Home » Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise by Chapter » Department of Commerce

Department of Commerce

Summary of Impacts

Project 2025 suggests reducing fossil fuel production regulations, which will accelerate climate change. Reduced regulations will reduce air quality and increase negative public health outcomes. Over-reliance on fossil fuels will jeopardize future energy security and stability, and increase American dependence on foreign oil sources.

Key Quotes

“Eliminate the Clean Energy Corps by revoking funding and eliminating all positions and personnel hired under the program.”
(McNamee 418)

“Eliminate energy efficiency standards for appliances.”
(McNamee 411)

“Make the design, development, and deployment of new nuclear warheads a top priority.”
(McNamee 430)

Impacts on the Department of Commerce

The impacts of Project 2025 policies on the Department of Commerce could include reducing regulations to foster innovation and economic growth, simplifying bureaucratic processes, and promoting new trade agreements that prioritize American businesses and jobs. The plan also includes protecting critical industries from unfair foreign competition, supporting technological innovation, and ensuring data privacy. Efforts would be made to ensure market competitiveness by revising antitrust regulations and supporting small and medium enterprises. Additionally, the project aims to encourage public-private partnerships for infrastructure development, invest in digital modernization, and optimize data collection processes while balancing privacy concerns. These policies reflect a broader conservative agenda focused on economic growth and reduced governmental overreach, depending on political leadership.

Critical Analysis

The text is filled with conservative rhetoric, such as criticizing “climate change alarmism” and emphasizing the need to counter “malign influence” from China. It also frequently mentions the need for “strong political leadership” and “conservative priorities,” indicating a clear ideological bias rather than genuine concern for the wellbeing of the United States.

Detrimental Impacts

The proposed policy for the Department of Commerce stands to affect the following:

Direct Impact

Low-income Individuals

Consolidating and privatizing functions could lead to job losses and reduced services, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities who rely on government programs.

Federal Employees

Replacing career staff with political appointees could undermine the objectivity and effectiveness of government operations.

BIPOC & Immigrants

Adding a citizenship question and changing race and ethnicity questions could lead to undercounts in marginalized communities. An undercount could result in reduced federal funding and political representation for communities of color. Additionally, shifting the focus of the MBDA from providing services to policy analysis could reduce support for minority-owned businesses.

General Public

Environmental Impact

Breaking up NOAA and downsizing its functions could undermine efforts to address climate change and protect natural resources. Reduced funding for climate research could hinder the ability to predict and mitigate natural disasters.

Foreign Relations

Aggressive trade policies aimed at countering China could lead to trade wars, harming both U.S. and global economies.

Future Consequences

Economic Disparities

Consolidating and privatizing government functions will likely lead to job losses and reduced services, worsening economic disparities. Marginalized communities will be hit hardest, as they often rely on these services for support.

Environmental Degradation

Breaking up NOAA and downsizing its functions will undermine efforts to address climate change and protect natural resources. This will hinder the ability to predict and mitigate natural disasters, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities.

Reduced Diversity in Decision-Making

Abolishing advisory committees that provide diverse perspectives will result in policies that ignore or harm marginalized groups. This will reduce the effectiveness of policies aimed at addressing social justice issues.

Conclusion

In summary, the proposed policies in this section of Project 2025 are likely to cause significant harm to marginalized groups and Americans in general. The emphasis on conservative priorities and political appointees will undermine the objectivity and effectiveness of government operations, leading to biased decision-making and reduced support for vulnerable communities.

Quotes from the Mandate

Page numbers refer to the Mandate for Leadership PDF

“Focus the National Weather Service on Commercial Operations… [and] become a Performance-Based Organization” (Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 707)

Shifting the focus of the National Weather Service (NWS) to commercial operations and relying on private companies for weather forecasts could lead to inequities in access to critical weather information. Private companies may prioritize profit over public service, potentially limiting access to accurate and timely weather data for low-income and marginalized communities who cannot afford premium services. This could result in increased vulnerability to weather-related disasters for these groups. Additionally, transitioning the NWS to a performance-based organization could lead to less attention on research and public education (since these are difficult to quantify). There’s also a risk of fixating on short-term goals at the expense of neglecting long-term preparedness and resilience efforts.

“The National Advisory Committee should immediately be abolished by the incoming Administration [and] also reevaluate and potentially abolish all non-statutory standing committees within the Census Bureau, including the Census Scientific Advisory Committee” (Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 714)

The National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations (NAC) helps ensure the Census Bureau understands and addresses the needs of hard-to-reach populations, race and ethnicity, language, aging populations, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal considerations, new immigrant populations, and more. The committee advises on data privacy, confidentiality, and strategies to improve census operations and reduce undercounts. Without NAC, policy decisions will be less informed. This will lead to reduced representation in census data and policy-making, harming these communities. The Census Scientific Advisory Committee (CSAC) provides advice on communications, decennial census planning, demographic research, economic analysis, field operations, geographic data, information technology, and statistical methods. The committee addresses emerging challenges related to adaptive design, cyber infrastructure, and demographic and economic research. It is likely that without CSAC (and any other committees they abolish), the quality and effectiveness of Census Bureau programs would suffer.

“Review forthcoming changes to race and ethnicity questions.” (Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 712)

Recently, changes were made to the census form to combine the race and ethnicity questions and expand options for minority communities to ensure all persons were equally represented in census results. Reversing this change would lead to undercounts and disproportionally affect marginalized minority communities. Delaying or altering new methodologies designed to improve accuracy could continue or worsen this trend. Ultimately, doing so would lead to inequalities for the affected communities.

“Add a citizenship question.” (The Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 712)

Adding a citizenship question to the census will discourage immigrant households from returning a census form. This would cause populations to be underreported which would impact government funding for roads, fire departments, police departments, hospitals, and similar agencies. Many of the arguments in favor of adding a citizenship question center around distinguishing between undocumented immigrants and everyone else. But experts say a citizenship question is unnecessary – we have reliable methods of estimating undocumented immigrants without the census.

“Ensure Appointees Agree with Administration Aims. Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area.” (Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 709)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is tasked with weather forecasting, climate monitoring, oceanic and atmospheric research, and marine resource management. Since NOAA’s goal is to conserve and manage ecosystems using science as its guide, it is surprising that the author refers to their work as “obstructionism.” Perhaps, if a particular administration’s policy was hostile to the scientific method, the work of scientific agencies would feel like obstructionism. The implication, then, is that conservative political appointees in NOAA (and other scientific agencies) will halt any efforts to conserve our environment and prevent climate change. The negative effects of climate change NOAA monitors (CO2 levels, severe weather, sea level rise, etc.) will no longer be publicized or addressed, leaving all of us vulnerable (but especially marginalized communities).

“Withdraw the 30×30 Executive Order and Associated America the Beautiful Initiative.” (Economy, Dept. of Commerce, Page 708)

The 30×30 executive order aims to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and freshwater areas and 30% of U.S. ocean areas by 2030. Its purpose is to protect biodiversity, fight climate change, and expand access to nature. It will also conduct a comprehensive review of the federal oil and gas program while promoting renewable energy production. The American the Beautiful Initiative is closely tied to the 30×30 goal. This initiative seeks to enhance public access to outdoor spaces, restore ecosystems, and protect wildlife habitats. This author claims that these initiatives harm fisheries and other ocean-based industries. The concern is that these actions could lead to significant economic losses and job impacts in coastal communities that rely on these industries for their livelihoods. However, these concerns were anticipated, and part of the executive order calls for a Task Force of affected parties (including fishermen) and soliciting input from all stakeholders (specifically mentioning fisheries and regional ocean councils). Climate change is real and will have devastating impacts on all of us if we don’t work together to solve it. Withdrawing these science-backed initiatives will accelerate the effects of climate change and harm all of us, but especially marginalized communities who experience disproportionate impacts.