This article is part of a series from the Center for American Progress exposing how the sweeping Project 2025 policy agenda would harm all Americans. This new authoritarian playbook, published by the Heritage Foundation, would destroy the 250-year-old system of checks and balances upon which U.S. democracy has relied and give far-right politicians, judges, and corporations more control over Americans’ lives.
Project 2025 is a plan to gut America’s system of checks and balances in order to enact an extreme, far-right agenda that would hurt all Americans. The plan proposes taking power away from everyday people to give politicians, judges, and corporations more control over Americans’ lives. Here are specific ways that Project 2025 harms veterans in America.
Cutting benefits for disabled veterans
Project 2025 proposes making it harder for veterans to obtain disability benefits by reducing the number of medical conditions that service members can claim to qualify for disabled status. Under the change, veterans currently eligible for a disability rating but who have not yet made claims could be denied benefits entirely, and those who have already made claims and been granted a disability rating could see their benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other safety net benefits slashed. Project 2025 also pushes to automate claims, which could increase denial rates—similar to the experience patients have had with health insurance denials—and place a heavier administrative burden on veterans.
Cutting health coverage for veterans and reducing the quality of care
Although the Veterans Health Administration provides health insurance to many veterans, many younger than 65 are enrolled in Medicaid. Roughly 1 in 10 service members rely on Medicaid for health care coverage, with 2 in 5 relying on Medicaid exclusively. Project 2025 proposes capping Medicaid payments to states with no regard for their actual spending needs on health and long-term care and giving states the power to deny coverage of particular services, including long-term services and supports such as home- and community-based care. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the proposed funding caps could force states to restrict eligibility for certain types of services and supports currently provided through Medicaid. Alternatively, Medicaid funding caps could force states to deny coverage of particular benefits, especially costly services such as long-term care. A separate Project 2025 proposal to force VA hospitals to “increase the number of patients seen each day to equal the number seen by DoD medical facilities” would significantly undermine the quality of care.
Exacerbating veteran homelessness
In 2008, amid the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs launched a Supportive Housing program to fight veteran homelessness. Thanks to the program, 81,400 veterans receive support to obtain rental housing, with Congress having appropriated sufficient funds to help a remaining 35,000 homeless veterans to obtain housing and end veteran homelessness entirely. Experts credit the success of this initiative with a policy strategy called Housing First, meaning there are no conditions placed on beneficiaries in accessing the aid, and drug treatment and mental health care also are offered. Project 2025 proposes to end the successful Housing First strategy, which could result in thousands of veterans losing housing and could imperil their financial security.
Making it easier for scammers to prey on veterans
Project 2025 proposes to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which plays a critical role in protecting veterans from financial fraud and scams. Since the agency began operating in 2011, CFPB reports service members have submitted more than 400,000 complaints relating to possible violations of consumer protections or military financial rules. “In total, the CFPB’s enforcement actions in 42 cases involving harm to servicemembers and veterans has delivered $183 million in redress to victims,” the agency states. Without this critical protection, those who have served the United States would have little recourse for redressing financial fraud or scams.
Veterans put their lives on the line to protect all Americans and defend the very freedoms Project 2025 seeks to destroy. Project 2025 embodies an existential threat to their security and prosperity.