“It’s the president at his best” when he has to deal with lawmakers who want something for their yes votes, Bessent said.Trump would dial up legislators on the fence from the Oval Office on multiple occasions. And they knew who was calling, Bessent added, because it “comes up all zeros” on their phones.
He told the Washington Examiner, “A lot of people get weak-kneed when the president calls, and he usually has completed the transaction within a couple of minutes.”HOW THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL BECAME LAW: READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER’S 10-PART SERIESHouse Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Trump “was our best closer.” John McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, said getting the bill done by Independence Day was an ambitious goal and the president “willed” it to happen.House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said Trump was engaged throughout the bill’s ups and downs: “I can’t tell you how many times the president called me.”Republicans interviewed for this series said Trump understood the politics of extending the 2017 tax cuts he signed into law during his first term. If the reductions weren’t renewed, Republicans said people and the economy would suffer because taxes would go up roughly $4 trillion over 10 years. But Trump was well aware that just extending the tax reductions wouldn’t be enough to get the 2025 measure over the finish line, especially with Republicans having small majorities in the House and Senate.The scope of the big beautiful bill was enormous, addressing school choice, the border, the military, spectrum, Medicaid, and many other items. Scalise told the Washington Examiner that 11 committee chairmen worked on the legislation.But the meat and potatoes of the legislation was taxes, and Trump realized there needed to be some new bells and whistles.At a 2024 campaign stop in Nevada, home to many service workers, Trump rattled Kamala Harris’s campaign by promising no taxes on tips if elected. A couple months later, Harris endorsed the idea and Trump called her a “copycat.”Trump doubled down by promising no taxes on overtime and Social Security, and those concepts were subsequently put in the big beautiful bill. There were other new ideas, such as the “Trump Accounts,” 401(k)-like retirement savings program for children, which Bessent and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pushed for. Cruz has called the creation of the accounts “Trump’s New Deal” and said the accounts will be transformative for decades to come.Still, passing the behemoth measure was never going to be easy.Trump wields his endorsement power
