Project 2025 Status
Chapter Author
_Director of ACLJ Action, Chairman of Torn-gat Metals; former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration and Chief Financial Officer, US Dept. of Commerce in the Trump administration. Former CEO, Chrysler Corporation. Chapter
The main approach advocated by the author to tackle the DOC’s perceived red tape and bloat is to privatize or outsource many of the functions and areas of responsibility of the DOC and to align existing policy with conservative principles. In the area of international trade, the goal is to promote policies and initiatives to decrease the Chinese market, including in areas of technology and communications, and promote America-first policies. Some of these are via Executive Orders or policies to try to punish foreign exporters of goods into the US.
On climate, the proposal to break up or decrease the role of key NOAA agencies that oversee environmental policy represents a serious attack on current environmental protections, with a goal of deregulation and opening up natural areas to private commercialization.
Meanwhile, the push to add a citizenship question to the Census, a failed Trump effort, reflects an attack on immigrants, while the proposals related to minority businesses reflect an anti- diversity agenda. Short of abolishing the Minority Business Development Agency, conservatives hope to steer minority businesses to embrace their “no government, no taxes” philosophy.
Gilman starts his call to reshape the Department of Commerce (DOC) by stating it “has suffered from decades of regulatory capture, ideological drift, and lack of focus.” Yet, the DOC, he feels, is actually a critical lever of the economy, “central to any plan to reverse the precipitous economic decline sparked by the Biden Administration and to counter Communist China.” He calls for tackling red tape and bloat, with the goal of “consolidation, elimination, or privatization” of bureaus or roles within DOC, to improve its operations and philosophical alignment with conservative principles.
Key proposed reforms include:
International Trade Association
Counter the malign influence of China and other US adversaries
Enforce agreements vigorously and defend against trade violations
Secure access to critical supply chains and technology
Enable the private sector to drive innovation and remain globally competitive
Quickly fill Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary positions by appointees Enforcement and Compliance
Re-establish and expand suspended in-person pandemic-related verifications, particularly regarding the People’s Republic of China. Ensure that verifications are rigorous
Implement advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to identify opportunities for self- initiation, detect circumvention, and prevent bad actors from gaming the system
Work with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other relevant agencies to address circumvention and duty evasion, and promote policies that encourage full duty collection
Work with CBP, the DOJ, the DOT, and relevant agencies to aggressively enforce import duty payments; review, consider policy changes to reduce uncollected duties
Set a policy and fair AD/CVD proceedings process for companies with high US imports
Revive the China-specific non-market economy unit, and provide transparency in the surrogate country list development process
Develop a new methodology to determine normal values in Chinese anti-dumping cases
Support steel and aluminum market analysis and import monitoring crucial to US defense industrial base and health of global manufacturing Industry and Analysis
Permanently restructure I&A to do supply-chain analysis for the US to identify market vulnerabilities
Establish permanent standing teams of loyalists and trusted career staff to spur action on:
Strategically overhaul GM and CS resource allocation to:
Promote the Advocacy Center and SelectUSA as low-cost tools to drive large-scale export transactions and foreign direct investment (FDI) Bureau of Industry and Security
Strengthen US rules on technology transfer; reverse “Export Control Reform” process to loosen the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) governing exports of dual-use items
Give lead authority to BIS’s Under Secretary to resolve export license disputes
Eliminate BIS’s authority to overrule other agency votes; give NSA final vote, with Secretaries of Defense, State, Commerce, Energy
Require quarterly BIS reporting of Automated Export System data to Congress End-Use Checks
Improve enforcement of export control violations by Export Enforcement officers
Deny export licenses to countries that do not permit adequate end-use checks EAR policies
Revise or reverse 2008 to 2016 EAR policies; tighten governing licenses to countries of concern
Add more companies to the Entity List; do license review to stop exports to them
Place export violators on the BIS Denied Persons List; they lose export privileges;
Draft and implement an Executive Order (EO) based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to regulate and restrict exports of US persons’ data to countries of concern
The EO should establish a framework for the types of personal data subject to export controls and licensing policy by country, and the BIS should implement the EO through regulations
BIS should add to Entity List app providers such as WeChat and ByteDance/ TikTok; this would stop user app program updates and make companies non-operational in US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Break up and downsize agencies of NOAA that are main drivers of climate change alarm:
Review National Hurricane Center; National Environmental Satellite Service to require neutral data forecasts as related to climate change On Streamline Fisheries Services
Harmonize the Magnuson–Stevens Act with the National Marine Sanctuaries Act
Withdraw the 30x30 Executive Order and associated America the Beautiful Initiative to stop closure of vast areas of the ocean to commercial activities, while offshore wind energy development hurts fisheries, ocean-based industries
Modify the Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection and the Endangered Species Act; these harm fisheries, Native American subsistence activities
Allow a NEPA Exemption for Fisheries Actions as additional requirements are onerous; have DOC and Environmental Quality collaborate on this
Elevate the Office of Space Commerce to coordinate US commercial space policy Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Office of Undersecretary for Economic Affairs
Make BEA an effective tool for data, data policy and analysis, and data management of BEA and Census Bureau to support GOP administration goals
Do a feasibility study of merger of statistical agencies (Census Bureau, BEA, Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, etc.) under one bureau to increase efficiency Census Bureau
Have Office of Personnel Management allocate more political appointee positions to the Census Bureau and align its work with conservative principles
Actively engage with conservative groups to promote their response to decennial census
Add a citizenship question (despite a finding that the Trump administration’s addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 decennial census violated the Administrative Procedures Act, the Supreme Court held that the Secretary of Commerce has broad authority to do so, argues the author)
Review any changes by Biden administration to data collection methods regarding race and ethnicity that may have bolstered progressive political agenda; coordinate with OMB
After decennial census, review the American Communities Survey (ACS) to be sure questions are useful, not intrusive; work with HHS, Homeland Security, Labor on usage
Plan for 2027 Economic Census, review data collection with other federal agencies
Review Supplemental Poverty Measure; how data can help combat homelessness
Abolish the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations (NAC) to counter “leftwing activists…injecting racial and social-justice theory” into Census work Economic Development Administration
Abolish the EDA; reallocate funds to overlapping grants, or put decision-making under the Assistant Secretary’s office to align with conservative agenda
Invest in Opportunity Zones to incentivized private sector work in relief sector Minority Business Development Agency
Conservatives would prefer to abolish the MBDA; alternatively:
Make it a data and research clearinghouse for minority enterprises, policymakers
Conduct policy analysis “on the benefit of free markets…evils of socialism and Communism…destructive effect of taxes and regulations” on minority businesses
Favor private sector over government action; public-private partnerships a middle ground US Patent and Trademark Office
Support ideologically aligned countries to help lead World Intellectual Property Organization
Oppose intellectual property waivers for cutting-edge technologies, including for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics through WTO agreements National Institute of Standards and Technology
Evaluate and consolidate the federal government’s civilian research footprint
Ensure any taxpayer-funded research is in line with conservative principles
Privatize the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Transfer the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program to non-government control National Telecommunications and Information Service
Consolidate NTIS Tech Transfer and ROI initiatives.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration