WASHINGTON — As lawmakers prepare to return to their states for the August work period — the longest stretch of time members are away from Washington throughout the year — both parties are preparing their messages for constituents back home.
And both Republicans and Democrats are planning to use the same weapon: President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Congress passed the massive tax package just before the July Fourth holiday, enacting the president’s domestic policy agenda ranging from border security to energy production to tax reform. The budget framework also approves trillions of dollars in spending cuts to government programs to offset the costs of permanent tax cuts expected to take effect at the end of this year.
The Trump administration began its sales pitch in earnest on Wednesday as Vice President JD Vance traveled to one of the most competitive House districts in Pennsylvania to campaign on the policy bill.
It marks the beginning of the midterm messaging onslaught as Republicans fight to protect their slim majorities in Congress — and Democrats look for any opening to have some sense of leverage in Washington.
GOP leaders press lawmakers to counter Democratic attacks at home
Before lawmakers make it back home for the August recess, the midterm messaging has already begun taking shape on Capitol Hill.
In closed-door meetings throughout the week, GOP leaders implored their members to defend the budget behemoth to their constituents, particularly those who are running for reelection in tight races. Republicans face an uphill battle as recent polling shows a majority of Americans oppose the domestic policy bill, with several expressing concerns it will raise costs and hurt the economy.
Democrats are seizing on those worries, flooding the airwaves with ads that frame the bill as harmful to everyday Americans. That’s sent GOP leadership into a flurry encouraging party members to get specific on policies as a way to ease concerns.
“I feel like there’s less selling and more just clarifying” the bill, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, told the Deseret News.
Moore, who serves as the vice chairman of the House GOP Conference, is part of Republican leadership efforts to ensure the budget framework is received well by voters. Part of that, he said, is educating voters on what’s inside.
“In general, Utahns understand that lower taxes, competitive taxes, create more revenue, create more business opportunity, create more jobs. I think we proved that pretty well in the state, and we just want to mimic it a little bit more” nationally, he said. “When I highlight those things … they get it. They get behind it.”
Meanwhile, other Republican leaders are taking a more offensive approach by accusing their Democratic colleagues of outright lying about the consequences of the bill.
“If you just spent all your days listening to the lies told by the Democrats, you would be living in a parallel universe because they’re rooting against the success of this bill, which means they’re rooting against the success of working families across America,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters on Tuesday.
Republicans turn to voters themselves to help sell ‘big, beautiful bill’
As part of their efforts to humanize the newly approved policies, Republicans are relying on a familiar political tool: having regular voters promote the legislation for them.
During their weekly leadership press conference on Tuesday, Republicans featured two business owners from Florida who said they would benefit from the policies approved under the massive tax package. Johnson told reporters they should expect more of that in future press availability.
“You all are going to see us highlighting real hard working Americans for the foreseeable future, because the one big beautiful bill helps everybody,” Johnson said. “And you’re going to hear their stories about what it means to them and what it means to their employees.”
Democrats sink in their teeth
But as Republicans attempt to market the package as a major win, Democrats are using the same provisions to frame it as a dangerous piece of legislation.
Democratic leaders have consistently branded the Trump bill as the “big, ugly bill” and pointed to the cuts toward green energy tax credits and health care programs as policies that will make life more expensive for lower- and middle-income families.
“There is nothing in the one big ugly bill that will meaningfully make life more affordable for the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters on Monday. “In fact, the one big ugly bill will make life more expensive for everyday Americans, particularly as it relates to utility costs.”
Democratic campaign arms are particularly highlighting the more controversial provisions of the bill, dedicating millions of dollars on attack ads and other campaign materials.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the main fundraising vehicle for House Democrats, has launched a series of ad campaigns targeting Republicans in vulnerable districts as part of efforts to flip control of the lower chamber next year.
“Every day between now and the election, the DCCC will communicate the harm this bill will cause and uplift stories of the everyday Americans negatively impacted,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton told the Deseret News. “We’ll do this through social media, paid communications, and mobilizing voters to hold vulnerable Republicans accountable for abandoning their central promise to voters by passing the largest cut to health care in American history to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.”
The Democratic National Committee is also getting involved by launching interactive websites in a number of states, including Utah, highlighting how the package could specifically impact those who live there.
The DNC characterizes the website as a way for Utahns to see that “if you’re not a billionaire,” Trump’s bill won’t benefit taxpayers.
“Hospital closures and Medicaid cuts will lead to higher health care costs and hospital bills for everyone,” the DNC said in a release.
Meanwhile, the White House has released its own state-by-state breakdown of how the legislation could aid Americans through tax cuts, higher wages and more. Other Republicans have brushed off Democratic attacks as mere campaign tactics to get back in power.
“Look, Democrats are in the minority right now, and they’re going to use this as an opportunity to message (and) try to get back in the majority,” Moore told the Deseret News. “That’s the nature of this place. I wish it weren’t the case, but it is the nature of this place.”