Engage for Democracy: Today's News and Action (Wednesday, May 21, 2025)
🗞️ This Isn’t Just a Tax Bill—It’s a Blueprint that Quietly Undermines American Democracy--Please Read, Share & Take Action.
Curated by Engage for Democracy | Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Updated May 23, 2025
🛠️ Correction Notice (May 23, 2025)
In our original May 21 edition, we stated that “more than 40 sections of this bill mirror recommendations in Project 2025.” Following a comprehensive review of both the bill and the Project 2025 report, we’ve determined that while certain provisions do align with Project 2025’s published priorities, the specific claim of “more than 40” mirrored sections was inaccurate.
We’ve corrected the language and are continuing to verify and transparently document each confirmed alignment. We regret the error and appreciate your understanding as we work to uphold the same standards of truth and accountability that we believe are essential to democracy itself.
🗞️ This Isn’t Just a Tax Bill—It’s a Blueprint that Quietly Undermines American Democracy
A 1,100-page reconciliation bill restructures the balance of power, limits judicial oversight, and advances an executive-first agenda—without public debate.
Short on time? Jump to Today’s Action.
🧭 Editor’s Note
🗽 Why This Bill Poses a Threat to American Democracy—Even Though It Looks Like “Just” Legislation
Introducing legislation is not a constitutional violation. In fact, it’s a core function of Congress. But how a bill is written—what it hides, how it’s structured, and what it seeks to change about the balance of power—can raise far deeper concerns.
The 1,100+ page bill currently before the House—backed by Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump—is being advanced under the budget reconciliation process. But this bill does far more than adjust spending or tax policy. It restructures key pillars of American democracy—without public debate.
It centralizes power in the executive
It weakens the judiciary’s ability to act as a check
It guts civil service protections, environmental enforcement, and independent oversight
And it closely mirrors Project 2025—a policy agenda developed by conservative think tanks that calls for remaking the U.S. government into an executive-first system aligned with religious and cultural values
By advancing this framework through legislation, Congress is attempting to enact changes to our system of governance that stand in direct contravention of the U.S. Constitution. Article I vests all legislative power in Congress. Article II confines the president to executing the law—not creating it.
This isn’t just a set of policy preferences. It’s a structural overhaul of governance disguised as a budget bill—exploiting a fast-track process to avoid transparency and democratic accountability.
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
—James Madison, Federalist No. 47“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—Justice Louis Brandeis (1928)
These warnings—issued more than a century apart—remind us that the greatest threats to freedom often arrive cloaked in law and conviction. In the United States, individuals are free to live by their personal beliefs, including religious or moral worldviews. But no one has the right to use government institutions to impose those beliefs on others or to dismantle protections guaranteed to all.
You do not have to share someone’s identity or beliefs to respect their rights. That is the essence of constitutional democracy. The moment public policy is reshaped to serve only one vision—while excluding or targeting others—we are no longer governing by consent, but by force.
We’re covering this bill because democracy depends not only on elections, but on the Constitution’s architecture: separation of powers, open deliberation, and the public’s ability to understand and influence decisions before they become law. If we fail to uphold those principles—especially in moments that seem procedural or obscure—we risk losing the very foundation of self-government.
As a personal note: We encourage you to share this widely and invite others to take action. This bill presents a serious threat to our democratic structures—not because of its policy positions alone, but because of how it seeks to rewrite the rules of governance. The stakes could not be higher.
🧾 What Happened
House Republicans have introduced and are fast-tracking a massive budget reconciliation bill that:
Restricts or eliminates access to Medicaid, SNAP, and Medicare for non-citizens and mixed-status families
Permanently extends Trump-era tax cuts
Rolls back clean energy investments and climate programs established by the Inflation Reduction Act
Increases funding for military buildup and immigration enforcement
Expands executive authority over rulemaking and limits judicial oversight of agency actions
Imposes funding penalties on elite universities and independent oversight agencies
Codifies a narrow, binary definition of sex in federal law; bans funding for gender-affirming healthcare
Reopens previously protected federal lands to fossil fuel extraction and mining
Eliminates judicial review over certain executive actions in land use and permitting decisions
Restructures eligibility for public benefits based on citizenship, family structure, and credentialed employment pathways
⚖️ Why It Matters
This bill undermines democratic governance by bypassing the constitutional systems designed to preserve public input, separation of powers, and institutional accountability.
🛠 1. Legislating Through Reconciliation
Reconciliation is intended for fiscal adjustments—not sweeping structural reforms. This bill uses the process to:
Eliminate judicial review of executive actions
Consolidate regulatory power under the president
Restructure environmental, civil rights, and social safety net programs
🧾 Examples: Sec. 80121 (Judicial Preclusion), Sec. 30051–30061 (Rulemaking Limits), Sec. 90004–90006 (Civil Service Retrenchment)
🔒 2. Centralizing Power in the Executive
Multiple provisions transfer decision-making authority from Congress and independent agencies to the Executive Branch—particularly the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
🧾 Examples: Sec. 30051 (OMB Regulatory Review), Sec. 10012 (SNAP Restrictions), Sec. 80131 (Land Use Authority)
🧬 3. Rewriting the Relationship Between People and Government
The bill rewrites legal definitions that determine who qualifies for rights and services:
Redefines “sex” as male or female only (Sec. 44125)
Bans federal support for gender-affirming healthcare (Sec. 44201)
Cuts Medicare access for most immigrants (Sec. 112104)
These are not budget provisions. They are social mandates embedded in fiscal legislation.
📚 4. Advancing a Larger Blueprint
Updated May 23, 2025:
Certain sections of this bill mirror recommendations in Project 2025—a roadmap for reshaping the federal government into an executive-first model centered on a singular religious and cultural vision.
Private organizations are free to publish ideas. But when Congress adopts those ideas into law—without scrutiny or consent—they cease to be policy preferences and become binding governance. That is why transparency, not alignment, must be the threshold of accountability.
🚨 What It Violates
Though technically legal in form, this bill reflects a profound violation of the constitutional structure Congress is sworn to uphold. The Constitution empowers Congress to legislate—but within a system of checks and balances that includes:
Judicial review
Separation of powers
Protection of individual rights
Deliberative lawmaking and public transparency
This bill circumvents those safeguards through process abuse—embedding structural changes in a fiscal vehicle the public cannot reasonably track or debate.
⚠️ How Congress Can Enact Anti-Democratic Laws
✅ Technically Legal Process: The bill is introduced, debated, and passed—so it appears legal.
⚖️ Substantive Violations: It restricts due process, equal protection, or independent oversight—violating constitutional principles.
🔁 Delayed Enforcement Check: Courts can only intervene after harm occurs—often too late.
🧨 Strategic Obfuscation: Dense, technical language conceals the bill’s true purpose and impact.
⚖️ Specific Violations by Principle
🔄 Editor’s Note (Update): We’ve updated the Rule of Law section of the chart titled “⚖️ Specific Violations by Principle” to replace page number references with precise statutory section citations. This update improves clarity but does not change any of the underlying analysis.
🔍 Hiding Structural Change in a Budget Bill
Americans can disagree on issues like gender, immigration, taxes, or environmental policy. That’s democracy. But democracy also requires:
🗣️ Open debate
📝 Public input
⚖️ Checks on power
🗳️ Consent of the governed
This bill circumvents all four. It embeds sweeping structural changes in a budget bill that avoids deliberation and transparency—subverting constitutional self-government.
🧨 Why This Is So Dangerous
When authoritarian-leaning leaders use legal tools to reshape government, resistance becomes harder—because the system appears to be working.
But law is not just process. It is principle.
This bill uses process to undermine principle. And if passed:
People will lose healthcare
Agencies will stop enforcing protections
Courts will be blocked from intervening
Civil servants will be purged
Power will shift decisively to the executive
This is not a budget. It is a blueprint for dismantling the American system of self-government—quietly, procedurally, and permanently.
✍️ Today’s Action
1) Call your Representative
📝 Call Script for Congress
Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [City, State or Zip Code].
I’m calling to express serious concern about the 1,100+ page budget reconciliation bill. While it’s being presented as a fiscal measure, it includes sweeping provisions that would centralize executive power, weaken judicial oversight, and change civil rights protections—all without public debate.
Regardless of party, Congress has a responsibility to uphold the Constitution. I’m urging [Senator/Representative Name] to oppose this bill and to ensure that structural changes to our government are debated openly, not hidden in a budget bill.
Thank you for your time.
2) 📩 Email your Senators and Representative all at once in 3 easy steps:
Copy the message below
Click here to Go to Democracy.io
Paste the message (personalize if you’d like), fill in your info, and click Submit
📝 Message to Congress
Subject: Defend Constitutional Checks and Balances—Reject Executive-Centered Legislation
As your constituent, I am writing to express deep concern about the sweeping budget reconciliation bill currently advancing through the House of Representatives.
While framed as a fiscal measure, this bill includes provisions that would dramatically alter the balance of power in our government. It transfers significant authority from Congress to the executive branch, limits judicial oversight, and embeds expansive policy mandates into a process designed for budgetary adjustments—not structural change.
Among the most concerning elements are provisions that:
Strip courts of their ability to review executive actions,
Redefine eligibility for federal programs based on narrow social criteria,
Centralize regulatory authority under the White House,
And restructure civil service protections and environmental law through executive rulemaking.
These actions, while procedurally legal, undermine the constitutional principles of separation of powers, equal protection, due process, and deliberative lawmaking. They bypass public debate and prevent the kind of transparency and accountability that are essential to representative democracy.
I urge you to:
Oppose any legislation that embeds sweeping social or structural changes under reconciliation;
Defend the constitutional balance of power between the branches;
Ensure that major policy reforms receive full public debate and stand on their own merit.
The Constitution is not a partisan document. It is the foundation of our self-government. Please act now to preserve its integrity.
3) 📲 Text RESIST to 50409 or message via facebook.com/resistbot (where you can send an email, text, or fax!)
Copy the message below (and personalize if you’d like)
Text RESIST to 50409 or Message Via facebook.com/resistbot
📲 Shorter Text Message to Congress
I’m deeply concerned about the House budget bill. It hides sweeping structural changes—including expanded executive power and limits on judicial review—inside a fiscal package with no public debate. Please oppose this and defend the Constitution’s separation of powers and checks and balances. We need open government, not fast-tracked restructuring.
📚 Sources and Suggested Reading
Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership (Heritage Foundation). https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise/
Alt National Park Service: “This Is Project 2025 in Legislative Form”. https://www.facebook.com/AltUSNationalParkService
Protect Democracy. The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025.
https://protectdemocracy.org/,
USA Today: "Medicaid, SNAP, tax cuts: What's in the Trump bill"
📣 That’s today’s edition. We’ll be back Friday with the latest updates and actions.
⚖️ Checks and balances aren’t abstract concepts—they are living guardrails. And they only work when we, the people, pay attention and step in when those safeguards are at risk.
🛡️ Every call, every letter, every conversation helps fortify our democracy.
🔁 If this resonates, please share it widely.
💪 Stay steady. Stay grounded. Stay engaged.
With resolve,
Engage For Democracy