The Power of Policy: States are the Front Lines in a Second Trump Presidency

Project 2025, the far right’s extremist agenda for a second Trump presidency, will end our freedoms and prioritize special interests over people’s health and well-being by dismantling key institutions that protect our families, communities, and planet. We know this is Trump’s plan — he is stocking his second administration with key authors of Project 2025.

But because the policies that govern our day-to-day lives are enacted by state legislatures, state lawmakers have the power to enact policies that can protect millions of Americans – and the overall direction of the country – from the worst of these plans. For example:

Project 2025 would dismantle the Department of Education, stripping away funding for all schools from Pre-K programs to Colleges. While state lawmakers can already determine whether kids can get a quality public education, under Project 2025 state

legislatures would have ultimate control over our schools. That’s why we must build power in state legislatures for lawmakers who can:

● Fund free school meal programs to ensure that no child is hungry at school. In 2022, new majorities TSP helped build in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania have provided school meals for a total of 3.8 million public school students.

● Keep classrooms safe with broadly popular common sense gun safety policies like universal background checks and safe gun storage

requirements.

● Fund classrooms and teachers who will ensure that students gain the skills they need to build a future, instead of diverting public school funding to elite and religious private schools.

● Ensure that college tuition remains affordable for families so that kids can benefit from a college education.

KEY POINT: The federal government provides just 8% of education funding. Local education budgets are under the purview of the state, so 92% of education funding comes from state governments.

Project 2025 would effectively dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, leaving state lawmakers with the power to decide whether to enact policies that will secure clean air, water, and energy. The health and safety of our families — and the future of our planet — will depend on who holds power in state legislatures. That’s why we must build governing power in state legislatures for lawmakers who will take up policies like:

○ Holding the worst polluters accountable,

○ Adopting standards that would improve air quality nationwide, protect communities from radiation, and enshrine current EPA standards for clean drinking water into state law.

KEY POINT: State governments alone could accomplish 75% of the Paris Climate Agreement, without federal action.

Project 2025 would hand rightwing state lawmakers the power to prioritize big business over working people, even as Americans struggle to make ends meet. But state legislative majorities committed to improving lives could use their governing power for protections like:

○ Securing benefits for workers like paid family and sick leave and protecting workers from discrimination,

○ Lowering the cost of prescription drugs and utilities like water and electricity

○ Getting rid of surprise fees in everything things from ticket prices to groceries, to apartment rentals

○ Strengthening child labor protections, which rightwing state lawmakers are already rolling back.

In Summary:

● With governing power in state legislatures, it’s still possible to protect and even make progress toward achieving the American Promise, even during Trump’s second presidency.

● State lawmakers have the power not only to defend against the worst of Project 2025, but also to enact policies that build momentum for their forward-looking vision for their states.

● At The States Project, we have worked and are working to equip state lawmakers around the country with the tools, training, and networks they need to advance tangible solutions that improve lives and help achieve the American Promise: that all people are created equal with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

● You can see some of these policies on our website included in the TSP 2025 Policy Agenda.