RNC chair says ‘big, beautiful bill’ key part of GOP’s strategy to win seats in midterm elections
EXCLUSIVE – As he looks ahead to next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its House and Senate majorities, Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Whatley is spotlighting the so-called “big beautiful bill.”
“It’s our agenda,” Whatley said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, as he pointed to the sweeping Republican-crafted domestic policy bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4.
Looking back to last year’s elections, when the GOP won back the White House and control of the Senate and held onto their razor-thin House majority, Whatley said, “We won in 2024 because President Trump said that he was going to rebuild our economy. He’s going to restore our southern border. He’s going to keep our kids in our community safe, and he’s going to make America the strongest country on the planet.”
“This bill is the embodiment of that agenda,” he highlighted.
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And Whatley said the tax cuts and spending measure, which narrowly passed the House and Senate two weeks ago along near-party lines, will be the “cornerstone” of RNC messaging going forward.
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 and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
By making his first-term tax rates permanent – they were set to expire later this year – the bill will cut taxes by nearly $4.4 trillion over the next decade, according to analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
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The measure also provides billions for border security and codifies the president’s 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.
The $3.4 trillion legislative package is also projected to surge the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade.
Democrats, for months, have repeatedly blasted Republicans over the social safety net changes. And they spotlighted a slew of national polls conducted last month, before the measure was passed into law, that indicate the bill’s popularity in negative territory.
“Michael Whatley is spewing complete BS,” Democratic National Committee vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta charged in a statement to Fox News. “Whatley continues to be blatantly dishonest.”
Kenyatta noted that “the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects Trump’s bill will kick 17 million Americans off of their health care. Period, end of story. So if you’re not a billionaire, you’re getting screwed over.”
And Kenyatta argued that “this betrayal has Republicans running scared and will be the reason why they lose their majority in the midterms.”
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The party in power, currently the Republicans, traditionally faces stiff political headwinds in midterm elections.
But Whatley says Republicans are not resting on their laurels following the passage of the domestic policy package.
“We’re not just going to take this bill and say, ‘Hey, we’re done.’ We’re not going to pat ourselves on the back or do a victory lap.”
He spotlighted the president’s efforts on tariffs and added that “we need regulatory relief at every federal department and agency that is ongoing every single day, and we’re already going to see additional legislation that’s coming out of Congress that’s going to help rein in spending and make sure that we have the rescissions that we need to have as well.”
Whatley predicted that “when the American voters can see that President Trump and the Republicans in the House and the Senate are delivering on the promises that they made, and they won with in 2024, that’s going to give us the ability to swim upstream and make sure that we’re going to expand those majorities in the House and the Senate in ’26.”
The RNC chair also touted that “we’re seeing very healthy fundraising.”
But Whatley reiterated his long-standing caution that “the Democrats are going to raise a ton of money as well. They always outspend the Republicans.”
And he touted, “We’re going to win because of the environment. We’re going to win because we’re going to have better candidates running better races.”
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