Trump's big bill may come at political cost

Barack Obama had the Affordable Care Act Joe Biden had the Inflation Reduction Act President Donald Trump will have the tax cuts.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

All were hailed in the moment and became ripe political targets in campaigns that followed. In Trump's case, the tax cuts may almost become lost in the debates over other parts of the multitrillion-dollar bill that Democrats say will force poor Americans off their health care and overturn a decade or more of energy policy.

Through persuasion and browbeating, Trump forced nearly all congressional Republicans to line up behind his marquee legislation despite some of its unpalatable pieces.

He followed the playbook that had marked his life in business before politics. He focused on branding — labelling the legislation the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” — then relentlessly pushed to strong-arm it through Congress, solely on the votes of Republicans.