The Dangers of Project 2025: A Threat to Public Service and Retirement Security

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A shadow looms over the integrity of our government and the welfare of its public servants: Project 2025. This right-wing initiative proposes to embed approximately 50,000 far-right political loyalists into nonpartisan civil service jobs, displacing dedicated public servants and converting vital government roles into political patronage positions. This move is not just a threat to the integrity of our civil service; it undermines the fundamental principles of democracy itself.

Last week, NPPC joined the American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME Council 5, AFSCME Council 65, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), and the Minnesota AFL-CIO in rallying opposition to Project 2025 outside the Minnesota capitol building in Saint Paul. 

Bart Andersen, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, said: “They want to outlaw public service unions completely. They want to take away the tools we use to keep our workplaces safe, our families healthy, maintain our standard of living, and ensure we have the equipment we need to make sure we go home to our families at night.”

Project 2025 aims to eliminate collective bargaining for public employees.

At the heart of the Heritage Foundation initiative lies a plan to eliminate public employee unions—essential safeguards that ensure government jobs remain impartial and free from political influence. By dismantling these unions, the initiative aims to pave the way for a system where loyalty to a political agenda trumps competence and commitment to public service. The elimination of the spoils system was a hard-fought victory that brought about civil service laws designed to protect against such abuses. To make matters worse, 25% of current federal employees are military veterans, many of whom could find themselves displaced in favor of politically aligned appointees.

Project 2025 will gut public education funding…

The implications of Project 2025 extend far beyond individual jobs. In education, the plan calls for the complete dissolution of the Department of Education, which currently supplies 14% of public education funding nationwide. Such a drastic cut would result in the loss of teaching positions—gutting over 180,000 educator positions, impacting 2.8 million students—and undermine state pension funds that rely on a stable workforce. These reductions would jeopardize the retirement security of millions of public sector workers. 

…and subesquently destabilize pension funding.

Project 2025 includes a bold scheme to reshape federal employee pensions and threatens to turn federal defined-benefit pension plans into something akin to private-sector retirement accounts. This shift, mirroring the very practices that led to today’s retirement crisis, would strip federal workers of the security they have earned through years of service. Additionally, the proposal calls for congressional oversight of specific pension investment decisions, prohibiting fund managers from considering climate change risk in investment decisions. This short-sighted move could endanger billions in pension investments. By creating a blacklist of firms based on political ideology, the initiative would disrupt the financial markets crucial for state and local pension management.

Moreover, the authors of Project 2025 have proposed raising the full Social Security retirement age from 67 to 69, further burdening workers who already face the realities of an aging workforce. This is not merely a policy choice; it is a direct attack on the financial security of Americans who have spent their lives contributing to these systems.

Project 2025 does not have to become reality.

In contrast, leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz represent a vision for government that prioritizes a vital, nonpartisan civil service and the protection of social security and retirement benefits for all. As lifelong public employees, they understand the critical role of dedicated service in maintaining the health of our democracy. Walz’s overt commitment to a defined benefit pension system underscores a broader vision to ensure all Americans enjoy financial security long after retirement. 

Project 2025 is a stark reminder of the risks associated with political patronage. A Harris-Walz administration would protect the integrity of government jobs, safeguard education funding, preserve retirement benefits, and keep partisan politics out of our civil service. As we consider the future of our public sector and the crucial need to rebuild our withering public institutions, we must resist initiatives like Project 2025 and fight for a system that uplifts and empowers all workers rather than one that serves the interests of a select few.