The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday followed up its Project 2025 agenda with a new policy document meant to inform the Trump administration’s work in 2026.
Priorities include measures to more actively root out “deep state” actors within the federal government, distancing the U.S. economy from China and continuing to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
“Conservatives must set the agenda, earn a mandate for that agenda, and govern accordingly,” Heritage’s 2026 plan reads. “Over the next two years, we will engage in Washington to dismantle the deep state and in the states to restore the family, rebuild American institutions, and restore opportunity for all.”
The document builds on efforts championed in Heritage’s Project 2025, a lengthy policy document that President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign but ultimately embraced after returning to the White House earlier this year.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, the policy paper became a reliable liberal boogeyman that drove a number of news cycles.
The 2025 playbook, which foreshadowed many of the Trump administration’s actions, called for a massive restructuring of the federal government, including abolishing the Department of Education, and placing new requirements on social welfare benefits.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether it intends to work with Heritage to implement the new 2026 priorities. Heritage also did not respond to a request for comment on whether it plans to collaborate with the Trump administration to carry out its policy priorities.
The conservative think tank’s 2026 plan, which is significantly shorter than its predecessor, highlights nine policy agendas it says are “the most important challenges facing America—some familiar and others new.”
Among the top priorities for Republicans in the coming years, Heritage writes, is countering the Chinese Communist Party.
“The CCP is the most persistent and consequential foreign threat facing the American people today. It is building a military to challenge the U.S., stealing American technology at an unprecedented rate, and hurting U.S. workers with predatory economic policies,” the plan reads. “America is falling behind in this New Cold War.”
Heritage said it is committed to developing “a China-resistant economy,” exposing U.S. firms lobbying on behalf of Chinese clients and ensuring “our military is prepared to meet any threats China may pose in the future.”
Heritage also wants to expand the Trump administration’s work to reduce the size of the federal government, as well as easing environmental and energy regulations to create “more affordable electricity and transportation and attract manufacturing back to America.”
In addition to its economic priorities, Heritage wrote that it is focused on rooting out a “deep state of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups” that “bypass the will of the people by undermining or overriding decisions made by elected officials.”
“This erodes the American public’s trust in their own government,” Heritage’s 2026 plan reads.
“Heritage will support the Trump Administration in its effort to assert effective control over the federal bureaucracy, rein in and reform the administrative state, end the abuses to Americans’ civil liberties, and restore excellence and efficiency in government operations,” the plan continues
On Monday, the Heritage Foundation unveiled a new national ad campaign dubbing its new policy agenda “Heritage 2.0.” The ad will be featured later this month at Turning Point USA’s America Fest in Phoenix and will also air Sunday during CBS News’ interview with new TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk, according to The Daily Signal.
“It’s a choice to prioritize families and empower local communities,” reads the ad, set to a montage of landscape scenes, American flags and a Charlie Kirk memorial. “A choice to find dignity in prosperous and honorable work. A choice to prioritize our nation’s safety, protecting our homeland and standing strong against foreign threats. A choice to cherish the greatest gift we’ve been given—waking up every day as an American citizen.”
The organization’s new 2026 agenda also puts an outsize emphasis on cultural issues, with a special focus on family life. One section calls for restoring the “nuclear family to the center of American life and to reduce both the demand and supply for abortion at all stages of human development with courage and compassion.”
“Family breakdown and rampant abortion tears at the soul of our country and saps it of strength and moral authority,” the plan reads. “Radical ideologies that deny social and biological truths about sexual embodiment, marriage, and unborn life poison our courts, our culture, and our laws.”
Other policy priorities include advancing American energy through streamlined infrastructure permitting, “holding Big Tech accountable by enforcing antitrust and other laws and proposing new measures to end its abuses” and “ensuring election integrity” by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to vote and eliminating ranked-choice voting.
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