Nearly Three Out of Every Five Riders Aligned with Extremist Authoritarian Playbook
Note: This press release was originally distributed by the Clean Budget Coalition. The Center is a member of the coalition.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2024
Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org
Brian Gumm, bgumm@progressivereform.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republicans have added more than 300 Project 2025 poison pills to their draft spending bills, according to the Clean Budget Coalition and the Center for Progressive Reform.
“Project 2025 is far more than just a blueprint for an authoritarian presidency. Republicans in Congress are already trying to pass Project 2025 into law by hiding hundreds of its most controversial provisions inside the must-pass annual spending bills,” said James Goodwin, policy director of the Center for Progressive Reform. “It is disturbing to see conservative lawmakers try to enact their extreme Project 2025 agenda through such an anti-democratic process.”
Congress must finalize the annual spending bills by December 20 regardless of who wins the election. The Clean Budget Coalition and its hundreds of member groups are calling on Congress to remove all the harmful riders from any final spending package, including the hundreds of Project 2025 poison pills.
An analysis of all of the riders in the draft FY 25 spending bills found that hundreds of them mirror Project 2025 objectives. They would:
Threaten Individual Rights
- Racial discrimination in healthcare. A rider in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would block a rule meant to prevent insurers from discriminating against individuals based on their race.
- Transgender discrimination in public schools. A rider in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would block the U.S. Department of Justice from enforcing nondiscrimination laws against public school employees who discriminate against transgender students.
- Abortion care for veterans. A rider in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would deny abortion care to veterans.
Privilege Religious Views
- Discriminatory religious beliefs. A rider in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill would officially sanction anti-LGTBQ+ discrimination by blocking covered agencies from punishing such discriminatory acts as long as the individual who commits them does so due to their religious beliefs.
- School prayer. A rider in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill would bar the U.S. Department of Education from blocking school prayer programs in public schools.
Hand More Power to the President
- Undermine independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A rider in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill would restructure the agency’s leadership giving the president more freedom to interfere in its decision-making and mission to protect consumers from financial industry scams and abuses.
- Unchecked immigration enforcement. A rider in the Homeland Security appropriations bill would give the president, through their Homeland Security Secretary, expanded powers to reprogram federal money to support enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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