “cost-cutting” environmental reforms, including the placement of a new federal “political appointee” in an existing Ann Arbor office that monitors air pollution caused by cars and trucks, according to reports from Bridge Michigan. 

Rolling back federal regulations that protect the Great Lakes and other natural resources would also pose a clear threat to Michigan’s water quality and wildlife, environmental activists contend.

9. LGBTQ rights would be under attack.

Project 2025 reportedly includes plans to limit LGBTQ discrimination protections with a new, presidential order that would allow businesses to discriminate against people based on their religious beliefs—including by refusing service to anyone who is part of the LGBTQ community.

It also details a plan to reinstate the ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, prohibit public schools from referring to students by anything other than their birth names and pronouns without parental permission, and block federal funding for gender-affirming care.

Michigan recently enacted laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. A presidential directive, however, would threaten to override those protections—including by cutting funds to schools that try to abide by the anti-discrimination law.

In addition to removing all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal government, Project 2025 would also reportedly require the Department of Health and Human Services to “proudly state” that “married men and women are the idea, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them.”

10. Student loan forgiveness would evaporate.

Another key policy proposal baked into Project 2025 is to replace income-driven student loan repayment plans with a one-size-fits-all program, effectively increasing payments for all borrowers enrolled in an existing income-based plan—including those currently taking advantage of the Biden-Harris administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plans.

If the SAVE program is eliminated, Michigan borrowers can expect their loan repayments to increase by $2,700 to $4,100 each year on average, according to the Center for American Progress. 

What can Michiganders do about it?

Vote.

Because Project 2025 relies on a Republican president, Trump is effectively the linchpin to right-wing blueprint being able to come to fruition next year. Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly vowed to fight back against the far-right agenda if she’s elected to the presidency.

You can click here to ensure you’re registered to vote ahead of the presidential election. 

Get involved.

Besides participating in local and state elections, advocacy groups statewide are actively pushing back against the Project 2025 agenda—including through Facebook groups like Michiganders Against Project 2025, which recently hosted a series of rallies across the state. 

Contact your elected officials.

Call or email your local, state, and federal elected officials to express concerns and advocate for policies that protect Michigan’s quality of life. It’s their job to represent their constituents. 

READ MORE: Kamala Harris says Trump and Project 2025 threaten Michiganders’ rights

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