{"id":547,"date":"2026-07-13T16:41:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=547"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:41:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:41:23","slug":"how-to-serve-up-a-year-old-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=547","title":{"rendered":"How to serve up a year-old bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Standing on the stage of a local high school in his reliably red Nebraska congressional district last week, Republican Rep. Mike Flood replied to a constituent who asked about disability benefits.<\/p>\n

Read more Defense funding to research troops\u2019 brain injuries shrank since 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, under the one big beautiful bill \u2014\u201d he began on the livestream, then paused. The crowd had erupted into boos at the mention of the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year after President Donald Trump signed into law the party\u2019s flagship reconciliation measure dubbed the \u201cone big beautiful bill,\u201d Republicans are repackaging it into bite-sized messages that are centering the party\u2019s platform ahead of tough midterm elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s even as the sweeping law as a whole \u2014 which enacted permanent tax cuts and temporary breaks promised by Trump while slashing Medicaid, federal food stamps and student loan programs \u2014 has polled poorly in key battleground districts.<\/p>\n

Republicans pivoted, renaming it the \u201cWorking Families Tax Cuts\u201d measure and advising GOP members to treat it as a \u201cmenu\u201d of policy, picking specific provisions that will resonate with their unique districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democrats are taking the easy opportunity to double down on the law, labeling it as a \u201c\u201d for vulnerable Republicans and calling it the \u201cbig ugly bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for both parties, a struggle remains: How do you get voters to care about legislation that passed over a year ago when most of them only begin to engage in the midterm election cycle after Labor Day?<\/p>\n

Trump 1.0, Biden<\/h2>\n

If campaigns of years past are any indication, it\u2019s a tough feat to pull off, said David Winston, a Roll Call columnist who is a Republican strategist and pollster.<\/p>\n

The party faced a similar dilemma in Trump\u2019s first midterm cycle with the previous iteration of his sweeping tax cuts, Winston said, because there \u201cwas not a clear understanding that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was in fact going to lower taxes for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

That measure \u2014 which permanently cut corporate tax rates and temporarily reduced individual rates and increased the standard deduction \u2014 did not have an outsize impact on the midterms, Winston said. \u201cBy the time you got to the 2018 elections, only about a third of the country thought they had gotten a tax cut,\u2019\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, big bills don\u2019t always help the party in power, especially if voters aren\u2019t feeling the promised benefits.<\/p>\n

Democrats had a similar issue with the Biden-era pandemic relief law and the party\u2019s landmark climate, tax and health care law called the Inflation Reduction Act, which together unlocked trillions in investments for American communities. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll on climate policy reported 71 percent of voters said they knew \u201clittle\u201d or \u201cnothing at all\u201d about the Inflation Reduction Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In another parallel to the \u201cbig beautiful bill,\u201d Democrats also had naming regrets. Amid reports that the Inflation Reduction Act wasn\u2019t reducing inflation, Biden said at a 2023 fundraiser, \u201cI wish I hadn\u2019t called it that because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it has to do with providing alternatives that generate economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more This week: Graham\u2019s death, McConnell\u2019s recovery add to drama<\/a><\/p>\n

Slicing and dicing<\/h2>\n

Mike Marinella, press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Republicans are taking a 50-50 approach, looking back at the big beautiful bill while promising more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message is, \u2018Look at all the things that we did this Congress \u2014 in just the two years we turned this ship around from Joe Biden\u2019s disastrous inflation,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Give us two more years to finish the job.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, Republicans are treating the \u201cWorking Families Tax Cuts\u201d as an a la carte menu, where members can choose which provisions to highlight in their districts. Among the most popular: the \u201cno tax on tips\u201d deduction for some workers, the creation of Trump Accounts, the increases for the standard tax deduction and the child tax credit.<\/p>\n

As for the town hall, Flood said in an interview that the hecklers were \u201cperformative Democratic operatives\u201d in the room who were \u201cencouraged and motivated to throw shade at the one big beautiful bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo some extent, the Democrats have gotten out front with some of their messaging,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when you start listing off what the bill does, it resonates with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his district, for example, Flood touts the law\u2019s expansion of low-income housing tax credits and cap increase on the federal estate and gift tax exemption, which he called a \u201chuge win\u201d for farmers and ranchers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you use reconciliation, it\u2019s a one-party process. From the first day that reconciliation starts, there\u2019s going to be angst and messaging against it, and that\u2019s the problem with where we\u2019re at right now,\u201d he said, referring to the budgetary maneuver that both parties have relied on in recent years to push through their priorities. \u201cDemocrats have done a good job of fearmongering.\u201d<\/p>\n

For one thing, the name change does get confusing, Flood admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is the die has been cast. You gotta call it what people know it by,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you saw in [the town hall], I said the \u2018one big beautiful bill.\u2019 I probably should have used the other name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the law\u2019s flashier highlights, like the new tax break for tips, have gotten more attention, Winston said, but the increase in the standard deduction has an even broader impact and affects a larger number of voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the challenge here is making people aware of what would have happened if, in fact, [last year\u2019s bill] hadn\u2019t passed,\u201d Winston said. \u201cThen suddenly, if you\u2019re married, you have to pay taxes on an additional $13,400 worth of income.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democrats are operating under the belief that they have already won the messaging war on the legislation itself, said Viet Shelton, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are running around and trying to sell something that the American public has already said, \u2018We\u2019ve tried it and we hate it,\u2019\u201d Shelton said. \u201cRepublicans are saying, \u2018Here\u2019s a bottle of poison. If I rename it, do you want to buy it from me?\u2019 No, most people would stare at you and say, \u2018I just saw you get rid of the crossbones logo and put a Walmart logo on it.\u2019 That doesn\u2019t actually make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more After weeks of questions, McConnell provides information on health<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniela Altimari contributed to this report. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standing on the stage of a local high school in his reliably red Nebraska congressional district last week, Republican Rep. Mike Flood replied to a constituent who asked about disability benefits. \u201cWell, under the one big beautiful bill \u2014\u201d he began on the livestream, then paused. 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