Happy Tuesday! On this date 59 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Social Security Amendments of 1965, leading to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Today, the five-member U.S. women’s gymnastics team led by superstar Simone Biles won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. And tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to deliver remarks at a rally in Atlanta, where rapper Megan Thee Stallion is also scheduled to perform. Harris’s campaign is looking to boost its chances in Sunbelt battleground states like Georgia, where President Joe Biden had appeared to be trailing Republican Donald Trump.
Here's what else is happening.
Project 2025 Director Steps Down Amid Democratic Attacks, Pressure From Trump
The director of Project 2025, the controversial conservative policy agenda produced by the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing groups in preparation for the next Republican administration, is stepping down amid pressure from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The project has turned into a headache for Trump, drawing Democratic attacks and public scrutiny of conservative plans to reshape the federal government and various areas of American life. Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has attacked the plan often, warning that it "would return America to a very dark past."
Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from the 922-page manifesto in recent months, labeling some unspecified portions of it "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal." But many of the project’s contributors had served in his administration and were expected to again play roles in government if he wins a second term in office. And Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, has praised the Heritage Foundation’s work.
"While some participants in the project started avoiding interviews and public appearances, Trump advisers grew furious that Heritage leaders continued promoting the project and feeding critical news coverage," The Washington Post notes.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Tuesday that Paul Dans, the leader of the project who had been chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management under Trump, would be moving on. The Project 2025 personnel database for potential political staffing decisions will reportedly continue to operate.
"Under Paul Dans’ leadership, Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people. This tool was built for any future administration to use," Roberts said in a statement. "When we began Project 2025 in April 2022, we set a timeline for the project to conclude its policy drafting after the two party conventions this year, and we are sticking to that timeline. Paul, who built the project from scratch and bravely led this endeavor over the past two years, will be departing the team and moving up to the front where the fight remains."
In a message to staff Monday, Dans reportedly signed off by quoting Trump’s words to the crowd after the failed attempt on his life this month: "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The Daily Beast reports that Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita "put the screws" to Dans to force him out. LaCivita and the Trump campaign celebrated what it called Project 2025’s "demise."
"President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way," LaCivita and fellow Trump campaign manager Susie Wiles said in a statement. "Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign— it will not end well for you."
The Harris campaign said it would continue to warn about the project and would continue to tie it to Trump. "Hiding the 920-page blueprint from the American people doesn’t make it less real — in fact, it should make voters more concerned about what else Trump and his allies are hiding," Harris for President Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. "Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot. This is his agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country."
Quote of the Day
"All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch. … The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might have to say, Kamala Harris is a lot younger. And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did."
− Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, in remarks to donors at a Saturday fundraiser in Golden Valley, Minn. A recording of Vance’s comments was obtained by The Washington Post, which notes that Vance’s privately shared view is at odds with the Trump campaign’s public posturing and the senator’s own public statements insisting that the "political calculus" of the race remains the same with Harris as it was when President Joe Biden was atop the Democratic ticket.
"We have a very unique opportunity," Vance reportedly told those at the fundraiser, "but also a very unique challenge, because, let’s be honest, 10 days ago, the two candidates who were running for president, everybody had an opinion about ’em. Love ’em or hate ’em, everybody has an opinion about Donald Trump and Joe Biden after the past eight years. But Kamala Harris, people don’t really know."
Number of the Day: $7 Billion
You probably didn’t know that today is National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, but the IRS is celebrating those who raise red flags on cheaters and deceivers by highlighting the billions of dollars collected as a result of their efforts.
The IRS announced this week that since 2007, when its Whistleblower Office was established, it has collected more than $7 billion from non-compliant taxpayers, resulting in rewards payments of more than $1.2 billion for whistleblowers who provided "specific, timely and credible information."
In fiscal year 2023, the IRS recognized 16,932 award claims. Total tax collections came to $338 million, with whistleblowers receiving awards totaling $88.8 million.
"The IRS appreciates the valuable contributions that thousands of whistleblowers have made to help bolster the fair and effective enforcement of our nation’s tax laws," said IRS Whistleblower Office Director John Hinman. "Information from whistleblowers continues to be an incredibly effective aid to IRS compliance efforts, and we are committed to improving our whistleblower program."
The IRS said it is working on a digital hub to enable the submission of whistleblower claims online, which it plans to have up and running by 2025. If it succeeds, it will arrive 238 years after the first whistleblower law, which was inspired by reports of torture of British prisoners of war, was passed by the Continental Congress on July 30, 1778.
U.S. Job Market Continues to Cool
There were 8.18 million job openings in the U.S. at the end of June, according to government data released Tuesday. The total reflects just a small decline from the month before, but over the last year, the number of available jobs has fallen by about 940,000.
Overall, the report describes a labor market that continues to cool. Hiring slowed in June with 5.3 million employees added, the lowest level since April 2020. The quits rate, which gives economists a sense of how confident workers are about finding new jobs, matched a post-pandemic low of 2.1%, indicating that workers are less likely to leave their jobs to pursue more favorable opportunities. And the ratio of job openings to unemployed workers fell to 1.24, the lowest in the post-pandemic period and well below the peak reading of two seen in the spring of 2022.
Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, said he hopes the report sends a clear, dovish message to the Federal Reserve, which is meeting this week to review macroeconomic data and interest rate policy. "Pretty simple for #Fed policymakers: totality of data indicates slower employment & easing inflation," he wrote on X. "Excessively restrictive monetary policy could unduly weaken the economy & push the labor market from current state of balance toward weakness. Time to recalibrate..."
Fiscal News Roundup
- Congress Will Probably Have to Punt to Keep the Government Open in October – Washington Post
- Kamala Harris Wipes Out Trump’s Swing-State Lead in Election Dead Heat – Bloomberg
- The Democratic Contest to Be Harris’ Running Mate Will Likely Be Decided in the Next Week – Associated Press
- NC Gov. Cooper Opted Out of Harris VP Vetting, in Part Over Worry About GOP Lieutenant: AP Sources – Associated Press
- JD Vance’s Former Yale Classmate and Friend Says Emails Show Political Transformation on ‘Literally Every Imaginable Issue’ – CNN
- It’s Not Just ‘Cat Ladies’: JD Vance Has a History of Disparaging People Without Kids – CNN
- Bipartisan Senate Group Offers Bill to Plug VA Benefit Shortfall – Roll Call
- Senate Passes Kids Online Safety Package – Roll Call
- U.S. to Arm Ukraine’s F-16 Jets With Advanced Weapons – Wall Street Journal
- Trump Would ‘Absolutely’ Scrap Biden’s Air Force One Colors, Adviser Says – Politico
Views and Analysis
- Harris, Trump Lob Social Security and Medicare Claims – Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
- Harris’s VP Picks Are Seeking Paths Out of the Trumpian Wilderness – EJ Dionne Jr., Washington Post
- Why Harris and Democrats Keep Calling Trump and Vance ‘Weird’ – Meg Kinnard, Associated Press
- Why the Kamala Harris of Four Years Ago Could Haunt Her in 2024 – Reid J. Epstein, New York Times
- What’s at Stake in November – Erin Brockovich, New York Times
- Trump Media Quietly Enters Deal With a Republican Donor Who Could Benefit From a Second Trump Administration – Justin Elliott, Robert Faturechi and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica
- The Left’s Fragile Foundations – Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
- Read J.D. Vance’s Violent Foreword to Project 2025 Leader’s New Book – Alex Shephard, New Republic