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Project
2025
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION PROJECT
©
2023
by
The
Heritage
Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington,
DC
20002
(202)
546-4400
|
heritage.org
All
rights
reserved.
Printed
in
the
United
States
of
America.
ISBN: 978-0-89195-174-2
Foreword
by
Kevin
D.
Roberts,
PhD
Edited
by
Paul
Dans
and
Steven
Groves
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................
ix
THE
PROJECT 2025
ADVISORY
BOARD.............................................
xi
THE 2025
PRESIDENTIAL
TRANSITION
PROJECT:
A
NOTE
ON “PROJECT
2025”............................................................
xiii
CONTRIBUTORS....................................................................................
xxv
FOREWORD:
A PROMISE
TO
AMERICA...............................................
1
SECTION
1: TAKING
THE REINS
OF
GOVERNMENT...................
19
1.
WHITE
HOUSE
OFFICE.......................................................................
23
2.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
OF THE
PRESIDENT
OF
THE UNITED
STATES.....................................................................
43
3.
CENTRAL PERSONNEL
AGENCIES:
MANAGING
THE
BUREAUCRACY.........................................................
69
Donald Devine,
Dennis Dean
Kirk, and
Paul
Dans
SECTION
2: THE
COMMON
DEFENSE...............................................
87
4.
DEPARTMENT
OF
DEFENSE................................................................
91
5.
DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND
SECURITY........................................
133
6.
DEPARTMENT
OF
STATE...................................................................
171
7.
INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY...........................................................
201
8.
MEDIA
AGENCIES...............................................................................
235
U.S.
AGENCY
FOR
GLOBAL
MEDIA..............................................
235
CORPORATION
FOR PUBLIC
BROADCASTING...........................
246
9.
AGENCY
FOR
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT..............................
253
SECTION
3: THE
GENERAL
WELFARE...........................................
283
10.
DEPARTMENT
OF
AGRICULTURE.....................................................
289
11.
DEPARTMENT
OF
EDUCATION........................................................
319
AND
RELATED
COMMISSIONS.........................................................
363
13.
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY......................................
417
AND
HUMAN
SERVICES......................................................................
449
AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT.............................................................
503
16.
DEPARTMENT
OF THE
INTERIOR......................................................
517
17.
DEPARTMENT
OF
JUSTICE...............................................................
545
AND
RELATED
AGENCIES.................................................................
581
19.
DEPARTMENT
OF
TRANSPORTATION.............................................
619
20.
DEPARTMENT
OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS...........................................
641
SECTION 4:
THE
ECONOMY............................................................
657
21.
DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE.......................................................
663
22.
DEPARTMENT OF
THE
TREASURY....................................................
691
William L.
Walton,
Stephen Moore,
and David
R.
Burton
23.
EXPORT–IMPORT
BANK....................................................................
717
THE EXPORT–IMPORT
BANK SHOULD
BE
ABOLISHED...............
717
THE CASE
FOR THE
EXPORT–IMPORT
BANK..............................
724
24.
FEDERAL
RESERVE..........................................................................
731
25.
SMALL BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION...............................................
745
THE CASE
FOR FAIR
TRADE..........................................................
765
THE CASE
FOR FREE
TRADE........................................................
796
SECTION 5:
INDEPENDENT
REGULATORY
AGENCIES...........
825
27.
FINANCIAL REGULATORY
AGENCIES.............................................
829
SECURITIES AND
EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
AND RELATED
AGENCIES.............................................................
829
CONSUMER FINANCIAL
PROTECTION
BUREAU..........................
837
28.
FEDERAL
COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION...................................
845
29.
FEDERAL ELECTION
COMMISSION...............................................
861
30.
FEDERAL
TRADE
COMMISSION......................................................
869
|
his
work,
Mandate
for
Leadership
2025:
The
Conservative
Promise,
is
a
col-
lective
effort
of
hundreds
of
volunteers
who
have
banded
together
in
the
spirit
of
advancing
positive
change
for
America.
Our
work
is
by
no
means
the
comprehensive
compendium of
conservative
policies, nor
is our
group the
exclusive
cadre
of
conservative
thinkers.
The
ideas
expressed
in
this
volume
are
not
necessarily
shared
by
all.
What
unites
us
is
the
drive
to
make
our
country
better.
First
and
foremost,
we
thank
the
chapter
authors
and
contributors
who
gave
so
freely of
their time
in service
of their
country.
We
were
particularly
grateful to
have the
help of
dedicated
members of
The Heritage
Foundation’s
management
and
policy
teams.
Executive
Vice
President
Derrick
Morgan,
Chief
of
Staff
Wesley
Coopersmith,
Associate
Director
of
Project 2025
Spencer
Chretien,
and
Thomas
A.
Roe
Institute
for
Economic
Policy
Studies
Director
Paul
Ray
devoted
a
significant
amount
of
their
valuable
time
to
reviewing
and
editing
the
lengthy
manuscript
and
provided
expert
advice
and
insight.
The job of transforming the work of
dozens of authors and hundreds of
contributors
into
a
cohesive
manuscript
fell
upon
Heritage’s
formidable
team
of editors
led by
Director of
Research
Editors Therese
Pennefather,
Senior Editor
William T. Poole, Marla Hess, Jessica Lowther, Karina Rollins,
and Kathleen Scaturro,
without whose
tireless
efforts you
would not
be reading
these words.
The talented work of Data
Graphics Services Manager John Fleming, Manager of Web
Development and Print Projects Jay Simon, Director of Marketing
Elizabeth Fender,
Senior
Graphic Designer
Grace
Desandro, and
Senior
Designer Melissa
Bluey
came
together
to
bring
the
volume
to
life.
We
also
thank
the
dedicated
junior staff
who provided
immeasurable
assistance,
especially Jordan
Embree, Sarah
Calvis, and Jonathan Moy.
Most
important,
we
are
grateful
to
the
leadership,
supporters,
and
donors
of
each
of
the
Project
2025
advisory
board
member
organizations
and
those
of
The
Heritage
Foundation,
without whom
Project 2025
would not
be possible.
Thank
you.
Paul
Dans
&
Steven
Groves
Alabama Policy Institute
Alliance
Defending
Freedom
American Compass
The American Conservative
America
First
Legal
Foundation
American Accountability Foundation American Center for Law and
Justice American Cornerstone Institute
American
Council
of
Trustees
and
Alumni
American Legislative Exchange Council The American Main Street
Initiative American
Moment
American Principles Project
Center
for
Equal
Opportunity
Center
for
Family
and
Human
Rights
Center for Immigration Studies Center for Renewing America
Claremont Institute
Coalition for
a Prosperous
America Competitive Enterprise Institute Conservative
Partnership Institute Concerned Women for America Defense of
Freedom Institute Ethics and Public Policy Center Family Policy
Alliance
Family Research Council First Liberty Institute
Forge
Leadership
Network
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Foundation for Government
Accountability FreedomWorks
The
Heritage
Foundation
Hillsdale College
Honest Elections
Project
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
Independent Women’s Forum Institute
for the
American
Worker Institute for Energy Research Institute for Women’s
Health Intercollegiate Studies Institute James Madison Institute
Keystone
Policy
The Leadership
Institute Liberty
University
National Association
of Scholars
National Center
for Public
Policy
Research Pacific Research Institute
Patrick Henry College Personnel
Policy
Operations
Recovery
for
America
Now
Foundation
1792 Exchange
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
Texas Public Policy
Foundation Teneo
Network
Young America’s
Foundation
W
We
want
you!
The
2025
Presidential
Transition
Project
is
the
conservative
movement’s unified effort to be ready
for the next conservative Administration
to govern
at 12:00
noon, January
20, 2025.
Welcome
to the mission. By opening this
book, you are now a part of it. Indeed, one set of
eyes reading
these passages
will be
those of
the 47th
President of
the United
States,
and
we
hope
every
other
reader
will
join
in
making
the
incoming
Admin-
istration a success.
History
teaches
that
a
President’s
power
to
implement
an
agenda
is
at
its
apex
during
the
Administration’s
opening
days.
To
execute
requires
a
well-conceived,
coordinated,
unified
plan and
a trained
and committed
cadre of
personnel to
implement it.
In recent
election
cycles,
presidential
candidates
normally
began
transition
planning
in
the
late
spring
of election
year or
even after
the party’s
nomination was
secured. That
is too
late.
The
federal
government’s
complexity
and
growth
advance
at
a
seemingly
logarithmic
rate
every
four
years.
For
conservatives
to
have
a
fighting
chance
to
take
on
the
Adminis-
trative
State and
reform our
federal
government, the
work must
start now.
The entirety
of
this
effort
is
to
support
the
next
conservative
President,
whoever
he
or
she
may
be.
In
the
winter
of
1980,
the
fledging
Heritage
Foundation
handed
to
President-elect Ronald
Reagan
the
inaugural
Mandate
for
Leadership.
This
collective
work
by
conser-
vative
thought
leaders and
former
government
hands—most of
whom were
not part
of
Heritage—set
out
policy
prescriptions,
agency
by
agency
for
the
incoming
President.
The
book
literally
put
the
conservative
movement
and
Reagan
on
the
same
page,
and
the
revolution
that
followed
might
never
have
been,
save
for
this
band
of
committed
and volunteer
activists.
With
this
volume,
we
have
gone
back
to
the
future—and
then
some.
It’s
not
1980.
In
2023,
the
game
has
changed.
The
long
march
of
cultural
Marxism
through
our
institutions
has
come
to
pass.
The
federal
government
is
a
behemoth,
weaponized
against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom
and liberty
under
siege
as
never
before.
The
task
at
hand
to
reverse
this
tide
and
restore
our Republic
to its original moorings is too great for any one conservative
policy shop
to
spearhead.
It
requires
the
collective
action
of
our
movement.
With
the
quickening
approach
of
January
2025,
we
have
two
years
and
one
chance
to
get
it
right.
Project
2025
is
more
than
50
(and
growing)
of
the
nation’s
leading
conservative
organizations joining forces to prepare and seize the day. The
axiom goes “person-
nel
is
policy,”
and
we
need
a
new
generation
of
Americans
to
answer
the
call
and
come
to
serve.
This
book
is
functionally
an
invitation
for
you
the
reader—Mr.
Smith, Mrs.
Smith,
and
Ms.
Smith—to
come
to
Washington
or
support
those
who
can.
Our
goal
is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared
conservatives to
go to
work on
Day One
to
deconstruct the
Administrative
State.
The
project
is
built
on
four
pillars.
•
Pillar I—this
volume—puts in
one place
a consensus
view of
how major
federal
agencies
must
be
governed
and
where
disagreement
exists
brackets out
these
differences for
the next
President to
choose a
path.
•
Pillar
II
is
a
personnel
database
that
allows
candidates
to
build
their
own professional
profiles
and
our
coalition
members
to
review
and
voice
their recommendations.
These
recommendations
will
then
be
collated
and
shared
with
the
President-elect’s
team,
greatly
streamlining
the
appointment
process.
•
Pillar III
is the Presidential Administration Academy, an online
educational
system
taught
by
experts
from
our
coalition.
For
the
newcomer, this
will explain
how the
government
functions and
how to
function in
government. For
the
experienced, we
will host
in-person
seminars with
advanced
training
and
set
the
bar
for
what
is
expected
of
senior
leadership.
•
In
Pillar
IV—the
Playbook—we
are
forming
agency
teams
and
drafting
tran- sition
plans
to
move
out
upon
the
President’s
utterance
of
“so
help
me
God.”
As Americans
living at the approach of our nation’s 250th birthday, we have
been
given much. As conservatives, we are as much required to steward
this precious
heritage for
the next generation. On behalf of our coalition partners, we
thank you and
invite you
to come
join with
us at
project2025.org.
Paul
Dans
Director,
Project
2025
Daren
Bakst
is
Deputy
Director,
Center
for
Energy
and
Environment,
and
Senior Fellow
at the
Competitive
Enterprise Institute
(CEI). Before
joining CEI,
Daren was a Senior
Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where he played a
lead- ing
role
in
the
launch
of
the
organization’s
new
energy
and
environmental
center.
For
a
decade,
he
led
Heritage’s
food
and
agricultural
policy
work,
and
he
edited
and
co-authored Heritage’s book
Farms and Free Enterprise.
He has testified numerous times
before
Congress,
has
appeared
frequently
on
media
outlets,
and
has
played
leadership roles
in such
organizations
such as
the
Federalist Society,
American Agricultural
Law
Association,
and
Food
and
Drug
Law
Institute
(serving
on
the
Food and Drug Law Journal’s
editorial advisory board).
Jonathan Berry
is managing
partner at Boyden Gray & Associates PLLC. He served
as acting
Assistant
Secretary for
Policy at
the U.S.
Department of
Labor, overseeing
all
aspects
of
rulemaking
and
policy
development.
At
the
U.S.
Depart- ment
of Justice,
he assisted
with the
development of
regulatory
policy and
with the
nominations of
Justice Neil
Gorsuch and
dozens of
other judges.
He previ-
ously served as Chief Counsel for the Trump transition and
earlier clerked for
Associate
Justice
Samuel
Alito
and
Judge
Jerry
Smith
of
the
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals for
the Fifth
Circuit. He
is a
graduate of
Yale College
and Columbia
University School of Law.
Lindsey M.
Burke
is
Director of
the Center
for Education
Policy at
The Heritage
Foundation. Burke served on Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s
transition steering committee and landing team for education.
She serves on the Board of Visitors for George Mason University,
the board of the Educational Free- dom Institute, and the
advisory board of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Education
Freedom Center. Dr. Burke’s research has been published in such
journals as Social
Science Quarterly,
Educational Research and Evaluation, and
Research in Educational
Administration and Leadership. She holds a BA from
Hollins
University,
an
MA
from
the
University
of
Virginia,
and
a
PhD
from
George Mason
University.
David R. Burton
is Senior Fellow
in Economic Policy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic
Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He focuses
on
securities
regulation,
tax
policy,
business
law,
entrepreneurship,
administra-
tive law, financial privacy,
the U.S. Department of Commerce, corporate welfare,
international
investment,
international
information sharing,
the U.S.
economic relationship
with China, and climate-related financial risk. Previously,
Burton was General
Counsel
at
the
National
Small
Business
Association;
a
partner
in
the
Argus Group;
Vice
President,
Finance,
and
General
Counsel
for
New
England
Machinery; and
manager
of
the
U.S.
Chamber
of
Commerce’s
Tax
Policy
Center.
He
holds
a
JD
from
the
University
of
Maryland
School
of
Law
and
a
BA
in
Economics
from
the University
of Chicago.
Adam Candeub
is a
professor of
law at
Michigan State
University.
His scholarly
research
focuses
on
telecommunication,
antitrust,
and
Internet
issues.
He
served as
acting
Assistant
Secretary
of
Commerce
and
Deputy
Associate
Attorney
Gen-
eral at the Justice
Department during the Trump Administration. He received his BA
magna
cum
laude
from
Yale
University
and
his
JD
magna
cum
laude
from
the University
of
Pennsylvania Law
School.
Dustin
J.
Carmack
is
Research
Fellow
for
Cybersecurity,
Intelligence,
and
Emerg-
ing
Technologies
in
the
Border
Security
and
Immigration
Center
at
The
Heritage
Foundation.
Previously,
he
served
in
the
Intelligence
Community
as
Chief
of
Staff
to the Director of National
Intelligence, John Ratcliffe. In Congress, he served as
Chief of
Staff to
Congressman
John Ratcliffe
(TX-04) and
Congressman
Ron DeSantis
(FL-06). Mr.
Carmack
studied at
Truman State
University in
Missouri and
Tel Aviv
University in
Israel.
Brendan Carr
has
nearly
20
years
of
private-sector
and
public-sector
experience in
communications
and
tech
policy.
He
currently
serves
as
the
senior
Republican on
the Federal
Communications
Commission. Prior
to this
role, Carr
served as
the
Federal
Communication
Commission’s
General
Counsel.
Earlier,
he
worked as an
attorney at Wiley Rein LLP. Previously, he clerked on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for
the Fourth
Circuit. After
graduating
from Georgetown
University, he earned his JD magna cum laude from the
Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he
served as an editor of the
Catholic Univer- sity Law
Review.
Benjamin
S.
Carson,
Sr.,
MD,
is
Founder
and
Chairman
of
the
American
Corner-
stone
Institute
and
previously
served
as
the
17th
Secretary
of
the
U.S.
Department of
Housing and
Urban
Development. Born
in Detroit
to a
single mother
with a
third-grade
education,
Dr.
Carson
was
raised
to
love
reading
and
education.
He
attended
Yale
and
earned
his
MD
from
the
University
of
Michigan
Medical
School. For
nearly 30
years, Dr.
Carson served
as Director
of Pediatric
Neurosurgery
at the
Johns
Hopkins
Children’s
Center,
where
he
performed
the
first
separation
of twins
conjoined at the back of the head.
Ken Cuccinelli
served
as Acting
Director of
U.S.
Citizenship and
Immigration Services
in 2019
and then,
from November
2019 through
the end
of the
Trump Administration,
as Acting Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security. During his
tenure as Acting Deputy Secretary, Ken also served as the Chief
Regulatory
Officer
for
the
Department
of
Homeland
Security.
He
also
has
served the
Commonwealth
of
Virginia,
first
as
a
state
senator
and
then
as
Virginia’s
46th Attorney
General.
Rick Dearborn
served
as
Deputy
Chief
of
Staff
for
President
Donald
Trump
and
was
responsible for the day-to-day operations of five separate
departments of the Executive
Office
of
the
President.
He
also
served
as
Executive
Director
of
the
2016
President-elect Donald Trump transition team. Before that, Rick
served in several roles,
including as
Chief of
Staff, in
the office
of then-U.S.
Senator Jeff
Sessions (R-AL)
for
nearly
two
decades.
Between
his
two
tours
in
Senator
Sessions’
office,
he
was
appointed
by
President
George
W.
Bush
as
Assistant
Secretary
of
Energy
for
Congressional
Affairs.
Earlier
in
his
career,
Rick
worked
for
the
National
Repub- lican
Senatorial
Committee, the
Senate
Republican
Conference, and
the Senate
Steering
Committee.
He
graduated
from
the
University
of
Oklahoma
with
a
BA
in Public
Administration
and a
minor in
economics.
Veronique de Rugy
is the George
Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and Senior
Research Fellow at the
Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a nation-
ally
syndicated
columnist.
Her
primary
research
interests
include
the
U.S.
economy,
the
federal
budget,
taxation,
tax
competition,
and
cronyism.
De
Rugy
is
the
author of
a weekly
opinion column
for the
Creators
Syndicate, writes
regular
columns for
Reason
magazine,
and
blogs
about
economics
at
National
Review
Online’s
The
Corner.
She
received
her
MA
in
economics
from
the
Paris
Dauphine
University
and her PhD in
economics from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
Donald
Devine
is
Senior
Scholar
at
The
Fund
for
American
Studies
in
Washington,
DC.
He
was
President
Ronald
Reagan’s
first-term
Office
of
Personnel
Management
Director
when
The
Washington
Post
labeled
him
“Reagan’s
Terrible
Swift
Sword
of
the
Civil
Service”
for
cutting
bureaucracy
and
reducing
spending
by
billions
of
dol-
lars.
He
was
a
professor
at
the
University
of
Maryland
and
Bellevue
University
and
is
a
columnist
and
author
of
10
books,
including
his
recent
The
Enduring
Tension.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth,
an Oxford-educated economist, directs the Center for Energy,
Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation and is
adjunct professor of
economics at George Washington University. Diana served as
Deputy Assistant
Secretary
for
Research
and
Technology
at
the
U.S.
Department
of
Trans-
portation,
where
she
directed
the
Department’s
$1.2
billion
research
budget;
the
Office of
Positioning, Navigation and Timing and Spectrum Management; and
the University
Transportation
Center
program. Diana
worked in
senior roles
in the
White
House
under
Presidents
Ronald
Reagan,
George
H.W.
Bush,
and
George
W. Bush,
where she
was Chief
of Staff
of the
Council of
Economic
Advisers.
Thomas F. Gilman
served
as
Assistant
Secretary
of
Commerce
for
Administration and
Chief
Financial Officer
of the
U.S.
Department of
Commerce in
the Trump
Administration.
Currently,
he
is
a
Director
of
ACLJ
Action
and
Chairman
of
Torn-
gat
Metals.
Tom
is
the
former
CEO
of
Chrysler
Financial
and
has
had
a
40-plus
year
career
as
a
senior
executive
and
entrepreneur
in
the
global
automotive
industry, including
roles
at
Chrysler
Corporation,
Cerberus
Capital
Management,
Asbury
Automotive
Group,
TD
Auto
Finance,
and
Automotive
Capital
Services.
He
holds a
BS in
finance from
Villanova
University.
Mandy M.
Gunasekara
of
Oxford,
Mississippi, is
a principal
at Section
VII Strat-
egies, a
Senior Policy
Analyst at
the
Independent Women’s
Forum, and
Visiting Fellow
in
the
Center
for
Energy,
Climate,
and
Environment
at
The
Heritage
Foun-
dation.
During
the
Trump
Administration,
Mandy
served
as
the
Chief
of
Staff
at the
U.S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency
as
well
as
Principal
Deputy
Assistant
Administrator for the Office
of Air and Radiation. She previously served in numer-
ous
roles
at
the
U.S.
House
of
Representatives
and
U.S.
Senate,
including
as
Majority
Counsel
for
the
Senate
Environment
and
Public
Works
Committee
under
Chair- man
Jim Inhofe.
She received
her BA
from
Mississippi College
and her
JD from the
University of
Mississippi
School of
Law.
Gene
Hamilton
is
Vice-President
and
General
Counsel
of
America
First
Legal
Foun-
dation.
Gene
served
as
Counselor
to
the
Attorney
General
at
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice;
Senior
Counselor
to
the
Secretary
of
Homeland
Security;
General
Counsel
on
the
Senate
Committee
on
the
Judiciary;
Assistant
Chief
Counsel
at
U.S.
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement;
and
as
an
Attorney
Advisor
in
the
Secretary’s
Honors Program
for
Attorneys
at
the
Department
of
Homeland
Security.
Gene
graduated
from
the
Washington
and
Lee
University
School
of
Law
magna
cum
laude
and
Order
of
the
Coif
and
has
a
BA
in
international
affairs
from
the
University
of
Georgia.
Jennifer Hazelton
has worked as a
senior strategic consultant for the Depart-
ment
of
Defense
in
Industrial
Base
Policy
and
has
held
senior
positions
at
USAID,
the
Export–Import
Bank
of
the
United
States,
and
the
State
Department.
She
was
also
a
communications
director
in
the
U.S.
Congress
and
worked
as
an
award-win-
ning
journalist
for
CNN
and
Fox
News
Channel.
Hazelton
holds
an
MA
in
business
administration from Emory University and earned her BA from the
Univer- sity of Georgia.
Karen
Kerrigan
is
President
and
CEO
of
the
Small
Business
&
Entrepreneurship Council
and
has
helped
to
strengthen
U.S.
entrepreneurship
and
global
business
growth
for
28
years.
She
has
provided
counsel
across
the
globe
via
training
missions focused
on
entrepreneurial
development,
effective advocacy,
policy
formation, and
implementation.
Karen
testifies
regularly
before
Congress
and
has
served
on numerous
federal
advisory boards
representing
the interests
of
entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Dennis Dean
Kirk
is
Associate
Director for
Personnel
Policy with
the 2025
Pres- idential
Transition
Project
at
The
Heritage
Foundation.
Born
and
raised
in
Kansas, he
graduated
with
honors
from
Northern
Arizona
University
and
Washburn
Uni- versity
Law School. Dennis has over 45 years of experience in private
law and public federal
government counsel services. He served in President George
Bush’s Administration in the U.S. Army’s Office of General
Counsel and later as Associate General
Counsel for
Strategic
Integration and
Business
Transformation, where
he
was
recognized
with
the
Exceptional
Civilian
and
Meritorious
Civilian
Service
Awards
and
other
awards.
During
the
Trump
Administration,
Dennis
served
in senior
positions at
the Office
of Personnel
Management
and was
nominated by
President Trump
to be
Chairman of
the Merit
Systems
Protection Board.
Kent Lassman
is President and
CEO of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Educated
at
the
Catholic
University
of
America
and
North
Carolina
State
Univer- sity,
he
has
written
on
telecommunications,
privacy,
environmental,
antitrust,
and
consumer
protection
regulation
as
well
as
trade
policy
and
the
design
of
regulatory
systems.
Kent’s
policy
research
and
advocacy
have
taken
him
to
45
state
capitals,
more
than
a
dozen
countries,
and
deep
into
the
heart
of
the
federal
regulatory
state.
Bernard L. McNamee
is an energy and
regulatory attorney with a major law
firm and was formerly a
member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
He
is
also
the
Street
Distinguished
Visiting
Professor
of
Law
at
the
Appalachian
School of Law. In addition to
serving as a Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner,
McNamee
has
served
in
various
senior
policy
and
legal
positions
throughout
his
career, including at the
U.S. Department of Energy, for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and
for
Virginia
Governor
George
Allen.
McNamee
also
served
four
attorneys
general in two
states (Virginia and Texas).
Christopher
Miller
served in
several positions during the Trump Administration,
including
as
Acting
U.S.
Secretary
of
Defense,
Director
of
the
National
Counter- terrorism
Center,
Deputy Assistant
Secretary of
Defense for
Special
Operations and
Combating
Terrorism,
and
Senior
Director
for
Counterterrorism
and
Trans- national
Threats
at
the
National
Security
Council.
Before
his
civilian
service
in
the
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
Department
of
Defense,
Miller
was
an
Army
Green
Beret
in
the
5th
Special
Forces Group
with
multiple
combat
tours
in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan,
achieving
the
rank
of
colonel. Miller earned a BA from George Washington University
and an MA from
the Naval War
College. He also graduated from the College of Naval Command and
Staff
and the
Army War
College.
Stephen Moore
is a
conservative
economist and
author. He
is currently
a senior
economist at FreedomWorks, a
Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and a Fox News
analyst. From 2005 to 2014, Moore served as the senior economics
writer for
The
Wall Street
Journal
editorial page
and as
a member
of the
Journal’s
editorial
board.
He
still
contributes
regularly
to
the
Journal’s
editorial
page.
He
is a
frequent
lecturer to
business
investment and
university
audiences around
the world
on
the
U.S.
economic
and
political
outlook
in
Washington,
DC.
Mora Namdar
is an
attorney and
Senior Fellow
at the
American
Foreign Policy
Council.
She
speaks
fluent
Farsi
and
is
an
expert
on
U.S.
national
security,
human
rights,
global
communications,
the
Middle
East,
and
international
law.
Mora
served
as senior advisor for
critical issues at the U.S. State Department and was appointed
by President
Donald Trump
to perform
the duties
of the
Assistant
Secretary of
State
for
Consular
Affairs.
She
also
served
as
Vice
President
of
Legal,
Compliance,
and Risk
at the
U.S. Agency
for Global
Media.
Peter
Navarro
holds
a
PhD
in
economics
from
Harvard
and
was
one
of
only
three
senior White House officials to serve with Donald Trump from the
2016 campaign
to
the
end
of
the
President’s
first
term.
He
was
the
West
Wing’s
chief
China
hawk
and
trade czar
and served
as Director
of the
Office of
Trade and
Manufacturing Policy
and Defense
Production Act
Policy
Coordinator. His
books include
The Coming
China Wars
(2006);
Death
by China
(2011);
Crouching
Tiger
(2015); and
his White House memoirs
In Trump Time (2021)
and Taking Back Trump’s
America (2022).
His top-rated
Taking Back
Trump’s
America podcast
appears on
Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
William Perry Pendley
was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He earned a BA and
an
MA
from
George
Washington
University,
was
a
U.S.
Marine
Corps
captain,
and earned
his
JD
from
the
University
of
Wyoming
College
of
Law.
He
was
an
attorney on
Capitol Hill,
a senior
official for
President
Ronald Reagan,
and leader
of the Bureau
of Land
Management
for President
Donald Trump.
For 30
years, he
was president
of
Mountain
States
Legal
Foundation
where
he
argued
and
won
cases before
the Supreme
Court of
the United
States. He
authored five
books, includ-
ing Sagebrush Rebel:
Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters
Today.
2025 Presidential
Transition
Project
Max Primorac
is
Director of
the Douglas
and Sarah
Allison Center
for Foreign
Policy Studies at The
Heritage Foundation. He was acting Chief Operating Officer
and
Assistant
to
the
Administrator,
Bureau
for
Humanitarian
Assistance,
at
the
U.S. Agency
for International Development. Previously he was deputy director
of Iraq’s reconstruction program at the U.S. Department of State
and a senior adviser
in
the
Office
of
the
Secretary.
Max
was
educated
at
Franklin
and
Marshall
College and the University
of Chicago.
Roger Severino
is Vice President
of Domestic Policy at The Heritage Founda-
tion. As director of the
Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
(HHS) from
2017 to
2021, he
led a
team of
more than
250 staff
enforcing
civil
rights,
conscience,
and
health
information
privacy
laws.
Roger
sub- sequently
founded the
HHS
Accountability
Project at
the Ethics
& Public
Policy Center.
He holds
a JD
from Harvard
Law School,
an MA
in public
policy from
Carnegie
Mellon
University,
and
a
BA
from
the
University
of
Southern
California.
Kiron K.
Skinner
is
President and
CEO of
the
Foundation for
America and
the World, Taube Professor of International Relations and
Politics at Pepperdine
University’s
School
of
Public
Policy,
W.
Glenn
Campbell
Research
Fellow
at
the Hoover
Institution, and a Visiting Fellow and Senior Advisor at The
Heritage Foundation. Skinner
served as Director of Policy Planning and Senior Advisor at the
U.S.
Department
of
State
from
2018
to
2019
and
was
a
member
of
the
Defense
Business
Board
at
the
U.S.
Department
of
Defense
in
2020.
Skinner
holds
an
MA
and
a
PhD
in
political
science
from
Harvard
University
and
undergraduate
degrees from
Spelman
College and
Sacramento
City College.
Brooks D. Tucker
served in the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs as Assis- tant
Secretary for
Congressional
and Legislative
Affairs from
2017 to
2021 and as
Acting Chief
of Staff
from 2020
to 2021.
He helped
to craft
the policy
frame- work
for
President-elect
Trump’s
transition
team
and
served
as
the
Senior
Policy Adviser
for
National
Security
and
Veterans
Affairs
to
Senator
Richard
Burr
from 2010
to
2015.
A
retired
Marine
lieutenant
colonel,
Brooks
served
in
Afghanistan, Iraq,
North
Africa,
the
Caucasus,
and
the
Western
Pacific.
He
is
a
graduate
of
the
University
of
Maryland,
Marine
Corps
Infantry
Officer
Course,
and
Marine
Corps Command
and Staff
College and
holds a
Certificate
in Legislative
Studies from
Georgetown
University.
Hans A.
von Spakovsky
is Senior
Legal Fellow
and Manager
of the
Election Law
Reform Initiative in the Edwin Meese Center III Center for Legal
and Judicial Studies
at
The
Heritage
Foundation.
He
is
a
former
member
of
President
Donald Trump’s
Advisory
Commission on
Election
Integrity. From
2006 to
2007,
von
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
Spakovsky
was
a
Commissioner
on
the
Federal
Election
Commission.
He
served as
career Counsel
to the
Assistant
Attorney General
for Civil
Rights at
the U.S.
Department of Justice from 2002 to 2005.
Russ Vought
is
Founder and
President of
the Center
for Renewing
America. A
longtime conservative
leader on
Capitol Hill,
Russ served
in President
Trump’s Cabinet
as
Director
of
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget,
where
he
oversaw the
implementation
of
the
presidential
budget,
key
policies
on
deregulation,
and a
landmark
effort
to
eliminate
critical
race
theory
and
other
radical
ideologies
in
executive
agencies.
Prior
to
his
White
House
service,
Russ
spent
nearly
two
decades
in the broader conservative
movement on Capitol Hill, including as Policy Direc- tor
for the
House
Republican
Conference, Executive
Director of
the Republican
Study
Committee,
and
Legislative
Assistant
to
former
U.S.
Senator
Phil
Gramm. Russ
graduated
with
a
BA
from
Wheaton
College
and
received
a
JD
from
George
Washington University Law School.
William L. Walton
is Chairman of the
Resolute Protector Foundation and host of
The
Bill Walton
Show. In
2016 and
2017, Mr.
Walton served
in
President-elect Donald
Trump’s
transition
team
as
Agency
Action
Leader
for
all
the
federal
eco- nomic
agencies. He
served as
Chairman of
the Board
and CEO
of Allied
Capital Corporation,
a
$6
billion
NYSE-traded
private
investment
firm,
from
1997
to
2010.
He
is
the
immediate
past
President
of
the
Council
for
National
Policy.
His
extensive
board
service
includes
The
Heritage
Foundation,
American
Conservative
Union,
American Enterprise
Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Venture Cap-
ital Association, and Financial Services Roundtable.
Paul Winfree
is
Distinguished
Fellow
in
Economic
Policy
and
Public
Leadership at
The
Heritage
Foundation.
Before
rejoining
Heritage
in
2018,
Paul
was
Deputy Assistant
to the
President,
Deputy Director
of the
Domestic
Policy Council,
and Director
of
Budget
Policy
at
the
White
House.
During
the
2016
presidential
transi-
tion,
he
led
the
team
responsible
for
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget.
He
also
has
served
as
a
senior
staff
member
for
the
U.S.
Senate
Committee
on
the
Budget. Paul
served
in
both
the
Biden
and
Trump
Administrations
for
three
terms
as
the
Chair of the Fulbright
Foreign Scholarship Board that oversees the Fulbright pro-
gram and
educational
exchanges sponsored
by the
Department of
State.
EDITORS
Paul Dans
is
Director
of
the
2025
Presidential
Transition
Project
at
The
Heritage
Foundation,
organizing policy and personnel recommendations and training for
appointees
in the
next
presidential
Administration.
Before joining
Heritage, he
served
in
the
Trump
Administration
as
Chief
of
Staff
at
the
U.S.
Office
of
Personnel
2025 Presidential
Transition
Project
Management,
as
OPM’s
White
House
liaison,
and
as
a
senior
advisor
at
the
U.S.
Department
of
Housing
and
Urban
Development.
Paul
has
extensive
experience
in
high-stakes
commercial
litigation
and
worked
for
several
large
international
law
firms
in
New
York
City
from
1997
to
2012
before
founding
his
own
law
firm.
He
is
a
graduate
of
the
University
of
Virginia
School
of
Law
and
received
his
graduate
and undergraduate
degrees from
the
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology.
Steven Groves
is the
Margaret
Thatcher Fellow
in the
Margaret
Thatcher Center
for
Freedom
at
The
Heritage
Foundation.
Groves
served
in
the
Trump
Adminis-
tration, first as Ambassador
Nikki Haley’s Chief of Staff at the U.S. Mission to the
United Nations.
He later
joined the
White House
as Assistant
Special
Counsel, representing the
White House in the Mueller investigation. Groves also served as
White
House
Deputy
Press
Secretary.
His
prior
positions
include
Senior
Counsel for
the U.S.
Senate
Permanent
Subcommittee on
Investigations
and associate
at Boies,
Schiller
&
Flexner
LLP.
Groves
holds
an
LLM
from
Georgetown
University Law
Center,
a
JD
from
Ohio
Northern
University's
College
of
Law,
and
a
BA
from Florida
State University.
|
he
contributors listed below generously volunteered their time and
effort to
assist the
authors in
the
development and
writing of
this volume’s
30 chapters.
The
policy
views
and
reform
proposals
herein
are
not
an
all-inclu-
sive
catalogue
of
conservative
ideas
for
the
next
President,
nor
is
there
unanimity
among
the
contributors
or
the
organizations
with
which
they
are
affiliated
with
regard to the
recommendations.
Mark
Albrecht
Chris Anderson,
Office of Senator Steve Daines
Jeff Anderson,
The
American
Main
Street
Initiative
Michael Anton,
Hillsdale College
EJ Antoni,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Andrew “Art”
Arthur,
Center
for Immigration
Studies
Paul Atkins,
Patomak
Global
Partners
Julie Axelrod,
Center
for
Immigration
Studies
James Bacon James
Baehr
Stewart Baker,
Steptoe
and
Johnson
LLP
Erik Baptist,
Alliance Defending Freedom
Brent Bennett,
Texas
Public
Policy
Foundation
John Berlau,
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Russell Berman,
Hoover Institution
Sanjai Bhagat,
University of Colorado Boulder
Stephen Billy,
Susan
B.
Anthony
Pro-Life
America
Brad Bishop,
American Cornerstone Institute
Willis Bixby,
WWBX, LLC
Josh Blackman,
South
Texas
College
of
Law
Jim Blew,
Defense
of Freedom
Institute for
Policy
Studies
Robert Bortins,
Classical
Conversations
Rachel Bovard,
Conservative
Partnership
Institute
Robert
Bowes
Matt Bowman,
Alliance
Defending
Freedom
Steven G. Bradbury,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Preston Brashers,
The Heritage Foundation
Jonathan Bronitsky,
ATHOS
Kyle Brosnan,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
Patrick T.
Brown,
Ethics
and
Public
Policy
Center
Robert Burkett,
ACLJ
Action
Michael Burley,
American Cornerstone Institute
David R.
Burton,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Jonathan Butcher,
The Heritage Foundation
Mark
Buzby,
Buzby
Maritime
Associates,
LLC
Margaret Byfield,
American Stewards of Liberty
David Byrd,
Korn Ferry
Anthony Campau,
Center
for
Renewing
America
James Jay Carafano,
The Heritage Foundation
Frank Carroll,
Professional Forest Management
Oren Cass,
American Compass
Brian J.
Cavanaugh,
American
Global
Strategies
Spencer Chretien,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Claire Christensen,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Victoria Coates,
The Heritage Foundation
Ellie Cohanim,
Independent
Women’s
Forum
Ezra Cohen
Elbridge Colby,
Marathon
Initiative
Earl Comstock,
White
& Case
LLP
Lisa Correnti,
Center
for
Family
and
Human
Rights
(C-Fam)
Monica Crowley,
The
Nixon
Seminar
Laura Cunliffe,
Independent
Women’s
Forum
Tom
Dans,
Amberwave
Partners
Sohan Dasgupta,
Taft
Stettinius
&
Hollister
LLP
Sergio de
la
Peña
Chris De
Ruyter,
National
Center
for
Urban
Operations
Corey DeAngelis,
American Federation for Children
Caroline DeBerry,
Paragon Health Institute
Arielle Del
Turco,
Family
Research
Council
Irv Dennis,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
David Deptula,
Mitchell
Institute
for
Aerospace
Studies
Donald Devine,
The
Fund
for
American
Studies
Chuck DeVore,
Texas
Public
Policy
Foundation
C. Wallace
DeWitt,
Allen
&
Overy
LLP
James Di Pane,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Matthew Dickerson,
The Heritage Foundation
Michael Ding,
America First Legal Foundation
David Ditch,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Natalie Dodson,
Ethics
and
Public
Policy
Center
Dave Dorey,
The
Fairness
Center
Max Eden,
American
Enterprise
Institute
2025 Presidential
Transition
Project
Troy Edgar,
IBM
Consulting
Joseph Edlow,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Jen Ehlinger,
Booz
Allen
Hamilton
John Ehrett,
Office
of
Senator
Josh
Hawley
Kristen Eichamer,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Robert S.
Eitel,
Defense
of
Freedom
Institute
for
Policy
Studies
Will Estrada,
Parents Rights Foundation
Jon Feere,
Center
for
Immigration
Studies
Baruch Feigenbaum,
Reason Foundation
Travis Fisher,
The Heritage Foundation
George Fishman,
Center
for
Immigration
Studies
Leslie Ford,
The Heritage
Foundation
Aharon Friedman,
Federal
Policy
Group
Bruce Frohnen,
Ohio
Northern
University
College
of
Law
Joel Frushone,
Ernst
&
Young
Finch
Fulton
Diana Furchtgott-Roth,
The Heritage Foundation
Caleigh Gabel,
American Cornerstone Institute
Christopher Gacek,
Family Research Council
Alexandra Gaiser,
River Financial Inc.
Mario
Garza
Patty-Jane Geller,
The Heritage Foundation
Andrew Gillen,
Texas Public Policy Foundation
James S.
Gilmore III,
Gilmore
Global
Group
LLC
Vance Ginn,
Economic Consulting, LLC
Alma Golden,
The
Institute
for
Women’s
Health
Mike Gonzalez,
The Heritage Foundation
Chadwick R. Gore,
Defense
Forum
Foundation
David Gortler,
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Brian Gottstein,
The Heritage Foundation
Dan Greenberg,
Competitive Enterprise
Institute
Rob Greenway,
Hudson
Institute
Rachel Greszler,
The
Heritage
Foundation
DJ Gribbin,
Madrus
Consulting
Garrison Grisedale,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Joseph Grogan,
USC
Schaeffer
School for
Health Policy
and
Economics
Andrew
Guernsey
Jeffrey Gunter,
Republican
Jewish
Coalition
Joe Guy,
Club
for
Growth
Joseph
Guzman
Amalia Halikias,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Gene Hamilton,
America First
Legal
Foundation
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
Richard Hanania,
Center
for
the
Study
of
Partisanship
and
Ideology
Simon Hankinson,
The
Heritage
Foundation
David
Harlow
Derek
Harvey,
Office
of
Congressman
Devin
Nunes
Jason Hayes,
Mackinac
Center
for
Public
Policy
Jennifer Hazelton
Lou
Heinzer
Edie Heipel
Troup Hemenway,
Personnel
Policy
Operations
Nathan Hitchen,
Equal
Rights
Institute
Pete
Hoekstra
Gabriella Hoffman,
Independent
Women’s
Forum
Tom Homan,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Chris
Horner
Mike Howell,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Valerie Huber,
The
Institute
for
Women’s
Health
Andrew Hughes,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Joseph Humire,
Center
for
a
Secure
Free
Society
Christopher Iacovella,
American Securities Association
Melanie Israel,
The Heritage Foundation
Ken Ivory,
Utah
House
of
Representatives
Roman Jankowski,
The Heritage Foundation
Abby Jones
Emilie
Kao,
Alliance
Defending
Freedom
Jared M. Kelson,
Boyden Gray & Associates
Aaron Kheriaty,
Ethics
and
Public
Policy
Center
Ali Kilmartin,
Alliance Defending Freedom
Julie Kirchner,
Federation
for
American
Immigration
Reform
Dan Kish,
Institute
for
Energy
Research
Kenneth A.
Klukowski
Adam Korzeniewski,
American Principles Project
Kathy Nuebel Kovarik,
Sagitta Solutions, LLC
Bethany Kozma,
Keystone Policy
Matthew
Kozma
Julius Krein,
American
Affairs
Stanley Kurtz,
Ethics
and
Public
Policy
Center
David LaCerte,
Baker
Botts,
LLP
Paul J.
Larkin,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Kent Lassman,
Competitive
Enterprise
Institute
James R. Lawrence III,
Envisage Law
Paul Lawrence,
Lawrence Consulting
Nathan Leamer,
Targeted Victory
2025 Presidential
Transition
Project
David Legates,
University
of
Delaware
(Ret.)
Marlo Lewis,
Competitive
Enterprise
Institute
Ben Lieberman,
Competitive Enterprise Institute
John Ligon
Evelyn Lim,
American Cornerstone Institute
Mario Loyola,
Competitive Enterprise Institute
John G. Malcolm,
The Heritage Foundation
Joseph Masterman,
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
Earl Matthews,
The Vandenberg Coalition
Dan Mauler,
Heritage Action for America
Drew McCall,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Trent McCotter,
Boyden Gray & Associates
Micah Meadowcroft,
The American Conservative
Edwin Meese III,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Jessica Melugin,
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Frank Mermoud,
Orpheus International
Mark Miller,
Office of Governor Kristi Noem
Cleta Mitchell,
Conservative Partnership Institute
Kevin E. Moley
Caitlin Moon,
American Center for Law & Justice
David
Moore,
Brigham
Young
University
Law
School
Clare Morell,
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Mark Morgan,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Hunter Morgen,
American Cornerstone Institute
Rachel Morrison,
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Jonathan Moy,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Iain Murray,
Competitive
Enterprise
Institute
Ryan Nabil,
National Taxpayers Union
Michael Nasi,
Jackson Walker LLP
Lucien Niemeyer,
The
Niemeyer
Group,
LLC
Nazak Nikakhtar,
Wiley
Rein
LLP
Milan
“Mitch”
Nikolich
Matt O’Brien,
Immigration
Reform
Law
Institute
Caleb
Orr,
Boyden
Gray
&
Associates
Michael Pack
Leah
Pedersen
Michael Pillsbury,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Patrick
Pizzella,
Leadership
Institute
Robert Poole,
Reason
Foundation
Kevin Preskenis,
Allymar
Health
Solutions
Pam
Pryor,
National
Committee
for
Religious
Freedom
Thomas Pyle,
Institute
for
Energy
Research
Mandate for
Leadership:
The Conservative
Promise
John Ratcliffe,
American
Global
Strategies
Paul Ray,
The Heritage Foundation
Joseph Reddan,
Flexilis Forestry, LLC
Jay W. Richards,
The Heritage Foundation
Jordan Richardson,
Heise Suarez Melville, P.A.
Jason Richwine,
Center for Immigration Studies
Shaun Rieley,
The American Conservative
Lora Ries,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Leo
Rios
Mark
Robeck,
Energy
Evolution
Consulting
LLC
James Rockas,
ACLJ
Action
Mark
Royce,
NOVA-Annandale
College
Reed Rubinstein,
America
First
Legal
Foundation
William Ruger,
American Institute for Economic Research
Austin Ruse,
Center
for
Family
and
Human
Rights
(C-Fam)
Brent D. Sadler,
The Heritage Foundation
Alexander William
Salter,
Texas
Tech
University
Jon Sanders,
John
Locke
Foundation
Carla Sands,
America
First
Policy
Institute
Robby Stephany
Saunders,
Coalition
for
a
Prosperous
America
David
Sauve
Brett D.
Schaefer,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Nina Owcharenko
Schaefer,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Matt Schuck,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Justin Schwab,
CGCN
Law
Jon Schweppe,
American
Principles
Project
Marc Scribner,
Reason
Foundation
Darin Selnick,
Selnick
Consulting
Josh Sewell,
Taxpayers
for
Common
Sense
Kathleen Sgamma,
Western
Energy
Alliance
Matt Sharp,
Alliance
Defending
Freedom
Judy Shelton,
Independent Institute
Nathan Simington
Loren Smith,
Skyline
Policy
Risk
Group
Zack Smith,
The Heritage Foundation
Jack Spencer,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Adrienne Spero,
U.S.
House
Committee
on
Homeland
Security
Thomas W.
Spoehr,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Peter St
Onge,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Chris Stanley,
Functional
Government
Initiative
Paula M.
Stannard
Parker Stathatos,
Texas
Public
Policy
Foundation
2025 Presidential
Transition
Project
William Steiger,
Independent Consultant
Kenny Stein,
Institute
for
Energy
Research
Corey Stewart,
Stewart PLLC
Mari
Stull
Katharine T. Sullivan,
1792 Exchange
Brett Swearingen,
Miller
Johnson
Michael Sweeney
Robert
Swope
Aaron Szabo,
CGCN
Group
Katy Talento,
AllBetter
Health
Tony
Tata,
Tata
Leadership
Group,
LLC
Farnaz
Farkish
Thompson
Todd Thurman,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Brett
Tolman,
Tolman
Group
Kayla M.
Tonnessen,
Recovery
for
America
Now
Foundation
Joe Trotter,
American
Legislative
Exchange
Council
Tevi Troy,
Mercatus
Center
Clayton
Tufts
Erin Valdez,
Texas
Public
Policy
Foundation
Mark
Vandroff
Jessica M.
Vaughan,
Center
for
Immigration
Studies
John “JV”
Venable,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Morgan Lorraine
Viña,
Jewish
Institute
for
National
Security
of
America
Andrew N.
Vollmer,
Mercatus
Center
Hans A. von Spakovsky,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Greg Walcher,
Natural Resources Group, LLC
David M. Walsh,
Takota Group
Erin Walsh,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Jacklyn Ward,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Emma Waters,
The
Heritage
Foundation
Michael Williams,
American
Cornerstone
Institute
Aaron Wolff Jonathan
Wolfson
Alexei Woltornist,
ATHOS
Frank
Wuco
Cesar Ybarra,
FreedomWorks
John Zadrozny,
America
First
Legal
Foundation
Laura Zorc,
FreedomWorks
F
Forty-four
years
ago,
the
United
States
and
the
conservative
movement
were
in
dire straits.
Both had
been betrayed
by the
Washington
establishment and
were
uncertain
whom
to
trust.
Both
were
internally
splintered
and
stra-
tegically
adrift.
Worse
still,
at
that
moment
of
acute
vulnerability
and
division,
we
found
ourselves
besieged
by
existential
adversaries,
foreign
and
domestic.
The
late
1970s
were
by
any
measure
a
historic
low
point
for
America
and
the
political
coa-
lition
dedicated
to
preserving
its
unique
legacy
of
human
flourishing
and
freedom. Today,
America
and
the
conservative
movement
are
enduring
an
era
of
division and
danger
akin
to
the
late
1970s.
Now,
as
then,
our
political
class
has
been
discred- ited
by wholesale
dishonesty
and corruption.
Look at
America under
the ruling
and
cultural
elite
today:
Inflation
is
ravaging
family
budgets,
drug
overdose
deaths
continue to escalate, and
children suffer the toxic normalization of transgender-
ism
with
drag
queens
and
pornography
invading
their
school
libraries.
Overseas,
a
totalitarian
Communist
dictatorship
in
Beijing
is
engaged
in
a
strategic,
cultural,
and
economic
Cold
War
against
America’s
interests,
values,
and
people—all
while
globalist
elites
in
Washington
awaken
only
slowly
to
that
growing
threat.
Moreover,
low-income
communities
are
drowning
in
addiction
and
government
dependence.
Contemporary
elites
have
even
repurposed
the
worst
ingredients
of
1970s
“radical
chic”
to
build
the
totalitarian
cult
known
today
as
“The
Great
Awokening.”
And now,
as
then,
the
Republican
Party
seems
to
have
little
understanding
about
what
to
do.
Most
alarming
of
all,
the
very
moral
foundations
of
our
society
are
in
peril. Yet
students of
history will
note that,
notwithstanding
all those
challenges,
the
late 1970s
proved to
be the
moment when
the political
Right unified
itself
The
Heritage
Foundation
is
proud
to
have
played
a
small
but
pivotal
role
in
that
story.
It
was
in
early
1979—amid
stagflation,
gas
lines,
and
the
Red
Army’s
inva-
sion
of
Afghanistan,
the
nadir
of
Jimmy
Carter’s
days
of
malaise—that
Heritage launched
the
Mandate
for
Leadership
project.
We
brought
together
hundreds
of
conservative scholars and academics across the conservative
movement. Together,
this
team
created
a
20-volume,
3,000-page
governing
handbook
containing
more
than 2,000 conservative
policies to reform the federal government and rescue the
American people
from Washington
dysfunction. It
was a
promise from
the conservative
movement to
the country—confident,
specific, and
clear.
Mandate
for
Leadership
was
published
in
January
1981—the
same
month
Ronald
Reagan
was
sworn
into
his
presidency.
By
the
end
of
that
year,
more
than
60
percent
of
its
recommendations
had
become
policy—and
Reagan
was
on
his
way
to
ending
stagflation,
reviving
American
confidence
and
prosperity,
and
winning
the
Cold
War.
The
bad news
today is
that our
political establishment
and cultural
elite have once
again driven
America toward
decline. The
good news
is that
we know
the way out
even though
the challenges
today are
not what
they were
in the
1970s. Conservatives
should
be
confident
that
we
can
rescue
our
kids,
reclaim
our
culture,
revive our
economy,
and
defeat
the
anti-American
Left—at
home
and
abroad.
We
As
Ronald
Reagan
put
it:
Freedom
is
a
fragile
thing
and
it’s
never
more
than
one
generation
away
from
extinction.
It
is
not
ours
by
way
of
inheritance;
it
must
be
fought
for
and defended constantly by each
generation[.]1
This
is
the
duty
history
has
put
before
us
and
the
standard
by
which
our
gen-
eration
of
conservatives
will
be
judged.
And
we
should
not
want
it
any
other
way.
The legacy of
Mandate for Leadership,
and indeed of the entire Reagan Rev- olution, is that if
conservatives want to save the country, we need a bold and
courageous plan.
This book
is the
first step
in that
plan.
THE
CONSERVATIVE
PROMISE
This volume—The
Conservative Promise—is the opening salvo of the 2025 Pres-
idential
Transition
Project,
launched
by
The
Heritage
Foundation
and
our
many
partners in April 2022. Its 30 chapters lay out hundreds of
clear and concrete policy
recommendations
for
White
House
offices,
Cabinet
departments,
Congress,
and
agencies, commissions, and
boards.
Just
as
important
as
the
scope
of
The
Conservative
Promise’s
recommendations
is
the
breadth
of
its
authorship.
This
book
is
the
product
of
more
than
400
scholars
and
policy
experts
from
across
the
conservative
movement
and
around
the
country.
Contributors
include former elected officials, world-renowned economists, and
veterans
from four
presidential Administrations.
This is
an agenda
prepared
by
and
for
conservatives
who
will
be
ready
on
Day
One
of
the
next
Administration
to save
our country
from the
brink of
disaster.
The Heritage
Foundation is once again facilitating this work. But as our
dozens
of
partners
and
hundreds
of
authors
will
attest,
this
book
is
the
work
of
the
entire
conservative
movement.
As
such,
the
authors
express
consensus
recommendations
already
forged,
especially
along
four
broad
fronts
that
will
decide
America’s
future:
1.
Restore
the
family
as
the
centerpiece
of
American
life
and
protect our
children.
2.
Dismantle
the
administrative
state
and
return
self-governance
to
the American
people.
3.
Defend
our
nation’s
sovereignty,
borders,
and
bounty
against
global
threats.
4.
Secure
our
God-given
individual
rights
to
live
freely—what
our
Constitution calls “the Blessings of Liberty.”
What
makes these
four pieces
of the
conservative promise
so valuable
to the next
President is
that they
cut through
superficial distractions
and focus
on the
moral
and
foundational
challenges
America
faces
in
this
moment
of
history.
This was
one
of
the
secrets
of
conservatives’
success
in
the
Reagan
Era,
one
our
gener- ation
should emulate.
As
in
the
late
1970s,
Americans
today
experience
the
failures
of
political
and
cul-
tural
elites
in
countless
ways:
in
the
job
market
and
in
the
grocery
store
checkout
lines,
on
the
streets
and
in
our
schools,
in
the
media
and
within
our
institutions.
But
in
truth,
these
daily
dysfunctions
are
not
innumerable
problems,
but
innumerable
manifestations
of a few core crises.
In
1979,
the
threats
we
faced
were
the
Soviet
Union,
the
socialism
of
1970s
lib-
erals,
and
the
predatory
deviancy
of
cultural
elites.
Reagan
defeated
these
beasts
by
ignoring their
tentacles and
striking instead
at their
hearts.
His
approach
to
the
Cold
War?
“We
win
and
they
lose.”
His economic
agenda? The
human
dignity of
work
and
its
many
rewards.
His
platform
in
the
culture
wars?
The
“community
of
values
embodied
in
these
words:
family,
work,
neighborhood,
peace
and
freedom.”
This
book—and
Project
2025
as
a
whole—will
arm
the
next
conservative
Pres-
ident
with the
same kind
of strategic
clarity, but
for a
new age.
PROMISE #1: RESTORE THE FAMILY AS THE CENTERPIECE OF AMERICAN
LIFE AND PROTECT OUR CHILDREN.
The
next
conservative
President
must
get
to
work
pursuing
the
true
priority
of
In
many ways,
the
entire
point of
centralizing
political power
is to
subvert
the family.
Its
purpose
is
to
replace
people’s
natural
loves
and
loyalties
with
unnatu- ral
ones.
You
see
this
in
the
popular
left-wing
aphorism,
“Government
is
simply the
name
we
give
to
the
things
we
choose
to
do
together.”
But
in
real
life,
most
of the
things people
“do together”
have nothing
to do
with
government. These
are the
mediating
institutions
that
serve
as
the
building
blocks
of
any
healthy
society. Marriage.
Family. Work. Church. School. Volunteering. The name
real people
give to
the things
we do
together is
community,
not
government.
Our lives
are full
of interwoven,
overlapping
communities,
and
our
individual
and
collective
happiness
depends upon them. But the
most important community in each of our lives—and the
life of the nation—is the family.
Today,
the American
family is
in crisis.
Forty percent
of all
children are
born to
unmarried mothers,
including more
than 70
percent of
black
children. There is
no government
program that
can replace
the hole
in a
child’s soul
cut out
by the
absence of
a father.
Fatherlessness
is one
of the
principal
sources of
Ameri- can
poverty,
crime,
mental
illness,
teen
suicide,
substance
abuse,
rejection
of
the
church,
and
high
school
dropouts.
So
many
of
the
problems
government
programs
are
designed
to
solve—but
can’t—are
ultimately
problems
created
by
the
crisis
of marriage
and the
family. The
world has
never seen
a thriving,
healthy,
free, and
prosperous
society
where
most
children
grow
up
without
their
married
parents. If
current trends
continue, we
are heading
toward social
implosion.
Furthermore,
the
next
conservative
President
must
understand
that
using
gov-
ernment
alone
to
respond
to
symptoms
of
the
family
crisis
is
a
dead
end.
Federal
power must
instead be wielded to
reverse the crisis and rescue America’s kids from
familial
breakdown.
The
Conservative
Promise
includes
dozens
of
specific
policies to accomplish this
existential task.
Some
are
obvious
and
long-standing
goals
like
eliminating
marriage
penalties
in federal
welfare programs and the tax code and installing work
requirements for
food
stamps.
But
we
must
go
further.
It’s
time
for
policymakers
to
elevate
family authority,
formation,
and
cohesion
as
their
top
priority
and
even
use
government power,
including
through the
tax code,
to restore
the American
family.
Today
the
Left
is
threatening
the
tax-exempt
status
of
churches
and
charities
that reject
woke progressivism. They will soon turn to Christian schools and
clubs with the same
totalitarian intent.
The
next
conservative
President
must
make
the
institutions
of
American
civil
society
hard
targets
for
woke
culture
warriors.
This
starts
with
deleting
the
terms
sexual
orientation
and
gender
identity
(“SOGI”),
diversity,
equity,
and
inclusion
(“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensi- tive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists. Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered<