Thank you all. It's great to be with you. This is a great American company, and thanks to the leadership of Donald J. Trump, great American companies are thriving once again. It's great to spend some time with you on a beautiful Monday morning. Now, I love this area of the state of Ohio. As you know, until somewhat recently, I got a different job.
But until -- until about six months ago, I was the junior Senator from the state of Ohio, and it was my honor to represent this area and all other parts of our state. But this particular part of the state holds a special place in my heart because I believe it was 2006 when I came to the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and I got to meet my idol, Joe Montana, just a couple of miles down the road.
So, this area of the country has always been very good to me. It's great to be back, and most of all, it's great to celebrate a great American company with great American workers. And thank you all for having me. I love you, and I'm thrilled to be here. Now, I'm going to get a little tour afterwards, but I want to talk about what we're doing in the Trump administration to try to make it easier for all of you to do what you do, which is build a great American product, build a great American industry.
And I know that a lot of you know a story I'm going to tell. I want to back up a little bit and just walk you through what was so true for many of us growing up in areas like Akron, Middletown, all across what people call the Rust Belt, but I think the Rust Belt is coming back to life under the leadership of Donald J. Trump.
And, you know, it's -- here's the story. You drive down the road. You drive past a beautiful factory, and you'd know someone who built a life in that factory. You'd know a grandfather, a father, a cousin, an uncle, somebody whose American dream was provided by the wages and the dignity built in that factory.
And just as sure as you knew somebody who built a life in that factory, you remember the day that it was announced that that factory was going to close its doors. And it almost seemed like a week after that factory announced it was going to close its doors, another factory in Mexico or China or somewhere else in the world, that factory was going to open up. And we're all smart enough to realize exactly what was happening.
Every time they closed a factory in our hometown, another factory opened up in a foreign country. And if you were anything like me, you'd ask why the hell is this happening? Why is this happening to great American industry, to great American workers where we are closing down in the United States and opening up in some foreign country?
And the answer, my friends, is because we had a generation -- and I hate to say it. It was in both parties. A generation of failed politicians who rewarded businesses for opening up factories overseas and penalized businesses for building right here in the United States of America. And under the leadership of Donald J. Trump, we have turned that stupid logic right on its head.
We are going to reward companies for investing in the United States of America, and we're going to punish companies for building in China and Mexico. And you hear a lot of talk about the One Big, Beautiful Bill. I want to talk about the One Big, Beautiful Bill, but I want to talk first about the one big, beautiful agenda because it didn't start with the piece of legislation that was passed by Congress a couple of weeks ago.
It started when Donald J. Trump took office and said, you know, if you want to build something in Mexico or China or some other foreign country and dump it into the United States of America, you are going to pay a big fat penalty. You're going to pay a tariff before you dump these products into our country.
And you know what that did? That put the entire world on notice that America was back, and if you wanted to build and invest in America, you are going to be rewarded. But if you wanted to build and invest somewhere else, you were not going to be rewarded. And that put the entire world on notice, and it had to happen because for 40 years while those great American factories closed their doors, we know what went right along with them.
It was great American jobs. It was great American dignity, and it was great American wages. And we know that because we're making smarter decisions in Washington DC, we are going to reward all of you for the great work that you're doing, and we're going to reward American companies for investing in American workers not foreign workers for a change.
And I want to talk about the One Big, Beautiful Bill because if the penalties, if the tariffs that were charging foreign companies to access American markets, that was step one. Step one was to tell every foreign company that if you want to access to American markets, you ought to build in America. Otherwise, you're going to pay a big fat tariff.
That was step number one. And step number two was just a couple of weeks ago where you saw the President of United States sign the One Big, Beautiful Bill, and here's what the One Big, Beautiful Bill means for you in very concrete terms. Number one, we're going to see take home pay go up in the United States of America in this district probably 7,000, $8,000 per family over the next three to four years.
We're going to see your taxes cut. If that Big, Beautiful Bill hadn't passed, you all would have gotten a tax increase to the tune of thousands of dollars to each and every single one of you, and we happen to believe that you all work very hard for your money. You ought to keep it not the federal government.
Ain't that right? That One Big, Beautiful Bill makes it easier to invest in American energy and American energy workers because if you want to build and manufacture manufactured great American steel, we all know that it helps to have cheap, reliable American energy to build that steel with. So, we're going to invest in American energy workers.
We're going to drill, baby, drill. We're going to stop buying oil and gas from foreign countries, and we're going to buy it right here at home in Ohio and Pennsylvania. And for all the workers, it means a few very distinct things. We're going to cut taxes on overtime. You know what it means -- 25 percent of Ohio workers work at least one overtime shift a year.
Raise your hand if you've worked in overtime shift in the past year. That's a lot of you. And every single one of you when you work an overtime shift, the federal government is not going to take a dime of that overtime pay because if you're spending hard hours away from your family, the federal government ought to keep its hands the hell out of your pocket when you're doing it. And that's one thing the Big, Beautiful Bill changes.
You hear Mike talk about no taxes on tips. I know you guys are not tipped workers, but I know you rely on a lot of folks who are tipped workers. When you go to a restaurant and you have a single mom who's busting her ass working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, I don't think that she ought to have to pay taxes on those tips that she gets for her hard day's work.
So, the One Big, Beautiful Bill eliminated taxes on tips for our servers and for a lot of other folks, as well. That's something that's going to benefit communities right here in northeastern Ohio. And the final thing I want to talk about is, if you are building a great American facility, if you're expanding a great American manufacturing facility, we are going to reward you in the tax code.
This sounds crazy. I almost didn't believe it myself. But did you know that if you built a great American factory ten years ago, you would actually get penalized compared to if you built that great -- great factory in China or somewhere else? So, why don't we change the tax code? And that's exactly what we did to where if you build or expand a great American factory, the federal government is going to reward you instead of penalize you for a change.
I think that's the biggest provision in the Big, Beautiful Bill. Invest in American workers, invest in American companies, and your government is going to fight right alongside you to build those great American dreams. That's a very good thing. And, you know, in some ways, my friends, it's all -- it's so simple.
It is so simple. You need a government that works for you for a change. You need a government that makes it easier for your employers and for yourselves to invest and build wealth right here in the United States of America. You need a government that makes your life easier and not harder, and that's what the Trump administration is committed to doing every single day.
So, I'm going to talk one more thing about the Big, Beautiful Bill, because even though it doesn't touch on manufacturing, it doesn't touch on this beautiful steel mill that we're sitting in right now, it does matter to each and every one of you, and that is border security. How many of us know somebody who has lost a relative, a son or a daughter, a mom or a dad to the fentanyl that the Mexican drug cartels bring into this country?
To the poison that we allow foreign criminal organizations to bring into our country? And so, the Big, Beautiful Bill includes billions and billions of dollars to secure our border to deport those criminal migrants and to allow the United States to take control of its country once again and kick those drug cartels the hell out of the United States of America.
That's a very important thing, too. So, all this is in the One Big, Beautiful Bill, and I want to thank a few elected officials for help -- for helping make that Big, Beautiful Bill possible. I believe that we have Congressman Max Miller in the house. Max, where are you? There's Max. Thank you. I didn't notice you with the hat.
Max was a critical part of getting that legislation across the finish line. I believe we also have Congressman Michael Rulli. Mike, good to see you man. We appreciate you. And though she's working in the statehouse and not in Washington DC, I believe we have state Senator Jane Timken. Jane, thank you for everything.
It's good to see you, my friend. But I got one thing I got to say, which is, you know who we don't have in the house right now? We do not have Congresswoman Amelia Sykes. Even though we're right on the border I believe of Amelia's and Michael's district, Amelia Sykes is not here today. And you know why she's not here today?
Because she's not celebrating no taxes on tips. She's not celebrating no taxes on overtime. She's not celebrating the highest rising take home pay in 60 years because she fought us every step of the way on the Big, Beautiful Bill. She fought to raise your taxes. She fought to prevent that overtime tax drop.
She fought to continue taxes on tips. And look, I understand Democrats and Republicans, we disagree on issues. We don't always agree on everything. I'm not going to criticize Amelia for not agreeing with us on every issue. But, Amelia, why not work hard with us to make the legislation better? If you disagreed with it, the Oval Office is always open to anybody, Democrat or Republican, who wants to cut a deal on behalf of the American people.
So, I say this to Amelia Sykes. The next piece of legislation that comes along, why don't you work hard for the people in this room, and we'll work right alongside with you? Why don't we have a Democratic party, my friends, that instead of trying to tear down Donald J. Trump works with Donald J. Trump to build up this great American company and great American community?
Let's have Democrats and Republicans doing their job for a change and not just a Democratic Congresswoman who would rather attack the president of the United States instead of build something great for this community in northeastern Ohio. So, Amelia, the door is always open, and next time, we would love to have you celebrating the next great legislative accomplishment for Northeastern Ohio.
But you've got to vote for it next time, and we'll work with you every step of the way if you're willing to make that happen. So, let me say one final thing, and then I'll take some questions from reporters. Uh, my -- my grandfather, the man who raised me, was a steel mill worker. And when I talk about factories closing down, that is very much the story of the town that I grew up in in southwestern Ohio.
The steel mill that employed my grandfather at one time employed 10,000 great American steel workers, and it's one of the lucky ones just like great -- great Metallus here, and it's still in operation but doesn't employ nearly as many people. I want the story of this country to be building great things. I want the story of this country -- whether you're a college educated worker or a non-college educated worker, I want you to be able to have a dignified job in your community.
If you've got a grandchild or a child who's graduating from college or graduating from trade school, I want them to be able to build a great life right here in northeastern Ohio. How many of us know relatives who have moved away from these great communities because they felt like there wasn't a good life to be built here?
Under Donald J. Trump's leadership, here's what I commit to you. We're going to fight every single day to help you build the kind of life that you're proud of, to make sure you've got a dignified job, and make sure that you're paid an honest day's wage for an honest day's work. It is time for you to have a government that works for you instead of against you.
For the next three and a half years, the Trump administration promises that is exactly what we're going to do. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you for the work that you do and thank you for having me here in Northeastern Ohio. God bless you all. Thank you. All right. We'll take a few questions from the reporters, and then I've got a tour to get to so. It's hard.
I've got a bright light. I can't see you, but if you've got a question, just shout it out.
Henry Gomez, NBC news.
Hey, Henry.
How's it going? Mr. Vice President, um, you talked in the past about there needing to be baseline provisions for, uh, people in need when it comes to healthcare. How concerned are you that this act, uh, could repose in state budgets including this one across the country with regard to Medicaid funding? And secondly, if you'd allow me another question, um, how concerned is the administration about the starvation and malnutrition reports coming out of Gaza?
Yeah. So -- so, Henry, on the first question, look, um, we are very confident that the way we structure the Big, Beautiful Bill is that a lot of what people are saying, that you're going to somehow see reduced healthcare outcomes, I don't believe that's going to happen for a second. We actually are increasing funding to rural hospitals.
We're increasing funding to needy people. What we're not doing is we're not allowing illegal immigrants to collect the American people's Medicaid benefits because it's going to bankrupt that program. It's going to bankrupt rural hospitals, and it's going to make it impossible for people in need to get the health care that they need.
If you want to protect Medicaid, and President Trump certainly wants to, then the best way to protect Medicaid is to ensure only the needy get access to Medicaid not people who don't even have the legal right to be in our country to begin with. So, I think it's interesting that you have Democrats who are saying we want to take healthcare away from people.
The only people we want to take healthcare away from are illegal immigrants because we don't want them in our country to begin with. We want them to go back to their country of origin. It's really that simple. And when you do that, you protect Medicaid for generations to come, which I know a lot of people, Henry, who depend on Medicaid.
We want to make sure they've got access to Medicaid. But you need smart politicians in Washington who are fighting to protect that program, and that's what we did with the One Big, Beautiful Bill. It's another reason why I'm so disappointed that Congresswoman Sykes wouldn't vote for. Wouldn't even work with us to work on some of those provisions because she certainly would have found an open door to the White House.
And the second question you asked, I think, was about Gaza about the starvation in Gaza. Look, the president said this today, he said it yesterday, he's been very consistent about this. We are very worried about the humanitarian problem in Gaza. We see a lot of starving children. We want to make sure they get food.
We also want to make sure that the thugs in Hamas that are preventing them from getting food are stopping that process. So, we got to get food to the neediest people. We've also got to make sure that Hamas gets the hell out of Gaza and lets the food come into that terrible, terrible situation because I don't know if you've all seen these images.
You've got some really, really heartbreaking cases. You've got little kids who are clearly starving to death. Israel's got to do more to let that aid in, and we've also got to wage war on Hamas so that those folks stop preventing food from coming into this territory. And, Henry, you know, it's an interesting thing because you'll have people say, well, you know, we got to let more food aid into Gaza, and we do. And I know that our Israeli friends feel like it's kind of unfair because they're waging war against Hamas.
They would, of course, love to have food come into Gaza to prevent this terrible starvation, and they say, well, you got to hold Hamas up to the same standard. Let's be honest. Hamas is a terrorist organization. If we ever count on Hamas to get food into Gaza, you're just going to have more starving kids.
So, it's up to the Israelis and up to the Gulf Arab states to take some initiative and help these starving kids. We've got to do it. It's a terrible situation, and it's got to stop. The president said as much just a couple of hours ago. Next question.
Hi. Haley BeMiller, Cincinnati Enquirer. Um, have you seen footage in Cincinnati of a recent street fight? And what concerns do you have about that given that that's your home city?
You said a street fight in Cincinnati? Um, I have not seen this. Sorry. Give me a little more background, Haley. I'm not sure about this.
Uh, there was a group of people who attacked a couple folks on the street in Cincinnati. Um, Senator Bernie Moreno, some others have spoken out about it, have been critical of it.
OK. OK. Yes, yes. So -- so, what I saw -- and I and I haven't seen the full context, but what I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it's disgusting. And I hope every single one of those people who engage in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and they will be. They will be so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio takes their job seriously.
I know Dave Yost cares a lot about these things. Um, but -- but yeah, I actually -- you know, you're right. Bernie did send me a clip of this, and we talked a little bit about it. I don't know the full context. I don't know how the fight started. But the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-aged woman.
And where I come from, at least, when you have a grown man who sucker punches a middle-aged woman, that person ought to go to jail for a very long time. And frankly, he's lucky there weren't some better people around because they would have handled it themselves. But if they're not going to handle it, the cops in Cincinnati, the law enforcement, you've got to prosecute people.
We've had way too much lawlessness on the streets of great American cities. How many of you all have wanted to go to downtown Akron or downtown Canton or downtown Columbus for a meal, but you're worried because the local authorities in these big cities have allowed lawlessness to run wild? We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children.
If you want to take your -- your wife or your children out for a meal, you shouldn't be worried about street violence. And the only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their asses in prison.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for being here. Rebecca Downs with The Daily Signal. I'm the Ohio correspondent, and I noticed you had a message for Amelia Sykes. Representative Marcy Kaptur is another Congresswoman in Ohio who is very vulnerable for reelection. I'm wondering if you think their vote against this bill will come back to hurt them in the midterms?
And also, if you could speak to how the Republican party is using the bill to help them in the midterms for 2026.
Well, I think the way Republicans are using it to help us is pretty simple. We think this is a great bill for the American people. We think it's great for the incredible American workers that I see smiling up at me right now. They're getting a little hot I can tell, but we're having a good time, and the bill is good for them.
And so, it's going to help us because when you help people, when you give people a tax cut, when you lower taxes on overtime, I believe that people will reward you with their votes. That's what it's all about. If you go to Washington, you make some promises, and you keep those promises, that's how you earn people's trust.
That's how you earn people's vote. And that's what I think is going to benefit the Republican party because we made those promises. We said we're going to cut taxes on tips. We said we're going to cut taxes on overtime. We said we were going to penalize foreign nations and foreign corporations for taking advantage of American workers, and that's exactly what President Trump has done.
And I hope that people will reward us for it. But, yeah, anybody who voted against it, I think they ought to pay a penalty because they voted against all those great things for the people of Akron and the people of northeastern Ohio. You know Marcy's -- I guess her district is in northwestern Ohio, but you've got a lot of manufacturing and a lot of energy workers in northwestern Ohio that would have benefited from her yes vote.
And here's -- the last thing I'll say about this. The craziest thing is if you're a Democrat and you don't like this legislation, then come and talk to us. Make some proposed changes. Tell us, you know, this provision isn't so good. We'd like to change it a little bit, and if we change it, then I could get to yes.
This is the process of government, and these guys didn't even come to the White House and try to -- to -- to make their concerns known. They didn't try to make the legislation better. They just attack, attack, attack, attack. All they care about is impeaching, Donald J. Trump. They don't care about whether your groceries go down.
They don't care about whether you get a raise. They don't care about whether you have a job next year. Their obsession in government is letting illegal aliens into this country and attacking Donald J. Trump. I don't think the American people should reward that broken style of politics, and I don't think they're going to come November of 2026.
Hi, Mr. Vice President. Julie Carr Smyth from The Associated Press. I guess I'm going to be that person. The -- there are some protesters outside accusing the GOP of protecting pedophiles, and we're wondering what you think are the reasons the US government should shield the -- the client list of Epstein from the public and, um, what you have to say about any relevance to that here today.
Well, let me say just a couple of things. First of all, the president has been very clear. We're not shielding anything. The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and frankly to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff, but some of that stuff takes time.
You've got a symbol that stuff. You've got to compile that stuff. You've got to redact some victims' names so that you protect the victims, but the president has been very clear. He wants full transparency. He's asked that from the attorney general, and I know because I talked to her all the time, the attorney general is hard at work on that issue right now.
But -- but I think -- I got to make an observation that there's an interesting thing about this case that the American media seems to totally ignore. For four years under Joe Biden's Department of Justice, the media didn't give a damn about the Epstein files or about the Epstein case. For literally 20 years, the story about this scumbag -- and he is a scumbag pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
He's dead now. But for -- for 20 years you had Obama and George W. Bush's, Department of Justice go easy on this guy. They didn't fully investigate the case. They didn't show any curiosity about the case. And now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow that's a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein, the administrations that concealed this case for 20 years, and the administrations that failed to show full transparency. Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide.
His administration has got nothing to hide, and that's why he's been an advocate for full transparency in this case. He's going to keep on being an advocate for full transparency. But while we're focused on that case, Donald J. Trump is also worried about making sure these great workers get more take home pay and better jobs, and that's the focus of the administration.
Thank you.
Hi. I'm Morgan Trau with News 5 Cleveland. You talked a little bit about protecting Medicaid. There are hundreds of thousands of Ohioans that are at risk right now of losing access to Medicaid despite really wanting to work, but they can't. What do you say to those hundreds of thousands of Ohioans that say they will have no health insurance?
Well, what I'd say to those Ohioans is, one, don't believe every false media report that you've heard because our explicit goal in the Trump administration is to protect people's healthcare so long as they're working hard, playing by the rules. We don't want you to be unable to afford a doctor's visit, and that is what we have tried to accomplish in this legislation.
Now, there have been a lot of lies out there, and if, for example, you're an able-bodied person and you're searching for work, you still got access to Medicaid. If you're a single mom and you need access to that healthcare to make sure your kids can go see a doctor, you're still going to have access to that Medicaid.
Who's not going to have access to that Medicaid is people who are in the United States illegally and people who refuse to even look for a job. Now, I don't know about you all, but while all these folks here are working hard, paying their taxes, doing everything they can to bust their rear ends to give their kids a better life, I don't think that we should reward people who aren't even searching for a job.
And I think that's a very simple principle that, so long as you're trying to get a job, so long as you're in this country legally, we're going to make it possible for you to afford a doctor. That is the principle that drives us, and that's the principle that you're going to see in the Trump administration's policy over the next three and a half years.
So, what I'd say to people is, if you're looking for work, we're going to help you look for work. If you're looking for a job, we're going to try to make it so there are better jobs available to you. But so long as you're working hard or trying to find a job, you are not going to suffer because of this policy.
That's our commitment to you, and that's what we're going to fight to make happen. Thank you. And we'll do one more question here. Just one more.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I'm Jeff Gorman with Hudson Ohio Today. You talked about the next major piece of legislation. Since the One Big, Beautiful Bill covered so much ground, what are some of the other legislative goals that the Trump administration has?
Well, there are a lot of things that we want to work on, Jeff, and I appreciate your question. Number one, housing costs are way too high in this country. If you look over the four years of the Biden administration to the moment that Donald J. Trump took office, you had housing costs go up almost 100 percent.
Housing nearly doubled. We've got a lot of great young American families who can't afford a home because housing went up so much under the Biden administration. Now, I'm proud of the fact that, according to Zillow, under the Trump administration, housing has gone up 0.4 percent over the past six months. So, we're making a lot of progress.
But I think there's a lot more that we can do. We're, of course, going to keep on working on the healthcare question. The president really cares about this deeply. Why is it that European nations pay way less for prescription drugs than we do in the United States of America? They're basically free riders off the generosity of the Americans in this room.
I think it's crazy that Americans pay so much for prescription drugs while a lot of our allies pay a huge discount. We're going to work on that issue, too, over the next year and a half. So, there's a lot to do. There's a good news, bad news. The bad news is Joe Biden left us with a ton of a mess to clean up. The good news is there's a lot of opportunity to solve the American people's problems.
The president is committed to doing that over the next year and a half and then the years beyond that, as well. Thank you, Jeff. And let me just -- let me just say -- before we get to our tour, let me -- let me offer one final thought here and it's that you -- you guys, you hear the president say make America great again.
You are the people who make America great again. You bust your ass every single day. You build a great American product. I was talking to Mike and some of the senior staff just before I got out here, and they told me about this new furnace you're building that is going to build or be part -- it's going to build the components that go into 155-millimeter artillery shells.
So, you all by taking your craft seriously, by working hard, by doing a diligent job, you're going to make it so that the people who keep us safe have the weapons necessary to make our country safe and to save their own lives in the process. That's an amazing thing. That's an amazing legacy for you to take home to your children and be proud of. I hope that you are as proud of the work you do as I am of you, and I'm proud to be here today.
God bless you guys. Keep at it. Love you.