GOP gets new marching orders: Sell the new tax law

Republican senators headed for home Thursday with marching orders to sell their tax cut bill that takes effect next month, which came with a warning that failure to do so might mean the end of the GOP majority in the House and Senate.

"It's selling itself," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, one of the GOP's most influential voices in favor of the bill during discussions last year. "But yeah, we need to talk about it more because we tend to move on to the next topic."

Republicans were given the jarring message Thursday in the form of a memo from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC focused on maintaining the House GOP's majority, which said the tax law is the only salvation for the GOP.

"Incumbents must begin to educate their constituents on this specific legislation and how it cuts taxes for the middle class," said Corry Bliss, CLF's executive director. "There is no positive outcome in November if we do not show that we cut taxes for the middle class and are working to make their lives better. Period."

According to the memo, CLF polled 69 congressional districts and found that the tax bill is underwater in 52 of the districts. They also found a plurality of voters in 50 districts believe the bill will raise their taxes. Despite the polling, Republicans are optimistic about the tax law's impact on the midterm elections in just over 10 months, but echo CLF's call to effectively message on the tax law.