Friend,

Following the global Microsoft outage last week, Delta Air Lines went into a tailspin, cancelling more flights in five days than in all of 2018 and 2019 combined.(1)

The airline said it would offer the thousands of affected passengers travel waivers — but Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was quick to let the public know that under new federal regulations, Delta customers are entitled to full refunds.(2)

That’s the way the Biden/Harris administration has been fighting for us. But Donald Trump’s Project 2025 -- the extremist, far right plan for his second term -- undoes the good work that protects American consumers and would instead serve the ultra-wealthy (like Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who was able to fly to Paris while his company grounded everyone else).(3)

Thousands of Courage California members shared our email earlier this week with how Project 2025 will wreck our environment. Now let’s look at four ways the plan will damage our financial well-being:

1. Eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). By stopping junk fees, creating new rules for lending money, and giving us a place to file complaints against corporate money grabs, the CFPB has saved American consumers more than $20 billion in the years since it was established.(4) Project 2025 would eliminate the agency entirely and reverse bank regulations established by the Dodd-Frank Act.(5)
2. Hamstring the Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation’s programs would be significantly defunded, and the new regulations would likely be reversed by Trump acolytes appointed to run the department.(6)
3. End student loan forgiveness. All student loan relief would come to an end, as Project 2025 states that all borrowers would repay their loans.(7)
4. Overhaul income taxes to benefit the wealthy. The progressive tax system would be replaced with two tax brackets -- 15% for everyone making under $168,000 a year, and 30% for everyone making more. The Child Tax Credit would be eliminated. The average American family would pay $6,600 more a year in taxes. But someone making $5 million a year would see a $325,000 tax cut.(8)

We’ve already made great strides in educating people about Project 2025 -- and the more they know, the more they disagree with MAGA.[(9) So help us by forwarding this email and sharing our social media posts about how Project 2025 attacks our financial security!

Yours in the fight for our planet!

–Irene, Annie, Angela, Isidra, Mario, Marvin, Alyssa, Jen, Cecilia, and Lindsay (the Courage team)

Footnote:
1. https://viewfromthewing.com/where-was-ed-delta-ceo-fled-to-europe-during-airline-meltdown/
2. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/23/nx-s1-5049792/deltas-airlines-delays-and-cancelations-prompt-dot-investigation
3. https://viewfromthewing.com/where-was-ed-delta-ceo-fled-to-europe-during-airline-meltdown/
4. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-cfpb-is-cleaning-up-junk-fees/
5. https://clpblog.citizen.org/how-would-the-cfpb-fare-under-heritages-project-2025/
6. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-would-increase-costs-for-commuters-defund-transit-maintenance-and-undermine-economic-growth/
7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/07/18/project-2025-explained-what-to-know-about-the-controversial-right-wing-policy-map-for-trump-as-he-speaks-at-rnc/
8. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/project-2025-tax-trump-economy-heritage-foundation-how-it-works/
9. https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/50035-what-americans-think-about-project-2025