Who benefits most from Trump’s budget bill? U.S. Reps say ‘working class.’

No matter the question of context, the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is good for “working families” Republican House representatives often told South Carolina voters this summer.

The budget reconciliation law’s benefits to workers apply to tax cuts, immigration enforcement funding and changes to social welfare programs, they said while selling the controversial spending and tax bill to constituents, which instituted many of the Trump administration’s priorities.

“We’re the party of compassion,” U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson said about expanded work requirements for social welfare programs like Medicaid and food benefits after being asked about how “liberals” were using “scare tactics” to talk about the bill. He was speaking to a conservative talk radio audience in early August.

Later in the month, he repeated the same refrain to a crowd of business leaders at a chamber of commerce event. He was asked by a journalist how the bill would prevent waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid and what that would mean for the business community. He again spoke about how work requirements are compassionate measures because they don’t create dependency on the government.

Republicans want voters to support the new law ahead of the 2026 midterms, but Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, have argued the bill primarily benefits wealthy Americans, which an August analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office backs up.

The National Republican Congressional Committee put out a memo titled “Make August Count,” which was first reported by Politico. The memo asks House Republicans to sell that the law is good for working class Americans by emphasizing tax cuts, funding for immigration enforcement and support for rural areas of the country.

The law was signed by Trump on the Fourth of July. It makes the 2017 tax cuts permanent, pours billions of dollars into immigration enforcement and makes deep cuts to social welfare programs. Every Republican House member from South Carolina voted in favor of the bill.

Emails to the congressional delegations’ offices asking if the representatives used the memo were unanswered at the time of publication, apart from U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace. Mace’s spokesperson responded in an email but did not answer the question.

South Carolina’s Republican U.S. representatives have hosted call-in town halls, visited constituents and businesses in their districts and made radio and TV appearances. They have largely stayed on the memo’s message by only touting certain benefits of the bill — primarily that the tax cuts and immigration funding being positive for middle class Americans.

In a room full of business representatives, Wilson and U.S. Rep. Russell Fry brought up working Americans. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman sent a news release near the end of August titled “The Biggest Winners of the One Big Beautiful Bill? Hardworking American Families.” When asked about the cuts to Medicaid and food benefits, U.S. Rep. William Timmons only spoke about the benefits of work requirements during a phone town hall, rather than discussing how the changes could cost state governments.

When the bill first passed, lawmakers, including Mace, Sheri Biggs and Fry, touted the tax cuts as a win for working families. Other “wins” included ensuring “energy dominance” and eliminating government waste, they said. But throughout August, talking points primarily narrowed down to tax cuts and funding for immigration enforcements as main benefits for the working Americans.

“This is a tax cut for the middle class, for the working class,” Mace said in a video posted to social media after she voted to pass the bill July 3.

The memo didn’t directly tell lawmakers to host town halls, but former Trump strategist and conservative commentator Steve Bannon criticized Republicans last week for not effectively selling the bill this recess. He said lawmakers were not hosting enough town halls to talk about the bill.

“I haven’t seen a massive effort to sell the Big Beautiful Bill and actually what it stands for,” Bannon said on his podcast War Room last week.

The messaging is important for Republicans as the law polls poorly. About 60% of Americans oppose the budget law, according to a July CNN poll. Almost 40% believe it will leave their family worse off. The biggest concerns from respondents were the budget law’s impact on the deficit, cuts to solar and renewable energy tax credits and cuts to social welfare programs, like Medicaid and food benefits.

A poll from KFF, a health policy research nonprofit, found only 36% of Americans supported the law in July. 85% of “MAGA Republicans” supported the law, while a little over half “non-MAGA Republicans” did, according to the poll conducted in early July.

With those numbers in mind, Democrats are hoping the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will be a weakness for Republicans heading into the 2026 midterms. Since all but one congressional district in South Carolina lean Republican, according to the 2025 Cook Partisan Voting Index, it will be difficult for Democrats to pick up a seat in the state.

Lawmakers say bill benefits ‘normal families’

On an August Friday afternoon, Wilson gave his pitch for the budget reconciliation law to The Point radio listeners. His talk was broadcast on the conservative talk radio station and filmed in front of a Lexington audience.

“It was not for billionaires,” Wilson said. “The people who benefit are normal people, normal families.”

The NRCC memo instructed House members to show voters that the law was good for average people, combating messaging from the Democratic Party that it only benefitted the most wealthy in the U.S. In reality, the law will likely benefit middle- and upper-class incomes and decrease benefits for poor people over the next decade, according to an August analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The richest will benefit the most from the bill, the analysis found.

“Now it’s up to us to go on offense and show voters how every part of this bill is a big, beautiful win for working families,” the memo read.

Late in August, when Wilson was asked about how the bill would impact the business community at a South Carolina Chamber of Commerce event, he again emphasized that the legislation was good for the working class.

Fry traveled around his district with U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, meeting with businesses and industry leaders, to pitch the One Big, Beautiful Bill. In a promotional video on social media, he promoted some of the tax cuts available in the law, including the cuts to taxes on tips and overtime.

Fry also told attendees at the chamber event that the bill’s tax cuts would be good for the working class and businesses.

“I think for both the American worker and the American business, the big, beautiful bill is a massive, massive win,” he said.

While Wilson spoke to a more agreeable audience, Timmons faced some tougher questions, and negative comments, about the impacts of the bill during a telephone town hall in late July. One speaker brought up concerns over how changes to Medicaid would impact state budgets. Another was worried about how the law would impact Medicaid, food benefits and rural hospitals. The Congressional Budget Office predicts individuals with lower incomes will lose resources because of the cuts to social welfare programs.

The budget reconciliation bill makes changes to Medicaid and food benefits. It forces states to pay for a greater share of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and changes how states fund their share of Medicaid. Timmons and Wilson only spoke about changes to work requirements for both Medicaid and SNAP during the telephone town hall and radio appearance. Timmons said the changes would help reduce “waste, fraud and abuse” in the program.

“If you’re able bodied, than you have to work 20 hours a week,” Wilson said. “That’s not hurting people, that’s helping people. That’s called a meaningful life. It’s not a meaningful life sitting in front of a television with a remote control.”

Mace has held town halls in Myrtle Beach, Rock Hill, Greenville and Spartanburg, which are all outside of her district. She has used the forum to talk about her platform in the governor’s race, according to media reports. Mace spared with some protesters in Rock Hill and the Upstate locations. Mace is running for the Republican nomination for governor against Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, Norman and Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Clyburn has attacked Medicaid and food benefit cuts. The 85-year-old has posted several videos to social media throughout the summer about the law.

“Trump signed his big, beautiful bill, which is really the ugliest piece of garbage I’ve ever seen, into law,” Clyburn said in a July 16 video.

Republicans have also had to answer questions about the cost of the law. The bill is expected to cumulatively add $4.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressonial Budget Offfice. It’s a factor Clyburn criticized Republicans over. Wilson said the law wasn’t perfect, but that wasn’t a reason not to vote for it.

“The bill is not perfect, okay,” Wilson said. “But when you have a bill which is, in effect, a trillion dollars, there will be issues that good people can disagree with.”