Coming on the heels of his boss’s visit, Vice President JD Vance visited Pennsylvania on Wednesday to tout the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“If you’re building here, if you’re making here, if you’re working in the United States of America, we just gave you a big fat tax break,” Vance said of the bill. “But if you’re going to ship American jobs overseas, thanks to Donald Trump, you’re going to pay a big fat tariff. It’s time to invest in our own country, and our own people once again.”
Trump visited Pittsburgh on Tuesday to announce what his administration says is $92 billion worth of artificial intelligence and data center investment in the energy-rich Keystone state. On Wednesday, Vance visited West Pittston, in the northeastern part of the state, to celebrate the passage of Trump’s signature legislation.
The speech was given at Don’s Machine Shop, and Vance noted that his father, whose name was Don, worked at a machine shop in Ohio during Vance’s childhood, saying that he hopes more people have the opportunity to do that kind of work in the future.
He laid out the various ways the bill will help blue-collar workers, including eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, providing $1,000 “Trump accounts” to newborn babies, and securing the border, making it harder to undercut American wages by hiring foreign workers.
“Your government should not be forcing you to do what elites in Washington want you to do,” he said.
Vance took a few shots at the Biden administration over immigration, reading a New York Times headline that said, “I was one of Biden’s border advisers. Here’s how to fix our immigration system.”
The vice president shared some of his own takes on the headline.
“I was Humpty Dumpty. Here’s how to sit on a wall,” Vance said, adding later, “I’m a Cincinnati Bengals player. Here’s how you win Super Bowls.”
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Democrats took their own shots at Vance, however, with DNC Chairman Ken Martin releasing a statement ahead of the speech.
“JD Vance is heading to Pennsylvania to remind working families who’s responsible for gutting their jobs, health care, and food assistance: Donald Trump,” Martin said. “While Vance attempts to do damage control for Trump’s unpopular billionaire-first budget, Americans are already drowning in sky-high prices driven by Trump’s reckless trade war.”
Vance didn’t address the statement directly but did say that wages are now rising faster than inflation, and accused Democrats of wanting to raise taxes on everything except imports.
“The one group of people in the entire world that they don’t seem interested in penalizing is foreign countries that take advantage of this country,” Vance said. “And that’s got to stop.”
