Republicans return to Capitol Hill on Monday facing a dwindling calendar and rising pressure to beef up their midterm message with legislation.
But their efforts to pass a new party-line bill are sputtering, and the political benefits of the last one are, a year later, looking modest at best.
“I think the complication is that … you did so much work in one legislative exercise that it’s tough to go back and really tell that story,” Rep. Nick Langworthy said in an interview about the July 4 anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In the last week, certain megabill provisions celebrated by Republicans — such as the launching of President Donald Trump-branded child investment accounts and the sunsetting of clean energy tax credits — have gone into effect.
But Republicans have had trouble selling the bill to the American public. Some provisions don’t come into effect until 2028, and the GOP has tried to rebrand it as the “Working Families Tax Cuts Act” after Trump acknowledged its original name was “not good for explaining to people what it’s all about.”
That’s adding to the pressure Republicans will feel next week as they try to jumpstart the party’s efforts on another party-line policy bill.
“We’ve got a time problem, but we want to get a win for this country,” Rep. August Pfluger said.
But with only eight House legislative days before August recess and ongoing intraparty fights holding up the floor, many are acknowledging the time strain.
“There was a lot of pressure and political support behind trying to get the first bill done and that took us eight months to do,” Rep. Greg Steube said in an interview. “The timing of another one is challenging, and these days we can’t even pass a rule.”
What else we’re watching:
— WHY JOHN KENNEDY IS SUDDENLY EVERYWHERE: Sen. John Kennedy is the Senate GOP’s new unlikely campaign trail star. The 74-year-old Louisianan has long been known as the master of the folksy one-liner in interviews. But his profile has recently exploded thanks to an increasing tempo of Fox News hits, a bestselling book and a growing TikTok following.
— TRUMP OUSTS ALL ELECTION COMMISSIONERS: Trump has ousted the remaining commissioners from a bipartisan federal agency charged with helping state and local officials conduct elections in an apparent move to assert control over voting ahead of the midterms. The president removed the two Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission on Thursday while a Republican was allowed to resign, according to a White House official and three other people familiar with the dismissals.
Jordan Carney, Aaron Pellish and Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.
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