To: Interested Parties
From: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Date: May 26, 2026
Subject: GOP’S SUMMER OF DISCONTENT GOES ALL IN ON A LEGISLATIVE AGENDA THAT AMERICA HATES
Despite empty declarations every few weeks by Republicans to ‘pivot’ to a new message, it’s important to note that voters will ultimately make their choice in the midterms based on what Republicans DO about high prices, not what they say. So as House Republicans go all-in on a dangerous, disastrous, and partisan legislative agenda that will have the net effect of reminding the American people over the final months before the midterms they have failed to lower the high cost of living, it’s clear their reconciliation plan will fail spectacularly.
When Congress returns in June, Republicans are scheming to push through an unchecked expansion of funding for lawless ICE agents and openly workshopping new cuts to spend billions on a war no one asked for – all while American families pay the price through deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and nutrition programs. With Trump’s war opposed by two-thirds of the American people and a clear majority demanding ICE reform, the GOP, including their most vulnerable members, is committing political malpractice by ignoring the needs of the American people and instead letting Trump have a blank check to do whatever he wants.
Don’t believe us? Here’s what Donald Trump said earlier this spring:
“The United States can’t take care of day care, that has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of day care. […] Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things. They can do it on a state basis, you can’t do it on a federal – we have to take care of one thing: military protection.” – President Donald Trump, April 1, 2026
And in response to the financial pain Americans are feeling thanks to his and Republicans’ policies?
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situations. I don’t think about anybody.”
Last year, ahead of passage of Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill, the DCCC made clear a vote for the Medicaid-cutting, food assistance crushing, billionaire-bailout package would cost Republicans the majority. Through Democrats’ relentless focus on the bill’s devastating impact on American’s pocketbooks and health care system, the GOP tax scam is the LEAST popular piece of legislation signed into law in modern American history. A recent poll found the Big Ugly Bill remains 13 points underwater overall. It’s so terrible that Republicans are scrambling to rebrand the bill in a vain attempt to make Americans forget about its negative impacts.
The most recent poll from Gallup shows that health care is the TOP cost of living concern among Americans. 61% of respondents say they worry “a great deal” about health care costs, more than any other domestic issue.
Even worse: a recent poll from the New York Times and Siena found Donald Trump at a second-term low on presidential approval, and massively underwater on the very issues the GOP seeks to put at the forefront of the closing midterm message:
- 31 points underwater on the economy (50 points underwater among Independents)
- 34 points underwater on the Iran War (53 points underwater among Independents)
- 42 points underwater on cost of living (57 points underwater among Independents)
- 15 points underwater on immigration (25 points underwater on immigration with Independents)
Last July, House Republicans cast a career-ending vote for the Big Ugly Bill, when they cut health care to fund permanent tax breaks for billionaires. The vulnerable House Republicans have learned nothing since voting for the Big, Ugly Bill. Despite the fact that 70% of Americans oppose Congress cutting health care to fund Trump’s war of choice, House Republicans are still all-in on this terrible idea.
Bottom line: Republicans are reminding voters every day that they WANT to bear hug these politically toxic issues, telling voters: ‘When you cast your ballot in November, please blame us for making everything more expensive, the war you oppose, and an out of control ICE.’
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