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.
“Well, under the one big beautiful bill —” he began on the livestream, then paused. The crowd had erupted into boos at the mention of the bill.
A year after President Donald Trump signed into law the party’s flagship reconciliation measure dubbed the “one big beautiful bill,” Republicans are repackaging it into bite-sized messages that are centering the party’s platform ahead of tough midterm elections.
That’s even as the sweeping law as a whole — which enacted permanent tax cuts and temporary breaks promised by Trump while slashing Medicaid, federal food stamps and student loan programs — has polled poorly in key battleground districts.
Republicans pivoted, renaming it the “Working Families Tax Cuts” measure and advising GOP members to treat it as a “menu” of policy, picking specific provisions that will resonate with their unique districts.
