Project 2025: What is the potential impact on Maryland?

If you’ve watched any coverage of this year’s election, you’ve probably heard references to something called Project 2025.

It became a bit of a shortcut for a bigger one proposed presidential transition plan for the next Republican president. Many of the plans discussed for the next “conservative administration” come from a more than 900-page book titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.”

While the book is not officially Donald Trump’s platform, it was written or edited by multiple people associated with the Trump administration or campaigns. Kamala Harris and other members of the Democratic Party worked to link the Trump campaign to some of the more unpopular ideas presented in the book, including a nationwide abortion ban, a TikTok ban and a pornography ban.

However, there are some elements in the book that are not discussed in much detail – including those that may have discreet, specific effects on Maryland. We read “The Mandate of Leadership” to find out what it is.

Firing federal employees

According to data, approximately 158,475 federal employees live in Maryland data from the state last year. Many of them could lose their jobs if Trump follows Project 2025’s suggestions.

Several parts of the plan call for reducing the federal workforce, restructuring federal agencies and, in some cases, privatizing parts of the government.

The plan also calls for replacing professional, non-political employees with political appointees. This could mean Marylanders working for federal agencies will lose job protections or be laid off. He promises an explanation of how to fire “supposedly ‘non-fireable’ federal bureaucrats” (p. 9) and states that “in principle” a new conservative administration “must fill its ranks with political appointees” (p. 20) rather than concede any powers to “impartial ‘experts'” (p. 21).

Phasing out crab pickers?

Many companies in Maryland rely on international seasonal workers to harvest and process crabs into crabmeat. These employees benefit from H-2B visa programwhich allows employers to employ temporary non-agricultural workers for short-term work.

And in previous years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed support for the program, including the former GOP Governor Larry Hogan AND Representative Andy Harrisa Republican representing the East Coast.

However, Project 2025 calls for the phasing out and eventual elimination of the H-2B visa program, which could make it even more difficult for producers selling crabmeat to find workers.

“Mandate for Leadership” Calls on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to “clarify” that he will not increase the number of seasonal H-2B visas above the cap set by law (p. 138) and calls on Congress to limit the program at its current level and phase it out within 10 years (p. 612).

NIH, Cyber ​​Command and the Naval Academy

The authors of Project 2025 suggest that the offer of courses at all military academies – including Naval Academy in Annapolis — be audited and purged of “Marxist indoctrination” and the academic position should be eliminated (p. 104).

The plan also looks at the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health. Under the plan, Congress would ban research on fetal tissue and end the embryonic stem cell registry, which would allow other researchers to gain access to the cells for research purposes.

It would also impose “term limits” on “career leaders” at NIH (p. 462) and calls for NIH Foundation be resolved.

The U.S. Cyber ​​Command, based at Fort Meade, could also see its work diverted. For example, Project 2025 calls on Cyber ​​Command to stop working on election enhancement (p. 120).

Food benefits and loan forgiveness

Project 2025 calls for reimplementing food stamp work requirements and reforming categorical food stamp eligibility (pp. 299-300). According to to the latest federal dataapproximately 772,700 — or approximately 1 in 8 — Marylanders used SNAP in fiscal year 2022. Potential changes to the way SNAP is administered will be implemented in due course when enrollment drops and the need for food aid remains high as families cope with rising grocery prices.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives the outstanding balance of direct loans after 10 years of eligible payments people working at any level government or non-profit programs – e.g., public school teachers – would be eliminated under the Project 2025 proposal (p. 354).

As of June 2023, the program has repaid the loans of over 20,000 Marylanders, – according to data from the Ministry of Education. Maryland has the fifth highest rate residents with higher and higher education in the country and therefore also ranks in TOP 10 states in college debt per capita.

The Heritage Foundation takes care of all this Project 2025 available online for further reading.