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joint economic committee
Dems in Congress Vow to Fight 'Inflationary Policies' of Trump
"Make no mistake: imposing new tariffs, mass deportations, and politicizing the Federal Reserve will lead to skyrocketing prices," said the Joint Economic Committee chair.
Nov 13, 2024
Leading Democratic lawmakers used new federal inflation data on Wednesday to renew their warnings about the economic threat posed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and pledge to keep fighting for working America—despite minorities in Congress.
"Democrats continue to fight to lower costs, and we saw promising signs last month that the cost of energy, groceries, and new vehicles stabilized. But with President-elect Trump in office, the reality for Americans' finances will become bleak," said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC).
Throughout Trump's campaign against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, JEC Democrats released reports warning about Project 2025, a sweeping far-right policy plan for the next Republican president. Although Trump tried at times to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation-led initiative, it was crafted by at least 140 people who served in his first administration—and since Election Day, there have been clear signals from the president-elect's allies that "yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda."
Heinrich said that "Trump and Republicans have led Americans to believe that their policies will lower costs, but make no mistake: imposing new tariffs, mass deportations, and politicizing the Federal Reserve will lead to skyrocketing prices. And that's only a sample of the inflationary policies Republicans have laid out in their Project 2025 playbook."
"Democrats have built a strong economy with smart policies that empower workers, grow the middle class, and lower costs for families. Meanwhile, Trump's policies will only help his CEO friends and ultimately lead to a weaker economy," he continued. "Democrats' commitment to families will not end because of a new Trump administration. We'll continue fighting to ease the financial burdens on families and ensure everyone across the country feels relief."
"American families cannot afford more Republican 'trickle-down' economics that throws the middle class under the bus while slashing taxes for billion-dollar corporations."
Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, responded similarly to the consumer price index (CPI) data on Wednesday, declaring, "Make no mistake: Trump's tariffs are taxes by another name—and it is hard-working American families who will pay the price."
"While today's report continues to show the progress we've made under the Biden-Harris administration, CEOs are already talking about raising prices for consumers in response to Trump's tax hikes," Boyle noted.
NPRreported last week that "forecasters at Pantheon Macroeconomics project that a 10% tariff would increase inflation by about 0.8 percentage points next year and impose an additional drag on U.S. manufacturers." Companies warning of price hikes if Trump's tariffs are implemented include AutoZone, Columbia Sportswear, and Stanley Black & Decker.
"I am deeply concerned that Trump's plans will force Americans to pay higher prices for everything from clothing to groceries," Boyle said. "American families cannot afford more Republican 'trickle-down' economics that throws the middle class under the bus while slashing taxes for billion-dollar corporations."
Steven Mnuchin, Trump's former treasury secretary, recently toldCNBC that tariffs, sanctions on Iran, and tax cuts will be top issues for Trump—despite Congressional Budget Office analysis that extending tax cuts the Republican passed in his first term to serve wealthy individuals and corporations would add $4.6 trillion to the national deficit.
"The top priority is extending the Trump tax cuts and the signature part of his program. I think that should be easy to pass in Congress, particularly if the Republicans control the House as well," Mnuchin said last week. Since then, decision desks have confirmed Republicans will retain their House majority, in addition to seizing control of the Senate and Oval Office.
Senate Republicans elected Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) as their next leader on Wednesday, just hours after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that, as expected, the CPI increased 0.2% in October and prices grew 2.6% over the last year. Economists said the data means the Federal Reserve will likely cut interest rates again next month.
Trump is set to be inaugurated in January and has suggested he may try to oust Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in 2017, despite legal barriers. Powell—who has faced criticism from some economists and progressive lawmakers for holding off on rate cuts for so long, at the expense of the working class—seems prepared to fight for his job.
As Fortunereported Monday:
During a news briefing on Thursday after the Fed cut rates, Powell was asked if he would resign if Trump demanded it, and Powell simply replied "no." Later he was asked if he thought a president has the authority to fire or demote a Fed chair or other Fed official in a leadership post, and Powell said, "Not permitted under the law."
That exchange prompted Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to post on X, "The executive branch should be under the direction of the president. That's how the Constitution was designed. The Federal Reserve is one of many examples of how we've deviated from the Constitution in that regard. Yet another reason why we should #EndTheFed.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk... then reposted it with a "100" emoji that indicates strong support.
Amid a wave of Cabinet picks, Trump announced Tuesday that Musk—the world's richest person and a leading supporter of his campaign—and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the not-yet-created Department of Government Efficiency, which will work to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies."
As Common Dreamsreported, Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, responded to the news by warning that "'cutting red tape' is shorthand for getting rid of the safeguards that protect us in order to benefit corporate interests."
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JEC Report Details 'Radical' Project 2025 Plan to Crush Climate, Education, and Healthcare
"If Republicans get their way, low-income children will go hungry, seniors will be forced to choose between lifesaving medication and putting food on the table, and the planet our kids inherit will be in jeopardy."
Aug 27, 2024
A congressional committee on Tuesday released an annotated report exposing how the far-right Project 2025 "would undercut working families by making healthcare and higher education less affordable; providing less support to families; and rolling back climate enforcement and research."
The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Democrats' publication is just two pages, but it highlights attacks on healthcare, education, and the climate found throughout the "radical" policy agenda for the next Republican president, which is over 900 pages long.
Along with the lengthy policy agenda, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project includes personnel recruitment, training, and a 180-day playbook. The project is led by the Heritage Foundation, backed by over 100 other groups.
The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, but at least 140 people who worked in his first administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries, have been involved with it. Also, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio)—a JEC member—wrote the foreword to Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts' new book.
"This Republican plan would concentrate power within the executive branch, make life harder for working people, and cede power to Big Pharma and other corporations."
As the JEC Democrats report details, on the healthcare front, Project 2025 calls for "reversing Democrats' efforts to lower prescription drug costs (see page 465)" and "putting lifetime limits or caps on Medicaid coverage (see page 468)."
The agenda also calls for overruling the Food and Drug Administration's "approval for medication abortion (see page 457), making it increasingly difficult to access these vital medicines by mail (see pages 458-459), and prohibiting the use of federal funding to cover the travel needed to obtain an abortion (see page 471)," the publication continues.
In terms of education, the report adds, Project 2025 advocates "gutting public school funding by creating a school voucher program (see page 347) and cutting Title I funding that supports low-income schools (see page 325)," as well as "rolling back free school meals programs for low-income children (see page 303)."
The impacts would be felt at all levels of education. It calls for "eliminating Head Start (see page 482)," an early childhood education program serving nearly 800,000 kids, along with "ending the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) (see page 354) and creating a new, less generous income-driven repayment (IDR) plan (see page 337)."
The report notes that Project 2025's plans for wrecking the global climate include "directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to favor fossil fuels over renewables and raise market prices received by fossil fuel companies (see page 400)" and "gutting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement (see page 425)."
It also recommends "rolling back Democrats' investments in clean energy production that are cutting pollution and lowering emissions (see page 365)," "removing key protections for public lands (see page 532)," and "dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a hub for climate research and the primary source of weather data (see page 674)."
Overall, "this Republican plan would concentrate power within the executive branch, make life harder for working people, and
cede power to Big Pharma and other corporations," the report says, blasting the agenda as "an assault on the rule of law and a host of other core American freedoms."
In a statement announcing the new report—which follows JEC Democrats' analysis of Project 2025's anti-worker economic policies—committee Chair Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) stressed the importance of thwarting efforts to enact the far-right agenda.
"Republican's Project 2025 is a radical agenda that rolls back decades of progress we've made toward a better future for everyone," he said. "If Republicans get their way, low-income children will go hungry, seniors will be forced to choose between lifesaving medication and putting food on the table, and the planet our kids inherit will be in jeopardy. We can't let that happen."
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Trump-Aligned Project 2025 Would Mean Higher Taxes for Workers, 'Corporate Welfare' for the Rich
"The ultra-wealthy would get hefty handout while families suffer. We can't let that happen," said Sen. Martin Heinrich, the chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
Aug 01, 2024
An economic analysis of the far-right Project 2025 agenda crafted by at least 140 former Trump administration officials shows that the plan would result in higher taxes on working-class Americans and "corporate welfare" for the rich and large businesses.
Conducted by the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), the new analysis notes that Project 2025's sprawling "Mandate for Leadership" would establish a "two-rate individual tax system of 15% and 30% that eliminates most deductions, credits, and exclusions."
Such a system, according to the JEC, "would force many middle-class families to pay thousands of dollars more in tax payments."
"Together, these changes to tax rates would mean that a family of four earning $90,000 per year would have paid roughly $2,300 more in taxes last year," the JEC found. "If the Child Tax Credit was also eliminated, this family would have paid roughly $6,300 more. Meanwhile, millionaires would pay a lower top tax rate."
The analysis also points to Project 2025's push for a "national sales tax," a highly regressive proposal endorsed by dozens of Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
A national sales tax would "force working families to pay more at the grocery store, gas pump, and any other place they buy
goods or services," JEC said Thursday, noting that past GOP proposals "would have hiked the cost of essentials like groceries and housing—usually exempt from state and local sales taxes—by 30%."
Meanwhile, Project 2025 calls for reducing the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 18%. According toThe Washington Post, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's advisers have discussed slashing the tax rate to as low as 15%, and the president himself has told leading executives and his wealthy campaign donors that he intends to push for additional tax cuts if he wins another four years in the White House.
"It would force Americans to pay more at the grocery store, strip workers of overtime pay, and raise taxes on working families."
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), chair of the JEC, said in a statement that "Republicans' Project 2025 is bad for America," as "it would force Americans to pay more at the grocery store, strip workers of overtime pay, and raise taxes on working families."
"The ultra-wealthy would get hefty handout while families suffer," Heinrich added. "We can't let that happen."
The JEC analysis also highlights Project 2025's proposed assault on worker protections, noting that the far-right plan would make "fewer workers eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay"; allow "children to work in hazardous occupations such as factories, meatpacking plants, and sawmills"; and gut National Labor Relations Board enforcement.
Other broad, potentially destructive reforms advocated by Project 2025—which is spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation—are eliminating the Federal Reserve's mandate to pursue full employment and abolishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, long a target of corporate America and their Republican allies in Congress.
Recent polling data indicates that Project 2025 is unpopular with U.S. voters and becomes even more so once they are informed about the far-right initiative's proposals.
That could explain why Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025 in recent weeks, claiming he has "no idea who is behind it" despite the close involvement of a number of prominent figures who served in his administration, including former Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought.
An unnamed former senior adviser to Trump toldNew York magazine last month that "it's totally false he doesn't know what P25 is."
"Privately, he is of course talking to Heritage, and [Heritage president] Kevin Roberts has reportedly even met with Trump on P25," the ex-adviser said.
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