Vice President JD Vance Delivers Remarks on President Trump's Tax Cuts

I'm proud to welcome Lori Chavez Durimer to the stage. Secretary of labor, thank you so much.

Thank you, Tom, for that kind introduction. You're doing great at representing your district here in Michigan and I'm honored to be with you and the Vice President today at Hatch Stamping. That's right, give it a hand. This is my first time on the road with the Vice President, Vice President Vance, and it is fitting that we're starting right here in the heart of America's industrial revolution as we continue fighting to put America workers first. With close ties to businesses and unions, I was thought by some to be an unconventional pick to serve as the Labor Secretary in a Republican administration. But President Trump and Vice President Vance ignited a historic coalition and they wanted someone who could bring everyone to the table and listen to the voices of the forgotten working class. No one understands this better than the Vice President. And I am grateful that he and the President trusted me to serve as your 30th Secretary of Labor. I'm proud to deliver this message. The golden age of America is here. Nine months into this administration, America first policies have created hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs. And job growth has been entirely among native born Americans. Working class wages are up and GDP growth has smashed expectations. We've also seen nearly $8 trillion in private investment since inauguration day which will bring mortgage paying jobs back to the United States. Turns out all we needed to kick off the golden age was a new President. We have a master negotiator in the Oval Office who is putting American interests first again. President Trump has been striking new trade deals to restore our nation as the world's greatest manufacturing superpower. Time and again, this administration has proven its commitment to putting American workers first. A prime example is the working family tax cut that President Trump and Vice President Vance spearheaded. This big, beautiful bill delivered no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, and no tax on Social Security. Working class families can expect to see an average of $10,000 more in take home pay. As a mom of twin girls and now a grandmother and my one daughter and my grandson who also live in Michigan, Saginaw, Michigan are here. I know just how life changing it can be for a family of four when paychecks go further. I've told my former colleagues in Congress that the working family tax cut was probably the most important piece of legislation that they'll get to vote on and one of the most pro worker bills in modern history. At the Labor Department, we're very excited about the provisions to expand Pell Grants for Technical education, which will help attract future tradesmen and women to the job market. You all know that America won't be forged in the halls of these woke universities. It will be built by the hands of our skilled workers. This is the belief that Charlie Kirk and I shared when talking about the next generation of American workers. I think about Charlie, who was always fighting for what he believed in and standing up for future generations. It's been one week since we lost him and my prayers are with his wife Erica, his beautiful children and all of his loved ones. Charlie Kirk was an advocate for alternative pathways to workforce recently. Having said we need more electricians and less sociology majors. He understood that living a life of meaning and contributing to your community was far more important than a piece of paper. We will honor Charlie's legacy by keeping up the fight for the next generation. And we're going to do that by continuing to expand apprenticeships so that our young people have an alternative pathway to success beyond a four year degree. Since January, I'm proud to announce that the Department of Labor has registered over 180,000 new apprentices. And nearly 1,800 new registered apprenticeship programs have launched new nationally. I'm confident that we will reach President Trump's goal of 1 million active apprentices across this country. But we can't achieve this goal without learning the needs of our communities. You know, when I started this job, I told my team that I wanted to be on the ground hearing from you all directly. That's why I launched my 50 state tour, America at Work, to learn how the actions and in Washington impact your daily lives. My door is always open and it's an honor to serve you and defend your shot at the American dream. I'd now like to introduce someone who embodies that dream. Vice President J.D. vance has never forgotten his Rust Belt roots and has fought tirelessly to support the heartland. He serves the American people with deep understanding of what hardworking men and women in this country are up against and what they are capable of. Our Vice President knows the true heartbeat of America is not in Washington D.C. it's right here with you. He's doing an incredible job to help revive our manufacturing sector and ignite our economy. And it's an honor to work with him to put you, the American worker, first. Please join me, ladies and gentlemen, in welcoming the United states vice president, Mr. J.D. vance.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Please, please. Thank you all. Well, it's great to be here in the great state of Michigan. I always loved coming to Michigan. On the campaign trail And I'd always said, you know, the, the most dangerous place maybe this Ohio state grad visited was Michigan on the campaign trail. But you all were always kind and friendly and good to me. We love you too. Thank you, sir. It's good to see you again, man. I'm not going to do that here. Somebody yelled out, oh, I'm not doing that here. Don't insult your host is the basic thing that I learned in politics. Let me just say a few things, a word, a few words of gratitude. First of all, you guys are lucky to have a great congressman who fights for working people in the state of Michigan. Tom Barrett, where are you? Tom, thank you so much for what you do. We talk a lot about the working families tax cuts. We talk about no taxes on overtime, which we are proud to deliver. No taxes on tips, which we are proud to deliver. The lowest taxes that we've had in this country in a very long time because Tom Barrett went to Washington and fought for the people of this district. Thank you so much, Tom, for everything that you do. I want to thank, of course, the leadership of this great American manufacturer. Hatch was founded in 1952 by two brothers. Where are we at here? Where's the leadership of Hatch at? Thank you, guys. Stand up. Come on, let's give him a round of applause. Thank you, guys. I got a little tour with Daniel Craig and Wally earlier today. Thank you guys so much. I'm not going to try to pronounce your last name Wally. I don't want to insult you or look like an idiot in front of the TV cameras, but you guys, this is a great facility. So it started, of course, manufacturing parts for M1 rifles for the American war fighter. And now it manufactures all kinds of automotive components that we rely on each and every single day. And one of the things, And one of the things they told me is the, that business got maybe a little tough, a little uncertain when they had a president of the United States who was obsessed with telling everybody to drive an electric vehicle because too many of those electric vehicle components were not made in America. But now that we are leaning in to great American made automobiles, Hatch is doing better, the American autoworker is doing better, and President Trump and I are proud to fight for you each and every single day. I've also got to thank our incredible Secretary of Labor. You just heard from her, Secretary Chavez Duramer. Let's get a round of applause for the great Secretary of Labor. Now, she is a very, very interesting person. She has got a great career. She had A great career in Congress, but I have never met anybody on either the Republican Party or the Democrat Party who is more obsessed with fighting for American workers every single day. She wants our workers to have the best training. She wants our workers to have the best benefits. She wants our workers to have the highest wages. And thanks to her work, we are getting closer every single day to be in the most pro worker administration in the history of the United States of America. So thank you, Madam Secretary. We also have Michigan GOP chair Jim Runstad. Where is Jim at? Jim, thank you for everything that you're doing. Now. Jim did such a good job during the last election in 2024 that his previous, the previous GOP chair, Pete Hextra, is now our ambassador to Canada. So if you do a really good job, man, you might just get a promotion, who knows? But he's doing a great job here in Michigan and we're going to fight with him, him for the next couple of years to make sure that we're electing candidates who actually serve the interests of Michiganders and serve the interest of the American worker. And that's what we're here for and we'll never forget it. So I want to say just one thing about my friend Charlie Kirk. I want to talk about Charlie Kirk for a little bit. The last group I want to have be recognized here is we have got a lot of kids. And I hate to call you kids, but when you're 41 years old, you guys are kids. TPUSA is a great organization founded by my friend Charlie Kirk that takes the message of free speech and conservative values all over our college campuses here in the state of Michigan and elsewhere. And we've got some proud TPUSA folks here. Would you guys stand up and be recognized by the crowd? We love you. We love these kids and we love the organization that was founded by Charlie Kirk. And I know I speak for all of the kids behind me, all of the great TPSUSA members and also the alums that over the past 10 years, Turning Point USA has not just been an organization, it has been the fountain of a movement all across the United States of America. If you look at just the youth vote in 2024 and how much young voters shifted from Democrat to Republican from 2020 to 2024, Charlie Kirk created a movement. And that movement made Donald J. Trump the President United States. And it made me the Vice President United States. I would not be here without Charlie. But Charlie was an exceptionally talented individual. People don't realize how integral he was, how important Charlie Kirk was. He helped us staff the administration with solid people like Secretary Chavez Durmer. He made sure that when we hired somebody, that it was a smart person, but it was also a kind and decent person. You see him at these college events, and he would talk to anybody. He didn't care if you were a Democrat, a Republican, a liberal, a conservative, if you supported the Trump administration or not. He felt that the most important American political virtue was to just get out there and talk to our fellow Americans. And I hate to say that a week ago, he was doing what he did best. He was doing what he loved, and an assassin gunned him down for daring to say things that that assassin thought were wrong or shouldn't be said. Well, I think I speak for every person in this room, and I think I speak for a majority of our fellow Americans when I say we do not attack or commit violence against people because we disagree with their ideas. We debate ideas, and we're going to keep on debating them in honor of the great Charlie Kirk for as long as I have a microphone. But the last thing I want to say about Charlie, my friends, is he was more than a political organizer, more than a person who literally helped make me the Vice President, United States. And I'll never forget it, Charlie, that I would not be here were it not for you. He was a good guy. He was a good friend. I mean, all of these people who have been involved in tpusa, you know, Turning Point USA wasn't just a debate society. It wasn't just a political organization. It gave these kids a sense of home and a sense of purpose in often very hostile places. If you were a young conservative or you were a young Christian and you were worried that a professor might give you a bad grade for being who you were, Charlie's Turning Point USA gave you a home. If you were worried that you had an idea that was maybe disfavored by your social group, if you were worried that you believed something that was just a little too controversial for a college campus. Turning Point USA gave you a home, it gave you friends, it gave you moral support. And that is what I think must live on in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death. I have friends who met a husband, a wife, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, who met the best man at their wedding at Turning Points USA because it was an organization of patriots dedicated to making this country the very best country that it could be. And I would like to thank that, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, this basic idea of young people gathering to discuss and debate. That is the thing that we cannot let pass away just because the leader of Turning Points USA was gunned down by an assassin. And I want to let you know that whether you're a Democrat or Republican, whatever your belief is, I will fight for your right to speak your mind. We reject political violence and we reject the crazy left wing radicals that gunned down our friend Charlie Kirk. Let's talk to one another and not try to shoot each other down for disagreeing. You know, one of the things that Charlie worked on very, very hard was the very bill that we're going to talk about today. I remember having so many phone conversations, so many text conversations with Charlie about how to make the bill better, about how to do more for working families. Because you know what Charlie, he believed exactly what I believed and exactly what the President of the United States believed, that we have got to rebuild the American dream, especially for our young people. Which is why this big beautiful bill does so much to bring American manufacturing back to the United States of America. These working families tax cuts, they don't just cut your taxes though they certainly do. They reward companies for building and investing in the United States of America. Because isn't it nice to have an administration that is fighting for the businesses and the workers that are building right here at home rather than shipping our jobs off to Asia or Mexico. We fought for no taxes on overtime and no taxes on tips because we want you to keep more of your hard earned money. We fought for an increase to the child tax credit because we want to make it easier for young families to bring new life into this world and to raise that new life in security and prosperity and comfort. The working families tax cut is not just a big thousand page bill. It is an important part of may be the most important part to restarting the American dream in this country. Wouldn't it be nice to have a president, and now we do, who builds in America rather than rewards companies for shipping jobs overseas? Wouldn't it be nice to have an administration that actually gives you more of your hard earned money rather than taking more of it for hard earned or for government bureaucrats? Wouldn't it be nice to have an administration that fights for your ability to keep more money in your pocket? Wouldn't it be nice to have an administration that punishes corporations that ship our jobs overseas but rewards businesses for building right here in the great state of Michigan? That is what we promise to do and that is what we're doing every single day. Now. I don't know if you Saw the headlines this morning, if you turned on the TV this morning. But the President right now is participating in a great state visit to the United Kingdom. Our closest ally, of course, going back to the very beginning of our country, when we didn't always agree very early on, but pretty much since then, they've been very close friends of the United States about 200 years, our most important ally in the world. And the President is over there. And somebody asked me, would you rather be in England celebrating the state visit? I said, no, I'd rather be right here in the great state of Michigan, where people are grilled with great products for the American people. So, with all due respect to our great president, and all due respect to the King of England, I am so proud to be right here where I am today with all of you talking about all of the ways in which we can continue to build an America that works for normal Americans again. And that means a lot of things. Part of making this country work for you all is making sure you're safe in your communities and safe in your streets. And one of the proudest things the President of the United States has done in Washington, D.C. and in Memphis as of a couple of days ago, is to send the National Guard to take back American streets. We deserve to be safe in our communities again. And that's what the President is making happen. And it's so funny, you go to these places and, you know, the TV cameras, very often, the fake news media, all due respect to the fake news, we love them. Even when we don't, they show up in these places and they put a microphone or a camera in front of somebody who they assume is a Democratic voter, and they say, what do you think about Donald Trump deploying these people to your city? And every single person says, it's a great idea. I just want to be safe. And we're glad the President is making that happen. So my one message to Governor Gretchen Whitmer here in the state of Michigan is. Oh, come on. My one message to Gretchen Whitmer is, look, the city of Detroit we know has got some serious crime problems. And we know that it's the people in Detroit who suffer the most when crime is allowed to run rampant all over city streets. Gretchen, we are happy to send the National Guard to Detroit, Michigan. All you gotta do is ask. We gotta remember the streets are safer when law enforcement is allowed to put the bad guys away. And just as we want to protect your job and we want to make sure you have a good wage when you work hard, we Also want to make sure when you go home, you can enjoy your neighborhood and enjoy your community and safety. You know what else we want to do? We want to make sure that our young people stop dying of this terrible poison, this fentanyl and other drugs that are being brought in by these cartels. And I'll tell you a little story. I was talking to our great Secretary of Defense probably about a week, week and a half ago, and this was right after we lit up a narco terrorist boat that was trying to bring drugs into the United States of America. And I. I gotta tell you, after. I am a child of the war on terrorism era. I served just as Tom did in our military. I deployed to Iraq as a United States Marine, a young enlisted United States Marine. I am proud to have a president who is sending our military to light up the cartels that threaten our people in our own backyard. That's where the military belongs, if they belong anywhere. So I was talking to our great. I said Secretary of Defense, but our new Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth. And I was talking to Secretary Hegseth, and you know what he said? He said, you know what, Mr. Vice President? We don't see any of these drug boats coming into our country. They've completely stopped. And I said, I know why I would stop, too. Hell, I wouldn't go fishing right now in that area of the world. But that is what a military that is dedicated to its purpose and a commander in chief that is dedicated to the national good can do. If we just have our actual government fighting for the interests of Americans and nobody else, we can make this country safer. We can protect your jobs. We can make sure you've got the best wages anywhere in the world. And we can stop this terrible poison from coming into our country. We just needed a president who was willing to fight for you, and now we've got one. So let me leave you with this final thought here. Look, I grew up in a community. You heard Secretary Chavez Durmer mention this, that I grew up in a community where the American dream seemed to be disappearing, where the jobs were getting shipped overseas, where the factories were closing down. I remember driving around my hometown of Middletown, Ohio, and we'd see some abandoned factory. And my grandfather would tell me, what used to happen there, what good jobs used to happen there, what good wages used to provide for families there. And I remember thinking, why is it like this? Why have our leaders ignored us for so long? Why are factories closing instead of opening up? Why are good jobs going to China when American Workers deserve good jobs right here at home. And the answer was bad leadership. Just as our leadership chose crime, they also chose to ship your jobs overseas. Just as they chose to send our young men and women to foreign wars all over the world. They refused to stop the cartels that were operating right here in our backyard. And I believe our sacred promise and our sacred duty is to make this country even better for the next generation than it was for the generation that came before. That is why we're doing the things that we're doing. But I want to tell you, I'm never going to forget where I came from. I am never going to forget that I was a little boy who was worried about why the jobs were disappearing. I'm never going to stop fighting for the auto workers to have good jobs right here at home. I'm never going to stop. I'm never going to stop. And neither is the President of the United States from fighting for your public safety, for your good wages. We're going to fight for when you send a dollar to Washington D.C. that we spend it wisely. We're going to fight for you to have low taxes if you're working hard. We're going to fight for you to keep as much of your hard earned money as possible. Because I believe that the American dream belongs to American citizens. Not to illegal aliens, not to drug cartels. And it doesn't belong to foreign workers. It belongs to workers right here in the state of Michigan. So I hope you remember when you're voting in 2026, you have a choice between somebody who tried to fight for the illegal aliens and somebody who tried to fight against the drug cartels. You've got a choice between somebody who is trying to get good law enforcement officers to be able to do their job and those who demonized our cops and demonized our National Guardsmen. You've got a choice between politicians who shipped your jobs overseas and politicians who fought to keep good American jobs right here at home. Ladies and gentlemen, In November of 2026, we are going to have to make a choice. Let's make it for America, for our workers and for our families. God bless you all and thank you for having me.