get down to brass tacks

Key points of contention are expected to surface behind closed doors, however, as the two leaders get down to brass tacks on Mr. Biden’s seminal legislative accomplishment, what his Democrats in Congress dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act.

This means that for all the misleading dog whistles we heard about critical race theory and the coddling of criminals — but also for all the uplifting rhetoric about historic firsts we heard from Senator Cory Booker and others — this appointment might not matter very much, when we get down to brass tacks.

"It's almost inevitable that the splintering will happen when you get down to brass tacks about what good parenting really looks like."

“Roger, let’s get down to brass tacks. Trump told you he‘s going to run,” Mr. Jones said.

But then we get down to brass tacks and the trailer... pretty much tells you the movie’s entire plot, as my colleague Chaim Gartenberg noted in a first look.