Rep. Jared Huffman Launches Task Force to Counter Project 2025
On Tuesday, Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02), announced the formation of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force.
The creation of the task force is a direct response to Project 2025, which is driven by The Heritage Foundation and endorsed by numerous Christian nationalist political players. Project 2025 is the far-right plan to reshape democracy, seize and consolidate executive powers, and completely upend separation of church and state, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ equality, racial justice, free speech, and many other democratic institutions and freedoms.
The Project 2025 agenda is planned to kickstart if far-right, Christian nationalist candidates win a majority in the 2024 election, and within the first 180 days of taking office promises attacks on reproductive rights, the rule of law, and the expansion of the cruel and inhumane Trump-era immigration policies. Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan that would touch every department of the federal government and fundamentally reshape the lives of the American people.
The Stop Project 2025 Task Force aims to counter the Project 2025 agenda, and will serve as a “central hub for pro-democracy Members of Congress, civil society, and affected communities on examining, highlighting, preempting, and counteracting this rightwing plot to undermine democracy,” according to a statement by Rep. Huffman’s office.
“Project 2025 is more than an idea, it’s a dystopian plot that’s already in motion to dismantle our democratic institutions, abolish checks and balances, chip away at church-state separation, and impose a far-right agenda that infringes on basic liberties and violates public will. This is an unprecedented embrace of extremism, fascism, and religious nationalism, orchestrated by the radical right and its dark money backers. We need a coordinated strategy to save America and stop this coup before it’s too late,” said Rep. Huffman. “Through this Task Force, leaders across the ideological spectrum and experts in every policy area that’s under attack are uniting to protect democracy as we know it….Those behind Project 2025 are ready to turn America into a theocratic regime if they get the chance—and we are going to be ready to stop them.”
According to Rep. Huffman’s congressional site, members of the Stop Project 2025 Task Force represent the diversity of the Democratic Caucus and are leaders on many of the issues currently under attack by Project 2025. Founding members of the Task Force, joining Rep. Huffman, are Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (CA-36), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-28), Equality Caucus and Labor Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02), Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chair Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and Ranking Member of Oversight Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07).
The Task Force is supported by many partner organizations, including leading civil society groups dedicated to the defense of democracy, good government, reproductive freedom, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, workers’ rights, and racial, economic, environmental, and social justice. The American Humanist Association, along with several of our allied secular organizations, has already endorsed the Stop Project 2025 Task Force.
“The American Humanist Association is very pleased that Congress, through the leadership of Rep. Jared Huffman and the Task Force, is taking action to preserve democracy and put a stop to the very serious threat that Project 2025 poses to the American people,” said Nicole Carr, Interim Executive Director for the American Humanist Association. “Project 2025 is an extremist playbook for how to dismantle democracy, codify Christian nationalism, and weaponize our institutions. We welcome this critical new task force and look forward to working together on decisive congressional action to stop this dangerous agenda from coming to fruition.”
If you’d like to read through what Project 2025 has in store, you can read the plan in its entirety here.