‘It’s all we have to run on’: GOP looks to tout tax cuts as war overtakes Hill agenda

The benefits of the ‘big, beautiful bill’ are at risk of being swamped by rising energy prices.

Scores of GOP members are expected to join Speaker Mike Johnson for a Tax Day news conference. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

Republicans return to Washington this week eager to promote the pocketbook benefits of their nine-month-old megabill ahead of Tax Day. But the fallout from the war in the Middle East threatens to complicate that election-year message.

Explaining away rising gas prices and spiking inflation is not where GOP lawmakers wanted to be seven months before the midterms, but that is the challenge they face as a cease fire with Iran proves tenuous and there is scant evidence global energy flows will return to normal anytime soon. That’s not to mention the host of internal policy battles further distracting GOP lawmakers as they return from a two-week recess.

Still, they are seeking to rally this around the glue that has held their fractious coalition together — tax cuts — with Trump going on the road this week to tout the “big, beautiful bill” and House Republicans planning a Wednesday all-member news conference, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans ahead of an announcement.

© Politico