As Trump creates distance from Project 2025, conservative Agenda47 comes into focus
As the Republican National Convention (RNC) continues into its third day, speakers and party members have rallied around a firm support of Trump, despite a tumultuous few years that resulted in 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records, among other controversies.
At the RNC, political speakers outlined issues the Republican party considers to be some of the biggest facing Americans, including crime, immigration and identity politics. While some also proposed solutions that would be ushered in under a conservative president, voters don't have to guess Trump's plans; instead, they can simply head over to his website.
Starting in 2022, Trump's official campaign began uploading a series of policy plans to its website, detailing how the Republican candidate plans to tackle some of the country's most pressing issues. Called Agenda47, the campaign materials paint a big picture of what Americans may expect under another Trump presidency.
Here's what to know about Agenda47.
What to know about Heritage Foundation: Main group behind Project 2025 and RNC sponsor
What is Agenda47 and how is it different from Project 2025?
Agenda47 is the Trump administration's official policy platform for the 2024 presidential election. Outlined in a series of videos and statements on the Trump website, the proposals were released during primary election season.
Many of the actions proposed would be achieved through executive order and touch on topics ranging from climate change and education to the economy and immigration.
The policies are separate from Project 2025, an ultra-conservative initiative created by far-right think tank the Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 is something of a playbook for the next conservative president and details a reimagining of the executive branch and plans to overhaul federal government agencies in a conservative image.
It was created by a team that includes several members of Trump's former staff, but Trump has since attempted to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation after President Joe Biden publicly criticized his ties to the project.
Agenda47, on the other hand, is the official outline for Trump's campaign.
What Agenda47 says about education
Trump's proposals for education reform focus on defunding and punishing educators and institutions that do not teach conservative values and creating new organizations to enforce rules created around Republican talking points to "save" schools from "Radical Left maniacs."
These plans include:
Cutting federal funding for any school or programs teaching "Critical Race Theory," "gender ideology" or other lessons deemed "inappropriate."
Keeping "men out of women's sports."
Abolishing teacher tenure.
Pushing prayer in public schools.
Seeking out and undoing "Marxism" in education.
Certifying only teachers “who embrace patriotic values" through a new credential program.
Undoing DEI policies.
Encouraging home and religious schooling.
Creating a "Parental Bill of Rights" to give parents control over curriculum.
Allowing parents to elect school officials and favoring school districts that enable teachers to carry firearms.
On the college level, Agenda47 wants to punish universities like Harvard for "turning students into Communists and terrorists" and plans to do away with the existing accreditation system, replacing it with one that adheres to GOP values and heavily fines those that don't comply. With money made from the fines, Agenda47 proposes the creation of a free online “American Academy" with "no wokeness or jihadism."
Immigration
Anti-immigrant rhetoric is a prominent feature of Trump's 2024 campaign, a fact reflected in Agenda47. In the discussion of policy around immigration, Trump's preamble relies on the message that immigrants are "criminals" and "birth tourists" taking over America.
According to the plan, Trump will sign an executive order on "day one" to end automatic citizenship for children of "illegal aliens."
The agenda also envisions a slew of proposed executive and presidential orders that will:
Determine the "correct" interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
Completely prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving any form of government benefit.
Impose a travel ban on certain countries.
Close the border to asylum seekers.
Stop refugee admissions.
Suspend visa programs including family visas, the visa lottery and "non-essential" work visas.
Stop federal funding to sanctuary cities.
Create a vetting center for "extreme vetting of foreign nationals,"
Crime
Agenda47 says it wants to restore "law and order" to address what Trump claims is "out of control crime."
The plan proposes an investment in hiring, retention, and training for police officers and increasing their liability protections as well as supporting policing policies like stop-and-frisk and local police working with ICE on deportation.
Agenda47 also wants to:
Overhaul federal standards on disciplining minors
Have the DOJ "dismantle every gang, street crew, and drug network in America.”
Deploy federal troops for "law and order."
Establish a DOJ task force for “protecting the right to self-defense.”
Facilitate the hiring of 100 U.S. attorneys to investigate what Trump believes to be "left-leaning" district attorney and "anti-conservative bias" in law schools and firms.
Healthcare
Agenda47 places a focus on pharmaceuticals and medical devices manufactured within the U.S.
Under the plan, essential medical devices and medicines would be manufactured in the U.S. and federal agencies would be required to “Buy American" to prevent shortages.
It also calls for an increase in the production of drugs domestically, bans agencies from other countries from buying "essential drugs" and demands that pharmaceutical companies only be paid the “best price they offer to foreign nations.”
Economy
Agenda47 describes proposed economic policies under Trump as "pro-American" and blames Biden's "pro-China" administration for the poor state of the economy.
The agenda proposes cutting federal regulations on resources like energy, cutting taxes, raising tariffs on foreign producers while lowering taxes for domestic producers, imposing universal tariffs on most foreign products, "eliminating dependence on China" and banning federal contracts for any company that outsources to China.
Welfare, social security
Agenda47 says "Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security."
In the proposal, Trump blames threats to the programs on Biden's spending and says the Democrats are trying to undo Social Security, though Republicans have previously proposed a higher retirement age and funding cuts.
Trump's agenda proposes cutting tax dollars going to "corrupt foreign countries," "illegal aliens," "left-wing gender programs from our military" and "climate extremism" to save Social Security funding.
The proposal also bans undocumented immigrants from receiving any welfare monies and seeks to address homelessness, banning "public camping" and instead giving unhoused individuals the option to go to some form unspecified of "treatment" or being arrested.
It also proposes the creation of large tent cities to accommodate unhoused people with doctors and social workers on site.
LGBTQIA+ rights
Trump makes apparent throughout his policy plans an anti-LGTBQIA+ stance that specifically targets transgender individuals.
Removing any healthcare provider that offers gender-affirming care to youth from Medicare and Medicaid eligibility.
Pushing Congress to pass laws that say “the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female—and they are assigned at birth."
Defunding any school where a staff member discusses gender identity.
Passing laws that ban what he calls "child sexual mutilation."
Promoting education around the traditional nuclear family in schools.
Supporting private lawsuits against doctors who provide gender-affirming care.
Demanding any federal agencies "cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Agenda47? A look at Trump's policy plans beyond Project 2025
