Democrats are mocking GOP efforts to “rebrand” President Donald Trump’s megabill, saying new talking points on an unpopular law won’t work ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Republicans aim to rebrand the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a working families tax cut plan to highlight the tax cuts in the new law. But Democrats argue it is too late for the party to win back public perception as they push that the bill cuts Medicaid and provides tax cuts for billionaires.
“It was always a stupid moniker for that bill. It was always asinine; they always sounded ridiculous when they said [‘big, beautiful bill’],” Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) told the Washington Examiner. “It’s going to be too little too late on the rebrand, but I think we’re going to see more of this because what they’re pushing is not popular.”
Balint said the Democratic Party needs to use “accessible language” when campaigning to rebuild trust and make voters feel “included,” suggesting it should continue to focus on discussing healthcare and housing.
According to a Pew Research Survey, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act garners “considerably more disapproval than approval,” with just 32% saying they approve of it.
A Democratic operative told the Washington Examiner that messaging will stay consistent with what the party has been doing because the “facts remain the same,” claiming that the GOP is afraid to campaign on the bill because it is not something they are “proud of.”
From the onset, Democrats labeled the bill the “Big, Ugly Law,” as they held hundreds of events across the country to say that Medicaid cost savings would kick millions of people off their healthcare.
“The so-called rebrand of the Big, Ugly Law is an admission that the GOP’s signature legislative ‘achievement’ is a toxic failure,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Justin Chermol said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “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.”
Democrats plan to stick to their plan of slamming the bill, even though the tightening of Medicaid eligibility won’t kick in until after the 2026 elections.
“The White House and House Republicans are leaning into the Cracker Barrel strategy in an attempt to rebrand their historically unpopular budget bill — and it won’t work,” House Majority PAC National press secretary Katarina Flicker told the Washington Examiner, in a nod to the restaurant’s failed attempt to change its logo this summer. “The American people see right through their rebrand and will vote Republicans out in 2026.”
The multitrillion-dollar legislation extends the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The massive piece of legislation, passed through a process called reconciliation, not only extends the lower individual tax rates that were part of the 2017 law but also makes them permanent. The bill also rolls back former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act with an aggressive phasing out of clean energy tax credits.
“I just want them to say what’s in it,” Trump said on Friday on selling his bill. “It’s an incredible bill for the middle class, for the working person.”
The Trump administration is trying to focus on some of its newer tax breaks, such as for tipped workers, senior citizens, and overtime pay.
Trump’s megabill passed in July before the Republicans’ self-imposed July Fourth deadline after months of back-and-forth negotiations between different factions of the party. Since the final bill passed, both parties have been racing to message the bill to the American public, spending much of their six-week district work period in August to do so.
Trump has not shied away from the difficulties Republicans have encountered when selling the bill to voters, telling his Cabinet during a meeting at the White House that he would no longer “use” the “big, beautiful” description amid the poor polling.
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“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 all about. It’s a massive tax cut for the middle class. It’s a massive tax cut for jobs,” Trump said at the meeting.
Along with Trump’s comments, the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a memo, obtained by the Washington Examiner, that encouraged Republicans to focus their messaging on the “largest middle-class tax cut in generations” as the “centerpiece achievement.” House Republicans also met with White House officials to discuss how to effectively message the bill as part of their latest efforts to keep the GOP trifecta in Washington through the end of Trump’s presidency.