The GOP’s Big Problem in Selling the "Big, Beautiful Bill"

Ever since Ronald Reagan's first term the Republican Party has been pushing a reverse Robin Hood agenda of enacting policies that benefit the very wealthy and large corporations at the expense of poorer and working class Americans. The wealth of the top 1% has increased exponentially even as the federal minimum wage has remained frozen and funding for social programs that benefit the the less fortunate are being cut. Indeed, NBC News has reported that "the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported . . . . that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts (to be in the top 10% one needs to have an annual income of over approximately $150,000 to $235,000).  For the very wealthy, of course, the tax cuts are much, much larger.  Meanwhile, 10 million or more Americans will lose health care coverage and nutrition programs that benefit children are being slashed. Thus, it is little wonder that Republicans are having a hard time selling the falsely named "big, beautiful bill" as something positive when the vast majority of Americans will end up worse off.  To the extent most receive tax cuts, those tax savings will be obliterated by rising consumer costs thanks to the Felon's tariffs and increases in health care costs.  Those losing Medicaid coverage will be far worse off.  Little wonder Republicans are being booed and heckled at town hall and other events (Elise Stefanik was recently booed off the stage in one instance).  A piece in Politico looks at the problem selling something that is awful for most Americans.  Here are excerpts:

Republicans are facing a major obstacle as they try to tout the potential benefits of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill:” They need voters to take their word on it for now.

GOP lawmakers and top administration officials are using August to make a country-wide sales pitch for their crowning legislative achievement — a massive tax, spending and domestic policy package.

The party sees this month as crucial for gaining ground in the messaging war with Democrats over the new law, which pairs an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts with some of his campaign promises like “no tax on tips,” plus more funding for immigration enforcement and the military. The White House is dispatching Vice President JD Vance to Georgia on Thursday, where he’ll talk about the megabill’s “working family tax cuts,” according to his spokesperson.

Republicans want to be the ones to define their megabill with voters ahead of next year’s midterms, where the GOP’s unified control of Congress is at stake. . . . But the GOP megabill is less than two months old, and many of its purported boons — like new and expanded tax cuts and savings accounts for children under 18 — won’t be fully felt by voters until 2026, making it harder for Republicans to reinforce what they see as the law’s advantages.

At the same time, Republicans are going up against Democrats embarking on their own nationwide tour to denigrate what they call the “big, ugly bill” and its dire shortcomings.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) . . . . acknowledged that his own state would “pay a little bit of a price” because of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which will force the state to cover more of the program’s cost. Yet the GOP’s efforts to preview the megabill’s forthcoming perks come as Democrats are also using August to flood the zone — including visiting red states and typically safe GOP districts — to warn about the law’s impending cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

“House Republicans have betrayed their constituents in passing the Big, Ugly Law which benefits the wealthiest few and leaves everyday families behind,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement Wednesday.

Republicans are well aware that they are facing a tidal wave of Democratic criticism heading into a midterm election cycle, when the party in power typically loses seats. While Republicans still have an edge in the Senate map, Democrats have managed to score major recruiting wins in key races and are cautiously optimistic about their chances of flipping the House in 2026.

The House GOP’s campaign arm circulated a memo late last month with guidance for how to message about the law, calling the congressional August recess a “critical opportunity to continue to define how this legislation will help every voter and push back on Democrat fearmongering.”

Since then, House and Senate Republicans have, indeed, fanned out across the country to tout state-specific benefits from their megabill they pledge will come soon. Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, for instance, visited three Iowa manufacturers as part of a tour to highlight funding for workforce and trade school training.

William Martin, Vance’s communications director, called it an “absolute disgrace” that Ossoff voted against the bill and “that’s something Vice President Vance will be sure to emphasize during his visit to Peachtree City.”

Ossoff is already offering a pre-buttal of his own: “JD promised the new GOP would fight for working families,” he said in a statement. “Instead he’s defunding hospitals, nursing homes, and Medicaid to cut taxes for the wealthy.”

While CBO found that middle-income households will see their resources grow as a result of the megabill, it’s the wealthiest 10 percent that will get the biggest bump.

Another hurdle for Republicans? They are trying to get voters to focus on the yet-to-be-fully-seen wins of the megabill while voters are distracted by other, more tangible issues: the fight over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a move by at least two states to redraw their congressional maps mid-decade.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, one of the few Republicans from a district won by former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, said he’s also getting an earful about efforts by the Office of Management and Budget to freeze federal funding for widely-used government programs.

Bacon suggested Trump’s new domestic policy law is taking a backseat at home these days: “I hear more about all the grant money that is frozen by OMB,” he said.