Remarks: JD Vance Addresses a National Veterans' Small Business Week Kickoff - November 9, 2026

Hey, guys. Please, thank you, have a seat, have a seat. First of all, I want to thank our amazing small business administrator, a person who cares a lot about our small businesses, but of course, about our veterans. And thank the folks at JP Morgan Chase for helping make this event possible but also putting so many resources into veteran owned small businesses.

And before I get into the meat of my remarks, I wanted to talk, of course, about the devastating loss last week and just a little bit about that. You know, of course, there are a lot of people, I think, unfairly criticizing the leader of the team. Despite leading us to a great victory two years ago, a lot of people criticizing unfairly the leader of the team.

There's a lot of staff infighting and questions about reshuffling and, of course, there's a conversation about whether the number two has what it takes to ultimately lead the team. I'm talking, of course, about the Ohio State Buckeyes. [Laughter] And let me just assure you that I really believe in Luke Fahey, our backup quarterback.

And I think our team is going to make an amazing, amazing turnaround here. But -- [Laughter] Any Ohio people here with you? OK, all right, here's the thing -- politics aside, what we care about in the Trump administration is job growth and we care about our national security. And we care about ensuring the people who create the next generation of jobs also ensure the next generation of American national security.

And that's why I'm so proud to be here. This room stands at the intersection of all these amazing, amazing priorities for us as an administration, but also for the United States of America writ large. And I'm very proud of Kelly for a number of reasons, but one of those is that we have seen, I believe, $1.3 billion under her leadership go into veteran backed small businesses from the SBA. And what that means is more money for you to hire, more money for you to train, more money for you guys to build out and expand your products.

You guys are in many ways the backbone of the economy. But we think at the government you should have a little bit of support from your government as opposed to just people making it harder and harder for you to do your job. Now, another reason I'm very proud of Kelly is that she has been one of the leaders, if not the leader, in the administration, in combating fraud.

She's one of the people who has been so good at ensuring that the money that goes to our small businesses actually goes to the small businesses. That sounds common sense, but you guys may not appreciate that over the last six or so years, particularly after the COVID era money started to get disbursed writ large, there was a massive explosion of fraud in the system that we had in the United States of America.

And because of that money that should have been going to small businesses, veteran backed and others, was actually going to fraudsters. And what we've tried to do is double down on ensuring that anybody who applies for an SBA loan is actually entitled to receive an SBA loan. And what that also means, of course, is more money in your pockets in order for you to build your businesses and grow your businesses and that's something that we're very proud of. Now, we also know, as you all know, unlike most small businesses, the veteran owned small businesses recognize how important national security is. I think it's in your blood, it's in your bones, you understand it at a very instinctive level.

And Kelly has been telling me all -- things that I didn't even appreciate as vice president, about how important it is for our small businesses to contribute to our industrial supply chain for national security. Whether it's a Patriot missile or whether it's the 1,200 small businesses that support the people who are developing the sidearms for our troops, without support from our small businesses, our troops wouldn't have what they need in order to keep us safe.

And so, it's not just about job creation, it's not just about economic growth, it's also about many of you are helping build the industrial foundation of the United States of America so that if, God forbid, we ask our troops to go and do something very difficult, they have weapons by their side, one, that actually work, and two, were made by their fellow citizens and, in some cases, their fellow veterans.

And that is another reason why we're so supportive of all the work that you guys are doing. Let me just say a few other things here. You know, when I was -- I guess I did, to Kelly's point, I was a veteran owned -- I had a veteran owned small business myself, that's what I did before I got into politics.

I was a technology investor in Cincinnati, Ohio, and we built a business around investing in and helping young technology companies grow. I invested in veteran owned small businesses; I invested in companies that were building the industrial supply chain for weapons. So, before I got into politics, I had a pretty good sense of what you guys were doing day to day, and I had a great appreciation for how important it was to the economy.

But I also tried to understand the data. So, I have some personal experience with it, but one of the most shocking facts, I think it's an uplifting fact, but it is kind of shocking when you realize that the net job growth in the United States of America, it comes from our small businesses. You know, our big businesses, they grow and they shrink, they hire people and they fire people.

But on net, our big businesses, no offense to our friends at JP Morgan, they tend to not be a net contributor to job growth in our country. The net contributor to job growth in our country is you all. And one of the things that sets the United States apart, even from some of our peer economies in Europe and other parts of the world, is that we have a vibrant small business ecosystem.

Whatever you did, whether you were a veteran who served our country, or whether you were just a citizen who worked at a company and thought you had a good idea, you thought you had an idea for how to do something better. The innovation ecosystem that we have in our country, whether you're creating a two- or three-person service firm in your hometown, or whether you're creating a new business that you want to grow into a multi-million-dollar company, you guys are the backbone of American innovation.

And so, our commitment in the Trump administration over the next couple of years is that under the president's leadership, we are going to put hundreds of millions of dollars this year and I think billions of dollars over the next couple of years in continuing to support our veteran owned small businesses.

And the one request that I would have, I see some great Congressional leaders here, I see a lot of people here who are leaders in their communities, all of you are in your own way, is talk to us and tell us what we can do better. Tell us how we can better support the veteran backed small businesses in our communities.

We want you guys to thrive and succeed. I want you to hire people, I want you to bring more people into your companies, I want you guys to build and expand if that's what you want to do, I want you to continue to make great products. You know, one of the lessons that we learned over the past 20, 30, 40 years, pretty much my entire life, is that we stopped appreciating how important it was to have industrial resilience in your own country.

We started to think of the economy as this thing that just existed in the world and it didn't matter whether something was made in Mexico or China or in Middletown, Ohio, so long as we could get access to it, that's all that mattered. Well, I think we all learned during COVID, and frankly, we should have learned the lesson well before then, that sometimes when you rely on other countries to make those critical components, they're not always there.

And I don't know about you, but I'd much rather rely on my fellow citizens to build and make and create the economy of the future, because I know that my fellow citizens are going to be there, not just for me, not just for my family, but for everybody in the United States of America. So, I guess my final thought here is keep doing what you're doing and let us know in the Trump administration, how we can do a better job supporting our small businesses and our veteran owned small businesses.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're rooting for you because you root for the United States of America, and we're very much on your team. Thank you all. Good to see you.