Guest post: Project 2025 would have major consequences for rural Iowans

With the Nov. 5 elections getting closer, I’ve been talking with friends and neighbors about the candidates running for office and issues that matter in our day-to-day lives. One topic that keeps coming up is Project 2025.

It’s a 900-page policy document published by the Heritage Foundation, a well-known conservative think tank. Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from it, claiming he doesn’t know who’s behind it. But that’s hard to believe given the fact that 140 people who helped draft Project 2025—including six former Trump cabinet secretaries—worked for him when he was president.

If I had to summarize it in a sentence, I’d say Project 2025 is chock-full of policies that will, and already are, wreaking havoc on tens of thousands of Iowans, while giving even more power to the wealthy.

Project 2025 would slash participation in Medicaid by about 20%, and then cut benefits for those still on the program. Right now, Medicaid serves about 700,000 Iowans. A 20% reduction would eliminate 140,000 of them. That’s a lot of people getting hurt.

Project 2025 would also get rid of the Inflation Reduction Act’s insulin rate that’s capped at $35 per month for people on Medicare. And, it would eliminate the IRA’s yearly cap of $2,000 on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients. Based on my career as a registered nurse, I know hundreds of Iowans who would suffer under these policies.

On K-12 education, Project 2025 would give us more of what we’ve seen here in Iowa the past few years—elected officials using private vouchers extensively to defund, dismantle and privatize our public schools.

To counter this, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) members would ramp up our Public School Strong campaign that’s fighting for a fully-funded public education system open to everyone. All of us benefit from strong public schools because they’ve helped make our country far more equal, educated, and democratic. We need to build them up, not tear them down.

On agriculture, Project 2025 would be a nightmare for family farmers like me. It would eliminate many USDA programs that help farmers survive low prices, low yields and weather disasters. And it would decimate programs that do so much for land conservation and wildlife habitat. We need fair farm prices from the marketplace and supply management, not gutting farm programs altogether.

Project 2025 would also reduce tax rates, especially for big corporations and the super rich. That’s absurd, since most people think the wealthiest among us should be paying their fair share.

The list goes on and on.

It’s important to pay attention to Project 2025 because elections matter. There would be real consequences for people all over the state—especially those of us in rural areas—if its policies were implemented.

From my vantage point, I see two competing visions on the ballot. One is Project 2025 and its draconian measures. The other is an economy and democracy that works for all of us, that lifts all of us up. On Nov. 5, I’ll be voting for the latter—it’s a future worth fighting for.

Barb Kalbach is a fourth-generation family farmer, registered nurse, and board president of Iowa CCI. She can be reached at [email protected].