Vice President JD Vance during a La Crosse visit touted tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill while launching a defense against Dem attacks over health care provisions.
He argued during yesterday’s speech President Trump’s legislation shores up programs like Medicaid by refusing to give benefits to those who don’t have a legal right to be in the U.S.
Vance warned campaign ads would begin before long attacking the legislation. He argued Dems want to give health care to those in the country without documentation, which Republicans refuse to do.
“It’s not about health care for you. It’s about health care for illegal aliens, and we happen to believe in a different principle,” the former Ohio senator said.
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Vance’s stop came as Republicans nationally have sought to flip the narrative on the federal legislation that cleared Congress this summer. Polling has consistently shown the package upside down with the public; a Pew Research Center survey earlier this month found 46% of Americans disapprove of the law, while 32% backed it.
Against that backdrop, Republicans have sought to focus on the tax cuts in the bill.
Vance touted provisions such as the tax breaks on overtime and tips. He said American leaders for years would ask workers to put in overtime, taking even more time away from their families to be on the job while reaching “further and further into your pocket.”
“We believe that if you spend an extra hour at work, the government ought to keep its hand the hell out of your pocket,” Vance said.
Ahead of Vance’s stop, state Dem Chair Devin Remiker called the stop a “tone-deaf political” photo op while focusing on the health care provisions in the legislation.
“He’s taking a victory lap for stripping health care from 300,000 Wisconsinites, threatening the jobs and livelihoods of thousands, and shuttering rural hospitals — including one at risk of closing in the very district he’s visiting,” Remiker said. “This visit isn’t about helping Wisconsin — it’s a blatant PR stunt to cover up the devastation caused by the Big Ugly Bill.”
Vance delivered a more than 20-minute speech at Mid-City Steel, a steel fabricating facility, touting provisions of the federal legislation. He wrapped it up with a prayer for the students for victims of the shooting in Minneapolis yesterday before fielding questions from reporters.
During the Q&A, Vance said he wasn’t aware that Gov. Tony Evers had sent a request for a presidential disaster declaration, the final step before the state can get federal help for flooding damage earlier this month in southeastern Wisconsin. He promised the request will get the review it deserves.
Vance also defended the administration’s efforts to address crime in Washington, D.C. Mayors and guvs in blue states have bristled at the idea of the president sending National Guard troops into their cities as he has with Washington. That includes Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who said on Monday he was concerned that if Trump sends troops into Chicago as he suggested is possible, his administration may attempt similar actions in other U.S. cities.
“We don’t need the United States military, boots on the ground, in American cities. That’s not what their mission is,” Johnson told reporters.
Vance insisted Trump wants local leaders to ask for help and to be invited into Milwaukee to help reduce violent crime.
“I hope the mayor of Milwaukee gets common sense and fights for his residents for a change because we would love to actually help cut down on crime in his community,” Vance said.
