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Leading members of President Donald Trump’s political team met Wednesday behind closed doors with House Republicans to offer what’s being described as a “clear and simple” message to sell the GOP’s sweeping domestic policy package to Americans.
The sales pitch, from top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, senior Trump political aide James Blair, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, is part of an ongoing effort by the president and his team to rebrand the massive tax cuts and spending measure, which polls indicate isn’t popular with Americans.
“The best marketer out there is our president,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina told Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie following the meeting.
Hudson noted that Trump “used the name One Big Beautiful Bill to help get it passed. And now, to try and explain to the American people, he’s suggesting we call it the Working Families Tax Cut, which is exactly what it is. It’s a big component of it.”
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But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) argued that “the so-called rebrand of the Big, Ugly Law is an admission that the GOP’s signature legislative ‘achievement’ is a toxic failure.”
“Only Republicans seem surprised that ripping away health care and gutting rural hospitals just to hand billionaires a massive tax break is completely out of step with what the American people want,” DCCC spokesperson Justin Chermol claimed in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The package narrowly passed through the Republican-controlled Congress earlier this summer, nearly entirely along party lines, and Trump signed it into law during a July 4 ceremony at the White House.
For months, Trump touted his Big Beautiful Bill, but at a Cabinet meeting last week he seemed to acknowledge the difficult sales job he and his party face.
“I’m not going to use the term great, big, beautiful – that was good for getting it approved, but it’s not good for explaining to people what it’s really about,” Trump said.
And he described the package as a “major tax cut for workers.”
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The measure is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit.
It includes extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts, which were set to expire later this year, and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
The shift in branding that Trump noted last week has already been reflected by Vice President JD Vance, who has been stopping in key 2026 midterm states to sell the measure.
At his earlier stops on his tour, Vance called the package the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” But the vice president now refers to the measure repeatedly as the “Working Families Tax Cut.”
The package also provides billions for border security and codifies the president’s sweeping and controversial immigration crackdown.
And the new law also restructures Medicaid — the almost 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans.
The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s tax cuts. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage.
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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the new law could result in roughly 10 million people losing health coverage, and $3.4 trillion added to the nation’s already massive federal deficit. Republicans dispute those projections.
Regardless, some Republican House members who’ve held town halls this summer have faced vocal constituents angry over the social safety net cuts in the GOP’s measure.
And Democrats for months have repeatedly blasted Republicans over those social safety net changes. They charge it will gut Medicaid, forcing rural hospitals and nursing homes to close their doors.
“Rural hospitals were already on the brink of collapse thanks to Donald Trump, but now he has put the last nail in the coffin for rural hospitals with his billionaire budget bill,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin claimed.
Republicans have pushed back on the Democrats’ criticism.
“Overall, most people’s awareness comes from the lies they’ve heard from Democrats and our mainstream media. But when they hear the details of what’s in the actual bill, it’s very, very popular,” Hudson told Fox News.
According to sources in the room, the president’s political advisers urged House Republicans to court low-propensity Trump voters who supported the president in 2024 but traditionally don’t turn out for midterm elections.
The GOP is aiming to defend its fragile House majority in next year’s midterms, when the party in power normally faces political headwinds and ends up losing congressional seats.
“We got a lot of good information about where voters are on the working families tax cuts,” Hudson said.
And the NRCC chair highlighted, “There’s a segment of our voting population that only vote in presidential elections. There’s also a very specific group that show up for President Trump.”
“I don’t need all of them to show up, but I need some of them to show up. And the good news is, we know who they are. We know what they care about. And the message today was, communicate with them and let them know what we’re doing,” Hudson said.
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