Talk about no taxes on tips, less about Medicaid cuts: How GOP is trying to sell Trump's landmark law

CNN

5 days ago

The White House just spent six months jamming a massive legislative package through Congress with almost no margin for error. Now comes the real challenge.
Donald Trump's aides and allies are embarking on a concerted bid to sell the president's 'big, beautiful bill' to voters who are mostly unfamiliar with its specifics and skeptical of what little they have heard about the administration's central domestic accomplishment.
The yearlong mission — relying in part on dispatching top Trump officials across the country to highlight the bill's economic benefits — is seen as critical to preserving GOP control of Congress in next November's elections, according to interviews with more than half a dozen White House aides, allies and Republican lawmakers.
And for a White House that's cast Trump's agenda as a financial boon for Americans, the midterms represent a high-stakes referendum that could determine the course of his final years in office.
'It comes down to whether people feel like they're doing better and have more money in their pockets,' said one Trump political adviser. 'And if they don't think the economy's going well, then we've got a problem.'
Republicans will have several months to make headway with voters before the midterm season heats up, after lawmakers passed nearly the entirety of Trump's domestic agenda in a single multitrillion-dollar package just ahead of the White House's self-imposed July 4 deadline.
But the urgency behind an extended campaign for the bill underscores how little time the GOP had to explain what was actually in the package before passing it — and signals a recognition of the steep uphill battle the party now faces in selling it after the fact.
What Americans did learn about the bill amid the rushed process was largely negative, polling has shown. Perhaps most alarming for Trump and Republicans, party operatives said, is that many voters remain concerned that rather than juicing the economy as the president promised, a package that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance might end up leaving them worse off overall.
'I'm not sure anybody completely understands what's in it, including most of the people who voted for it,' said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. 'But there are a lot of provisions in it that will be challenging to sell to many of the Trump voters who live in small-town and rural areas, a great many of whom are on Medicaid.'
White House officials and their allies have coalesced behind a plan to bolster enthusiasm for the sprawling bill by focusing mainly on the narrow slice of policies that have proved most popular — such as provisions eliminating taxes on tips and on overtime pay, according to GOP lawmakers and campaign officials. Republican leadership has also encouraged lawmakers to tailor their messaging on Trump's agenda to their specific constituencies' priorities.
'Energy states are going to talk about the things that are going to really help us build our energy dominance; border states, probably more about border security,' said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota. 'You've got all those general concepts that are important, and then how you present it is going to be a function of what you work on as a member and what's really important in your state.'
That strategy is aimed primarily at reframing voters' view of what Republican lawmakers privately acknowledge is an unwieldy and vaguely named bill, while also allowing them to paper over more unpopular elements such as the hundreds of billions of projected cuts to health care spending needed to help pay for the array of tax breaks.
Democrats have seized on those Medicaid cuts, betting that the backlash will propel them back into power next year. Within GOP circles, strategists plotting out the next several months are operating under the theory that if they can simply contain the damage done to the party on health care issues, they'll be able to press advantages elsewhere.
'As long as we level the playing field on the Medicaid aspect, we can talk about tax cuts and border security all day,' said one Republican campaign official. 'It's something we think about every day: What is the narrative of this cycle?'
In eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance offered an early look at how Trump officials will try to execute on the strategy in forthcoming trips to key districts, touting the bill's tax breaks and energy policies in a state where the coal and gas industry plays a major role. He made no mention of Medicaid and the broader health provisions expected to eliminate coverage for nearly 12 million people over a decade, instead urging attendees to talk up the bill's benefits in their own communities.
'Go and talk to your neighbors, go and talk to your friends about what this bill does for American citizens,' Vance said.
The White House is still finalizing which Cabinet officials to send where to promote the bill over the next several months. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called the bill 'an encapsulation of the campaign promises that the American people elected President Trump to enact.'
'The Trump administration plans to communicate the massive achievements in the One Big Beautiful Bill at every opportunity,' she said.
Still, there are lingering doubts across the GOP about how quickly the White House and Republican lawmakers can turn around public opinion — and whether enough voters will feel enough of the benefits in time to salvage their congressional majorities.
The bill's passage further widened an advantage Democrats hold over Republicans over which party's base is more energized to vote, CNN polling released last week shows.
The GOP has so far made little progress toward countering Democratic attacks over Medicaid cuts as well, even as Republicans point to data showing the specific policies in the bill imposing work requirements and restricting eligibility have majority support.
And while Republicans believe they will eventually find their footing, much of their fate may depend on whether Trump and his GOP allies can stay focused on promoting the bill for more than a year. In the weeks since July 4, Trump's heightened attacks on the Federal Reserve chair and his administration's botched handling of promised Jeffrey Epstein disclosures have created days of news cycles that distracted from the administration's core agenda.
'The sales job is important, and when the administration then gets in its own way with things that are going to garner a lot of media attention — let's say, Jeffrey Epstein, for instance — that impacts that,' said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican strategist.
The White House in the coming weeks is likely to face another decision point that could alter Republicans' trajectory ahead of the midterms: Whether to push Congress to pass new legislation enacting even more spending cuts, and potentially even pursue a second major policy bill at some point next year.
The prospect has animated budget hawks in the White House and on Capitol Hill eager to further shrink federal spending. But others are wary of the political fallout of slashing more from popular programs after congressional Republicans just passed a $9 billion cuts package taking aim at PBS and NPR.
And with little GOP consensus on what policies the party should pursue next, some Republicans say focusing on how to sell their one 'big, beautiful bill' is challenge enough for the coming year.
'Given the fact this bill is enormous,' Ayres said, 'I don't know that you really need much of anything else to try to explain.'