Adam Roberts (00:00):
Paul Bagniefski, he's doing a great job leading the team here. And he and Jake, they were telling me that you guys are the best fabricators in the country. Is that true?
(00:15)
Classic Midwest. You're the best in the country. And then they nod like this. Yep. I'm from North Dakota. I get that whole thing where people are, they're the most talented in the world, but they're also super humble. But what a fantastic group to be here. Great to be back in Wisconsin. I grew up in a town of 300 people in North Dakota, about six and a half hours northwest of here. So great coming south where it's nice and warm in the wintertime here to Wisconsin. But I had aunt and uncle that lived in Ripon. I had cousins that are still living up in Bayfield, beautiful state we have here. And because La Crosse is right on the border of Minnesota. I grew up not far in this little town, not far from the other border of Minnesota on the other side, on the Red River, not the Mississippi River. So I have to ask, I know this is a dangerous question, but are there any at all, any Vikings fans in this entire room?
(01:12)
Okay. All right. Okay. I was talking to JD backstage and I said, I think I may be able to get two or three hands, courageous Vikings fans, those of us that have been traumatized by four Super Bowl losses, unlike you Packer fans, win, win, win, all you guys just winning. So anyway, welcome to all of you here today. Great to have you here. And as we approach this Labor Day, it's not just the end of summer, but Labor Day is both a celebration, it's a day of celebration, and it's a day of gratitude and it's a day of gratitude for the enduring dignity of work. And I know that whether you're in the audience or on the stage behind me, it's an honor to be here with all of you, the Wisconsin Steelworkers that are here, that are fabricating, forging America's strength and helping America's return to greatness, which is what we're doing under President Trump and Vice President Vance's leadership.
(02:08)
We have a president of course right now who's truly amazing. What's been accomplished in the last seven months has never happened before in any administration at the pace and the importance of the work that's being done. But one thing I do know, we talked about this at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, but President Trump just actually deeply respects the American worker. He respects the words "Made in America" and he's fighting like no one has ever fought before to make sure that we have that. And whether it's here in Wisconsin or across the country, whether it's farmers or the fabricators, whether it's the people that run restaurants or people that are ranchers, truck drivers or auto workers, whether you're in law enforcement, first responders, the people that build, that move, that feed and protect, and those that serve in the military that defend our country, they have the deepest respect of President Trump and Vice President Vance.
(03:03)
And because when you care deeply, then you start doing things like protecting and rebalancing world trade. You do things like making sure that we're passing laws that support working families. And we're here to talk about that today because President Trump and Vice President Vance are putting America on a fast track to a new golden age. And just one thing that I get a chance to work a lot on is on the side on energy. And President Trump said he was going to bring peace abroad and prosperity home. He stopped seven wars in seven months. That's never happened in history. Incredible.
(03:45)
Just incredible. And he set out that he didn't just want energy independence, he wanted energy dominance, President Trump did because with energy dominance, that means we can sell energy to our friends and allies as opposed to them having to buy it from our adversaries. When they buy energy from adversaries that's what they were using to fund those wars against our friends and allies. So he understands that energy is at core of peace abroad. He also understands that low-priced, affordable, reliable energy is the key to our economy here at home. And he's done everything he can to break the back of inflation and having abundant energy here in America. And he's doing that. And one of the things, he's not only doing that with oil and gas, but he's bringing back the coal industry. And a lot of people don't understand without, we were sitting here in this fabulous place where we fabricate these amazing things like this pedestrian bridge to my left to hear that these guys are building, complicated, high-quality stuff.
(04:42)
And by the way, I should tell you guys, Paul and Jake told me that the shop is always this clean, right? It's like every day you could come in here, every day, it would look just like this. Not just on days like this, but these guys are doing incredible, incredible work. But without, you need metallurgical coal. Metallurgical coal produces coke without coke, we don't have steel. So President Trump, we cannot shut down. If you shut down the coal industry, you not only stop affordable electricity in this country, you also shut down the steel industry. And we're bringing back the steel industry. We're bringing back the shipbuilding industry. We're bringing back manufacturing in the United States.
(05:24)
I also understand in the back here, we've got some students from Luther High School, government class, seniors. Can you students just give a stand-up for us? If you're here from Luther High, we want to say we have a special thanks to you. There's our future right there. And I was so excited to see that your team name was the Knights because the little town I grew up in, North Dakota is named Arthur. We were also the knights, and I like to stress that it was nights with a K, not just with an N, because we had some Arthur Nights with an N, too. But anyway, the Luther High School Knights.
(06:07)
But anyway, you guys are here, government class, appreciate you being here thanks to your teachers, your leaders and others, your parents that got here for this important day. But whether you're just out of high school or whether you're working family across Wisconsin, you can rest assured that we got a president and a vice president that are fighting every day to make sure that we've got opportunities. And for those of you that are entering, leaving high school soon, you can know this country is going to be ready to support you, whether it's college, whether it's trade school, whether it's the workforce, whether it's being an entrepreneur like the people that started this business back in 1972, or whether it's the military. There's great careers awaiting in this country. And in the last seven months, there've been 2.5 million jobs created under the Trump administration that are filled by people that are Americans.
(06:58)
And we know that entrepreneurs, and we know that businesses like this are the backbone of America. It's innovation that created American greatness. It's innovation that builds great products. It's not regulation. And we know that President Trump is leading an effort for us to deregulate this country, cut regulations. He's cutting 30 regulations already so far in seven months, 30 regulations have been cut for every new one that's been put in. He set a goal at 10 to one, he is beating that by three times. When we cut regulation, that allows innovation to flourish. And then when we create the incentives for people that not only understand and respect the dignity of work, but give people an opportunity to work and be paid and rewarded for it.
(07:41)
That's why in this working tax family's tax cut bill, also known as the one Big Beautiful Bill, what do you think? How many people in this room have ever had to a job where you've had to work overtime? Every job I had when I was growing up was like that. You guys get paid overtime. How do you like an idea that President Trump came up with no tax on overtime? How about that?
(08:01)
And there's a hundred great things in that bill. The vice president's going to talk about it, but I'll just mention one more and a hundred percent accelerated depreciation. Not everybody's an accountant, but if you can deduct the cost of buying new equipment on the day that you buy it from your income, that reduces the cost of that equipment. And Paul and Jake and his team right now, they got a $2 million drill press that's coming in here, a drill saw press, 2 million bucks arriving this fall. It's going to help them build projects quicker, faster, more efficiently for their team. And they're doing that because they got a hundred percent depreciation immediately. That's in the Big Beautiful Bill.
(08:45)
And I just want to say one thing, it's just interesting. In the world we're in, if you for that bill, you voted for lower taxes for working families, if you voted against that bill, if you voted no, then all the tax cuts before were going to go away and the tax increases were automatically going to happen. So if you voted no on that bill, you were voting for a tax increase on everybody in this room and there wasn't a single Democrat that voted for that bill. But there is somebody in this room that did vote for that bill, and it's representative Derrick Van Orden right here. Stand up Derrick. And if any of you are taking care of aging parents, any of you that know people that are seniors, I'll say that because you all look pretty young to me out there. But anyway, if you know anybody that's on Social Security, 1.1 million senior citizens in Wisconsin are now going to benefit from no taxes on social security. So incredible. So what's the quick summary? We've got lower taxes. We have far lower regulations, has biggest tax cut in history. Regulations are being cut by this administration like never before, allowing innovation to flourish. And then you say, okay, well those two things are great, but what about fresh capital coming into the company? Well, with President Trump leveling the trade field and getting a level playing field for America so we can sell our goods into markets that used to be closed. And for those people that are coming here, they're going to have to pay tariffs to get in.
(10:34)
When you do that, there's trillions of dollars. A trillion is a thousand billion. There's over $5 trillion of committed capital that's coming into this country to build new factories here. Because when you build it in America, when it's made in America, there are no tariffs. We've never had the combination of these things happening in my lifetime of lower taxes, way less regulation support for innovation and entrepreneurs and record amounts of record capital. These are the policies that are going to restore the American dream for every American. And it's the Trump-Vance administration that's making that happen.
(11:12)
And if you're planning on driving someplace this weekend, maybe you want to head to one of those great national places in this state like St. Croix, national Scenic Riverway, not far away from here, Apostle National Islands up by the National Lakeshore on the Apostle Islands up by Bayfield where my cousins live. If you're heading to do that, guess what? You're going to be paying the lowest gas places in many, many years this weekend. But inflation adjusted, these are the lowest gas prices in decades. And so again, thanks to President Trump for making that happen. So in closing, I wanted to say one of the other action-oriented presidents we had that can be thought about in the same sentence as President Trump is Theodore Roosevelt. And Theodore Roosevelt said, far and away, the best prize in life is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing.
(12:13)
And I've got a group of people sitting behind me on this stage that work very hard. I got a group of people in front of me that I know if you're here from Wisconsin, you're from the Midwest, you have spent your life working very hard. All of us that in this room, everybody here, we've all had a chance to grab that prize, that opportunity to work hard at work we're doing. And collectively at a place like here, like Mid-City Steel, you're doing the hard work that is making America great and making America strong. And you need to know that President Trump personally, Vice President Vance, who's here here to tell you how grateful they are for the working families and the working people of this country. So it's my honor right now to introduce someone who served our country in the military, in the Marine Corps. He's served our country in the United States Senate. Now he's fighting for working families as the Vice President of the United States. Please welcome to the stage JD Vance.
Vice President JD Vance (13:26):
Thank you. Thank you all. We love you all. Thank you all Wisconsin, it's great to be here. We have a great looking crowd here. Thank you all. It's the best looking group of welders and steel men and women I've seen in my entire life, I think. This is a sharp crew. Now everybody behind me, I was told, volunteered to be there. And so you guys have to clap and cheer at everything that I say. And if not, we're going to have to kick you the hell out of here. And a couple of people, a couple of them actually, and I'm not going to call them out by name, but they were selected because they're some of the hardest working and best working people in this facility. And we just want to say we're proud of you guys, proud of what you do, and proud that the tradition of Wisconsin craftsmanship lives on in this great facility right here today.
(14:42)
Now, before we get started here, and I want to talk about the Big Beautiful Bill, I want to give a few notes of appreciation and gratitude. So first of all, I think this is probably the third or fourth time I've been to La Crosse, Wisconsin. I came here a lot during the campaign. It was always great to be here, and I joked that you all would get sick of me, but I would come
Vice President JD Vance (15:00):
… Back as Vice President of the United States, and I'm proud that I got to keep that promise thanks to you. So I want to thank Paul Bagniefski. Paul, thank you so much. I got it. A minus maybe on that pronunciation. He is the president and CEO of this incredible facility. We're so thankful to be here. I want to thank Jake Koshio and the rest of the Tough Job team for giving us such a warm welcome here in Wisconsin. I also want to thank, and you heard Doug Burgum, our great Secretary of the Interior. How good of a job is Doug Burgum doing as Secretary of the Interior? Doug, thank you.
(15:48)
Doug is doing a great job. You heard him give a shout-out and I'm going to give another shout out to the great representative Derrick Van Orden. Thank you, Derrick, please stand up. Give it up for this guy. He works harder than anybody in Congress. He works so hard that he lost most of his hair, in fact, over his time in Congress. I'm sorry about that. I had to poke a little fun at my good friend Derrick. But there are so many people who just show up in Washington. They go along to get along. They cast a vote or don't, but don't really do much else. Derrick is fighting every single day for the people of this district. You should be proud of him because I certainly am. Thank you Derrick. And I guess we've got the senior class from Luther High School. Where are all the Luther High School students? Where you all at? Thank you all. Now, have you all started school yet or you played hooky today? You have. Okay, good. Well, I'm glad the vice president coming to town got you guys out of school a little bit, but let's talk about the future because these kids are the future. We want to make sure that they have a prosperous American future to grow up in. And let me take you back a little bit to where I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, southwestern Ohio, where my Papaw, and the reason I love the welders in particular, is my Papaw for 42 years was a union welder at a place called Armco Steel. And when I was growing up, Armco Steel had shed about 80% of the workforce that it had employed when my Papaw was working there during its heyday, and unfortunately it was one of the lucky ones because a lot of the steel mills lost about 80% of their workforce. A lot of the steel mills didn't exist at all.
(17:31)
And I think that what happened is that for those of us who grew up in those factory towns, we were so used to seeing those proud, big, beautiful factories, seeing the night sky lit up with that furnace. We were proud of what our parents and our grandparents made every single day. And of course, they were proud to earn the kind of a job that enabled them to provide us a good life. And what happened? Thanks to a generation of failed politicians and stupid decisions, those factories closed down one by one by one, and many of those proud towns that made us who we are, ladies and gentlemen, those proud towns became ghost towns. Well, not anymore. What the President of the United States was elected on a promise to do was to bring back American manufacturing, to bring back American craftsmanship, and that is exactly what President Donald Trump is doing every single day in Washington.
(18:27)
How nice is it to have a president who instead of rewarding companies for shipping your jobs overseas, rewards companies for building factories right here in the United States of America? How nice is it to have a President of the United States who instead of raising your taxes, is cutting your taxes by historic margins every single day as we just did? For years, American leaders would ask you to work overtime, would ask you to spend even more time away from your family and every hour that you spend at the job, they would reach further and further into your pocket. How nice is it to have a President of the United States who cut taxes on overtime because we believe that if you spend an extra hour at work, the government ought to keep its hands the hell out of your pocket? Is that right?
(19:27)
We know about 5%, about one in 20 Wisconsin workers rely on tips to bring home the bacon for themselves and their families. How nice is it to have a President of the United States and Republican majorities in Congress that cut taxes on tips instead of forcing our waitresses and service professionals to deal with the IRS? We ought to make it easier for folks to get by, which is exactly what we did when we cut taxes on tips and Wisconsin families are going to be the beneficiaries. What the Working Families Tax Cuts did is very simple, ladies and gentlemen. It let you keep more money in your pocket. It rewarded you for building a business or working at a business right here in the United States of America. It makes it easy for you to take home more of your hard-earned pay and it makes it easier if you're an American manufacturer or an American business, it makes it easier for you to build your facility or expand your facility right here in the United States of America.
(20:29)
I happen to believe that it's the dumbest decision we made as a country to reward foreign companies with putting stuff overseas instead of right here in places like Wisconsin. Well now we have a different president with a different attitude. If you're building in the United States of America, if you're working in the United States of America, if you're trying to earn a decent living right here at home, we are going to fight for you every single day. But if you build crap overseas and try to undercut the wages of American workers, you're going to pay a big fat tariff before you bring it back in to the United States of America.
(21:11)
Now, I was talking with the Fox News host earlier and I'm going to embarrass him a little bit. I'm going to make them stand up and be recognized. You guys know Will Cain. Will, a lot of us watch his show. He is doing a good job. You know what I told Will earlier is that all these problems are interconnected. Why is it that we allowed these Mexican drug cartels to bring this poisonous fentanyl into our communities? Why is it that so many people lost hope and started taking that fentanyl? Why is it that we had a government that seemed to care more about illegal immigrants than they did about their own citizens? It's all connected because when they shipped your job overseas in the last administration or administrations that came before it, what they also did at the same time is they allowed those cartels to come into our country and take advantage of our communities.
(22:03)
So what the working class family's tax cut does is yes, it gives you more take-home pay. Yes, it cuts taxes on overtime. Yes, it cuts taxes on tips, but it also gives our incredible law enforcement over a hundred billion dollars to get those drug cartels the hell out of our country once and for all.
(22:29)
It's very simple. Donald Trump's Republican Party wants very simple things for this country. We want you to be able to earn a good living in your community. We want you to be able to walk down a city street in broad daylight without getting mugged. We want you to be able to take your family out to a nice meal wherever you want to without the fear of violence from criminals, whether they're domestic criminals or international drug cartels. If you work hard every single day, you ought to take as much of your hard-earned pay home as possible. And if you want to raise your children in security and comfort, you ought to send them to a school that gives them a good education instead of an indoctrination. These are very simple things, ladies and gentlemen, and all we needed was better leadership in Washington to deliver it.
(23:19)
Now, Representative Van Ordn will tell you this, but if you didn't know that, it turned out that we didn't get a single Democrat vote for cutting taxes on tips, cutting taxes on overtime or increasing the child tax credit. Not a single Democrat in the House or the Senate could actually deign to vote for giving you more of your hard-earned money. And we got to ask ourselves why that is, because as much as I am proud of what we've accomplished, it would honestly be a little bit easier, wouldn't it, Derrick, if the Democrats actually worked with us instead of fighting us every single step of the way. And you're going to see this, we're little early for campaign season, but in a couple of months or maybe about a year, you're going to start seeing television advertisements and you're going to start seeing Democrats lying about what's in these working families tax cuts.
(24:07)
And I'm going to tell you exactly what they're going to say. They're going to tell you that this bill, which gives you more of your hard-earned money, that they opposed it not because they want to raise your taxes and they do, but because they're worried about your healthcare. They're so worried about your healthcare, in fact, that they want to give more and more of your healthcare to illegal immigrants. And that's exactly why they voted against this bill.
(24:31)
I know we have this beautiful high school class back there, and I'll give you just from a vice president to the high school seniors, I'll give you guys just a little bit of relationship advice from a man who's been happily married for 11 years. Find yourself somebody who loves you as much as National Democrats love giving healthcare benefits to illegal aliens. That's my advice for you. Because it is, as far as I can tell, the reason why the National Democratic Party exists. Do you know that this bill makes tens of billions of dollars in investments in our rural healthcare infrastructure, which was falling apart under the last administration? This legislation guarantees that hard-working Americans are going to have access to their social security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. But what this bill refuses to do and what Republicans absolutely refuse to do is to give your hard-earned benefits to people who don't have the legal right to be in this country to begin with. It is very simple.
(25:44)
And if you want to protect the people's benefits, if you want to protect rural healthcare, if you want to make sure that whether you live in a big city or a small town, you have the ability to go and see a doctor and that is exactly what we want to do, then the first thing you ought to be doing is making sure that the people who get federal healthcare benefits actually have the right to be in this country in the first place. That is the first and most important step. And that's what this legislation did. So don't believe the lies and don't believe the attacks. What we are doing with this legislation is giving you a tax cut and trying to rebuild the healthcare infrastructure of this country that got decimated under Joe Biden's leadership. But what we are also doing in order to preserve the benefits that you've paid into for your entire lives is making sure those benefits only go to our fellow American citizens and not to people who ought to go back to their home country because they're here in this country illegally. It's very simple.
(26:48)
And think about this, think about the math ladies and gentlemen. You cannot have these healthcare benefits if you allow tens of millions of people into this country who have no legal right to be here and give them those benefits. We were on the freight train to bankruptcy under Joe Biden's leadership because we had a Democratic Party that didn't care enough about this country to actually enforce our borders. And it's that simple. And so when I see the Democrats, I got to be honest with you, it makes me a little bit angry, when I see Democrats fighting against cutting your taxes and saying it's about healthcare. It's not about healthcare for you, it's about healthcare for illegal aliens. And we happen to believe in a different principle. You ought to keep more of your hard-earned money. That if you work overtime, you ought to be rewarded for it. And that when you pay into the federal system, you receive those benefits and not anybody who didn't pay into them to begin with.
(27:48)
So let me say just a couple more things and then I'll hit the road. But maybe I'll take some questions. Should we take some questions from the fake news, ladies and gentlemen? Would that be fun? Okay, we can do that too, but we'll try to focus on the local Wisconsin reporters first because I know that they're not fake news, right? We got good local reporters here in Wisconsin? I don't know. Mixed reviews based on the crowd here, but let me just say a couple more things. So this business, this manufacturing facility, I think represents the future of American craftsmanship. And I was talking to the CEO and to Jake earlier about this, but there's this attitude that some people have that manufacturing, it's the jobs of the past. It's the industry of the past. That it's dirty, that it's not innovative. I challenge any journalist to walk around this facility for 10 minutes and not realize that this is one of the most innovative companies in America, and this is the future of American industry, the future of American innovation and the future of American manufacturing.
(28:57)
They're using artificial intelligence in this facility. They're using robotics in this facility. They're doing things that frankly were not even possible 20 years ago, and they're doing them in order to build a great American future. We are practically a stone's throw away from a beautiful new bridge, a bridge that is being built with American-made steel from this manufacturing facility because we have great American craftsmen right here in Wisconsin, and we ought to fight for them. And I know the people out in the crowd, the people standing behind me. There are stories of proud work being done every single day. There are stories of a good wage being earned that allows these folks to support their families. There's stories of products that exist in the United States of America that we need, that we absolutely
Vice President JD Vance (30:00):
… absolutely rely on that are made right here with American workers and American hands. That makes me so proud to be your vice president, to get to stand here, to get to see a little bit of it, to take a little tour, to recognize that the American future that our children deserve, that the American future that our children rely on is going to be built by and for American workers. And you guys are the proudest American workers in that tradition. So God bless you, and thank you. And these guys, they're proud of what they do. They're doing something amazing. They're doing something that can't be done almost anywhere else in the world. They're earning a good wage in the process. This is what makes America great. And I love my papa. I said he was a union welder for 42 years. He was a proud man.
(30:55)
He was a hardworking man. But my papa, before he died, he used to tell me that he didn't know that American manufacturing was going to be as strong in the future as it was in his time. And again, I love my papa, but I think that's the wrong attitude. American manufacturing must be as strong in the future, or America's future will not exist without it. Do you think that our kids are going to have a future if we rely on foreign countries to make everything that we need? Do you think we're going to have a future if the pharmaceuticals that we put into the bodies of our children are made by a foreign adversary? Do you think we have a future if we can't even drive over a bridge without asking permission from some foreign country? That is no way to build a future. The way to build a future is with American workers. And I'm proud that in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we're doing. So God bless you all.
(31:53)
And I want to say just one final thing. And I'm going to end this on a somber note. We've had some fun here, but I'm very mindful of the fact that we're just a couple of minutes away from the Minnesota border. And of course, we had this terrible, terrible school shooting yesterday in Minneapolis. And I imagine, like a lot of you all, it hits pretty close to home, very personally, because though you may not know anybody who's affected by it, I think a lot of us know people who've been taking their kids, in the last couple of weeks, to their first day of school. And in fact, my son, my little five-year-old… I love him so much. And if you're watching, buddy. Daddy loves you. He started his first day kindergarten just two days ago. And again, we're very proud of him, and we love him very much, but I know that there are a lot of families who were in their first week of school just outside of Minneapolis, and that was pierced.
(32:47)
That incredibly pure and wonderful moment was pierced by a very vicious and a very evil person. And so I just want to say a couple of things. The first thing that I want to say is remember, we are an American family. And the people who lost a children, they are your fellow Americans. And those children who lost their lives and lost their future, they are your fellow citizens. So think about them and say a prayer form, and remember that they are as much us as our neighbors right here in this wonderful community in Wisconsin. And the thing that they need most of all is they need their fellow Americans to reach out and care about them. And I know that every single one of us is going to do that. That's the first thing that I wanted to say.
(33:35)
The second thing that I wanted to say is when I first heard the news, I was worried that the death toll was going to be higher based on what the media reports were saying. And right now, there are still a couple of kids, some of whom in very critical condition, who may yet survive this. And I think they would appreciate your prayers and their families would appreciate your prayers as well. So if you are the praying type, I'd ask you to say a prayer tonight for those kids that are still recovering, that they may recover fully and go on to live a full life, the life that was deprived from a couple of their classmates.
(34:12)
And the stories, I'd encourage you to read some of the stories about what happened yesterday about the violence, about the fact that you had ten-year-old kids laying over their friends to look after them and to try to protect them. And while yesterday was an unspeakable tragedy, I'd ask you to remember that we also saw the very best of the United States of America. And to every person who protected a friend, to every first responder, to every paramedic who made it so the death toll wasn't higher, we love you, we're proud of you, and we'll never forget the great American spirit that you showed yesterday.
(34:58)
And on that note, there is going to be time for politics, and there's going to be a time to figure out how to prevent this stuff from happening, how to make these shootings less common in our country. And I'm not going to speak about that now, but I would encourage you… The first lady, Melania, who really has a very big heart for children, obviously as a mother herself, she put out a statement earlier today that I think is really worth taking a look at because this happens too much in our country. And if you look, we really do have, I think, a mental health crisis in the United States of America. We take way more psychiatric medication than any other nation on earth, and I think it's time for us to start asking some very hard questions about the root causes of this violence. And I'm going to be part of that, and the first lady and the President are going to be part of that, but that's going to be an American conversation that we're going to have together.
(35:49)
But before we have that conversation, if you are the praying type, I would ask you to join me in prayer. I'm just going to say a prayer for the two little kids who lost their lives yesterday. And this is a prayer we say a lot in my church, and I've always found it very meaningful. It's very short. But eternal rest, grant unto them, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. Thank you all.
(36:18)
Now with that, I will take some questions from the reporters, but again, thank you all for having me and thank you all for indulging that moment. I think it's important for our fellow Americans to know that we're reaching our arms around them and we love them. And you guys gave me the opportunity to do that, and so I'm grateful for it. God bless you. Questions.
Caden Perry (36:39):
Caden Perry, La Crosse Tribune, local reporter. I'm curious, a lot of investments in the steel industry in this nation, especially the signing of the Nippon and U.S. Steel merger in Pennsylvania, a lot of those investments seem to be going to the Rust Belt and major corporations there. Can you point to something in your policy that will help small businesses like this and others that are maybe outside of the conventional areas for the Rust Belt?
Vice President JD Vance (37:03):
Yeah. So first of all, by ensuring that facilities like this have access to great American-made steel, we make sure they're never going to get cut off. And I talked to the CEO about this earlier. We make sure that they're always going to have the supplies necessary to do the business that they need to do. And that's a very important thing, because as we learned during the COVID pandemic, when you rely on foreign countries to make your critical supply, sometimes those foreign countries don't work. You can't depend on them. We can depend on our fellow Americans. And that's why it's so important, big corporation and small, to bring this stuff back to the United States. But you ask what is going to help this small business? Well, first of all, the workers here, when they work an overtime shift, are not going to have to pay taxes on those overtime hours.
(37:47)
That's going to help the workers and consequently the business right here in this facility. But also, you heard Secretary Burgum talk about this earlier. When a plant like this makes a big investment, we want to make that pay in the tax code. We don't want to penalize them for investing in American workers in American production. And the working family's tax cut, you know what it does? It completely accelerates depreciation, so that when they make a big investment, when they buy a big amount, when they buy a big new facility, or they buy a big new piece of equipment, they can immediately benefit from that in the tax code. And it's such a reversal from what we've had in this country for 40, 50 years, where we would penalize companies in the tax code for building and making in the United States of America. Under President Trump's leadership, we're rewarding companies in the tax code for building and making right here at home. Next question.
Charles Benson (38:44):
Good afternoon. Charles Benson with TMJ4 out of Milwaukee. As you know, the president, this week, signed an executive order around the National Guard, and so I'm curious if you can give us some more detail on that, wanting the National Guard members to be available for rapid mobilization and establish a quick reaction force. My question would be, would that quick reaction force be deployed to help with day-to-day police work? And would a governor, like the governor of Wisconsin, have the option to say no to any deployment nationwide?
Vice President JD Vance (39:17):
Well, let me say a few things about this. First of all, the principle at stake here is very simple. Americans ought to feel safe on American streets. How many of us have crossed to the other side of the street because there's a person on the street corner yelling and screaming at our kids or at our family? How many people have felt scared to walk down the street of an American neighborhood in daylight or at night because those streets are considered no-go zones? How ridiculous is it that we ever let there be no-go zones on streets paid for by American taxpayers? You bought those streets. You ought to be able to enjoy them as American citizens. It's very, very simple. So that is the principle at stake here. Let's step back a little bit. Washington D.C. got to a point where it was having a murder more than every other day.
(40:15)
The national capital of the most powerful nation in the history of the world had a murder every other day; carjackings, armed robberies that rival literal third world countries. And the president of the United States said, this is America's city, and enough is enough, and he deployed the National Guard to fix it. Now, that was the right decision at the time, but I don't know how anybody can look at the results over the last 14 days and say anything other than thank God Donald Trump did what he did, because armed robberies, carjackings murders are down between 40 to 90%. Even the very democratic mayor of D.C. said yesterday that she was grateful for the additional police presence because it made it possible for people, Americans, black, white, rich, and poor, to enjoy the nation's capital again. And that's what I want. I mean, all of you, Washington D.C. is your town. You literally built it with your tax dollars.
(41:10)
You should be able to come and go to one of these beautiful museums or see one of these incredible monuments without fear that you're going to get mugged. And that's what we have changed in just a short period of time. And you asked the Wisconsin specific question. What the president has said is that, very simply, we want governors and mayors to ask for the help. The president of the United States is not going out there forcing this on anybody, though we do think that we have the legal right to clean up America's streets if we want to. But what the President has said very simply is, why don't you invite us in? Is Milwaukee a super safe city right now?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
No.
Vice President JD Vance (41:47):
It's had some crime problems. It's a beautiful city. There are a lot of beautiful, incredible, hardworking people who live there. But let's be honest, Milwaukee has had some crime problems, so have other parts of our community. I know we're not too far from Chicago. Chicago's had a lot of crime problems. Why is it that you have mayors and governors who are angrier about Donald Trump offering to help them than they are about the fact that their own residents are being carjacked and murdered in the streets? It doesn't make an ounce of sense.
(42:23)
And the last point that I'll make about this, sir, is… And I actually… I'm going to violate the advice I gave to the president of the United States yesterday because we were having lunch yesterday, and the president said, J.D., I don't know how I did it. I have actually got the Democrats to come out in defense of crime. And it is crazy. If Donald Trump came out tomorrow and said he really likes puppies, you would have AOC come out and say, puppies are terrible. So if Donald Trump who has reduced murders, carjackings, and armed robberies in 14 days in Washington D.C, and now you have national Democrats coming out and saying, oh, well, we love murders and carjackings and armed robberies. Why won't Democrats just use some common sense? We're going to disagree about stuff from time to time. I'm sure Democrats want higher taxes, and I want lower taxes. We may disagree about some foreign policy issues. But on this basic principle that murdering people, armed robberies, carjackings are bad, wouldn't it be nice if the Democrats just worked a little across the aisle for once? Next question.
Matt Smith (43:29):
Thank you. Mr. Vice President. Matt Smith WISN TV in Milwaukee. To what you just said, Milwaukee's mayor the other day said absolutely not to any talk of National Guard troops. Would the administration consider ever coming into a city like Milwaukee?
Vice President JD Vance (43:43):
Well, again, we want to be invited into Milwaukee. We want to help people. We want to help our fellow citizens. And we think that if you look at the crime rates, if you look at the murders in Milwaukee, if you look at certain neighborhoods where people are unafraid to go out, even in the middle of the day, we would love to come and help the people of Milwaukee, but the president of the United States has said he wants to be asked. And that has been his consistent line from the very beginning, that we have an incredible law enforcement capability in the United States. You know what's crazy about crime, is most of the violent crime is committed by a very small number of people. We talk about a violent crime problem. We're not talking about thousands upon thousands of people in Milwaukee. We're talking about a few hundred people who probably could commit 90% of the violent crime.
(44:28)
We would love to come in and help lock up those violent criminals. I hope the mayor of Milwaukee gets some common sense and actually fights for her residents for a change, or his residents for a change, because we would love to actually help cut down on the crime in this community. Thank you.
Anthony DaBruzzi (44:50):
Good afternoon, Anthony DaBruzzi, Spectrum News, Wisconsin. Sticking with Milwaukee, but a little different. Yesterday, Governor Tony Evers requested a disaster declaration from President Trump after
Adam Roberts (45:00):
… after the historic flooding that we've seen in the Milwaukee area. So can Wisconsinites count on the administration for financial help through this?
Vice President JD Vance (45:08):
Yeah, so obviously look, we want to help people and we want to help our fellow citizens. And I know that Wisconsin has suffered some serious problems. I have not talked to the President of the United States. I'm not even sure that that he's aware yet that the governor has issued that disaster declaration. But I will take that back to Washington, D.C. and make sure we respond to it promptly. Thank you, sir.
Daniel Gomez (45:29):
Hi, Mr. vice President. Daniel Gomez, WEAU in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. So I see that you've been touring around the country visiting Congressional battleground districts. No different here. Wisconsin's third, you're here also garnering up some support for Derrick Van Orden. So my question here is can we expect you again next year when we actually get to the midterm elections? And will you also address other issues in Wisconsin's third district to include agriculture, child care, health care, and all these other things that impact rural, hardworking, working class Wisconsinites here?
Vice President JD Vance (46:03):
Of course. Well, do you all want to have me back next year? Is that okay? All right. Look, so long as the people of third district will have me, yes, I will keep on coming back and keep on talking about the issues that matter. You asked about agriculture, I think rural healthcare and also child care. If you look at the Working Families Tax Cut, there's a lot there for agriculture, there's a lot. For example, if you buy a new tractor, you buy a new piece of farm equipment. Wouldn't it be nice if you were rewarded in the tax code instead of penalized in the tax code? Well, now thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, you are going to be rewarded, which is why the farmers were really big and supportive and behind the legislation. We had such great support from our farming community in Wisconsin and all over the country for this legislation.
(46:47)
I think in part because it does a lot for our farmers. You asked about healthcare. Look, rural healthcare in this country is in bad shape. It was left in bad shape by the previous administration. And this legislation, the Working Families Tax Cut has got tens of billions of dollars to shore up our rural healthcare system. It is so unusual to hear Democrats say this is going to be bad for healthcare when we're spending billions of dollars to try to fix some of the rural healthcare problems in our country. And by the way, has anybody been awake for the last four years? Any of these national Democrats? How was the rural healthcare system doing under Joe Biden when you had hospitals and clinics closing at a record and alarming rate? We're trying to fix that. We want people to be able to access to healthcare, but we want American citizens to be able to access healthcare. And that's what makes us different from the National Democrat Party. And I'll take maybe a couple more questions then we're going to hit the road.
Laura Schulte (47:47):
Hi, thank you so much for taking questions from us. My name is Laura Schulte. I'm a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You've talked a little bit about the disaster declaration, but I'm wondering how long will Milwaukee have to wait for a disaster declaration from President Trump?
Vice President JD Vance (48:02):
Well, if I understood the question correctly, and this is the first time that I'm hearing about it, we got the request from the governor yesterday. Is that right? Okay. So I mean, it's very possible that that request has not even made it to the president's desk. I mean, these things sometimes take more than 12 hours before they get to the president's desk. So what I can promise you is now that I'm aware of it, we're going to take a look at it. We're going to make sure that it gets the review that it requires. And look, we love Wisconsin, we love all of our American citizens. People are struggling. We recognize that and we want to figure out ways to help them. Thank you.
Adam Roberts (48:41):
Mr. Vice President, Adam Roberts News Radio WTMJ, also out of Milwaukee. A follow-up to that question as well. I know that you still have time to make this decision, but can you explain why President Trump or yourself did not tour the southeast Wisconsin area like was done in Texas after their historic flooding?
Vice President JD Vance (48:59):
Yeah, I can give you a very… Simple answer to that question is if you remember the Texas flooding, the president did not show up until he felt like he could provide comfort and aid to some of the grieving families but not actually be a huge distraction for law enforcement. Look, it is a reality of the world that when the president or the Vice President of the United States show up, there are a lot of Secret Service. There's a lot of local law enforcement. And I remember explicitly being in the Oval Office talking with the president about this.
(49:28)
He said, "I really want to go to Texas and I really want want to visit with these grieving families, but we can't do it until the local law enforcement says we can support this without affecting the recovery and other efforts." So we would love to visit, we would love to talk to people, but some of this depends on, we talk with local law enforcement and we don't just want to show up for a photo op. We want to show up and actually help. And that's what the President of the United States is focused on. Thank you, sir. And I'll do one more question before we hit the road.
Jeff Mordock (49:58):
Jeff Mordock, The Washington Times. So there are plenty of people, there are scores of people still in jail that have been pardoned under President Biden's autopens. Do you think they should be released from prison?
Vice President JD Vance (50:12):
Well, I think that there's something weird about this autopen, which is that you have a guy who even some of his own staff members said, did not have the mental faculty to be President of the United States, okay? While at the same time he allegedly signed a bunch of pardons, which we now know were signed by the autopen. I think it raises a very difficult question about whether those pardons were actually legitimate in the first place. I mean, think about this. How can you sign a pardon? How can you engage in presidential conduct that's binding if your own staff members are saying, well, this guy wasn't exactly fit to be the President of the United States. So look, I'll let the courts figure this out. As the President of the United States has said, President Trump, we always follow the court orders and we always try to work with the courts, but I think the American people, far more than whether this pardon is thrown out or that pardon is thrown out by the court.
(51:02)
Let's step back and ask ourselves, how is it that the American media and senior members of the Democratic Party conspired to hide us from the fact that the President of the United States wasn't fit to do the job? This is about more than politics. This is about more than policy disagreements. This is about if you get a phone call at 3:00 A.M. and there's a national security emergency, does the person who's answering the phone have the mental ability to do the job? And if the answer is no, then all of us, Democrat, Republican, and independent have been defrauded. And I think the Biden presidency is a big, fat example of the American media defrauding the American people. So on that note, I just want to thank you all again for having us. And just remember, we are every single day in Washington D.C., we are fighting for you. We're fighting for your jobs, we're fighting for your wages, we're fighting for low taxes for you and your families. We're fighting for rural healthcare. We believe that the most important thing the President of the United States can do is put the interests of Americans first. That is what we have done for seven months and we'll keep on doing it for the next three and a half years. God bless you all. Thank you for having me.
Music (52:52):
Hello Detroit auto workers.
(52:52)
Let me thank you for your time.
(52:52)
You work a 40-hour week for a livin'.
(52:54)
Just to send it on down the line.
(52:54)
Hello Pittsburgh steel mill worker.
(52:54)
Let me thank you for your time.
(52:54)
You work a 40-hour week for a livin'.
(53:00)
Just to send it on down the line.
(53:00)
This is for the one who swings the hammer.
(53:04)
Driving home the nail.
(53:06)
Or the one behind the counter.
(53:09)
Ringing up the sale.
(53:12)
Or the one who fights the fires.
(53:15)
The one who brings the mail.
(53:18)
For everyone who works behind the scenes.
(53:24)
You can see them every morning.
(53:26)
In the factories and the fields.
(53:29)
In the city streets and the quiet country towns.
(53:35)
Working together like spokes inside a wheel.
(53:40)
They keep this country turn…