Pence pitches Trump’s budget during Baton Rouge visit
Published 2:37 pm Thursday, May 25, 2017
BATON ROUGE — Vice President Mike Pence visited Louisiana on Wednesday for the third time since August, meeting privately with a group of small-business owners before delivering a brief speech in front of about 200 people at an industrial warehouse.
The trip came on the heels of the release of President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposal, which aims to balance the federal budget and reduce the deficit over the next decade by doing away with the Affordable Care Act and slashing dozens of programs, many of which are dedicated to research, arts and social welfare.
Meanwhile, the proposal seeks dramatic funding increases for defense, immigration and veterans services, as well as $200 billion toward infrastructure improvements over the next 10 years.
Pence hailed it as the beginning of better days for Louisiana’s stifled economy. He said a key component of the plan would be the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
“As Louisiana knows, one of the most important things we need to do to create jobs and restore boundless opportunity in America is to repeal and replace Obamacare,” Pence said.
Earlier on Wednesday, he said, he heard story after story from Louisiana small-business owners about how the ACA hurt them.
“Here in Louisiana, Obamacare premiums have spiked by nearly 125 percent,” Pence said. “The average plan here in the Pelican State costs more than $3,500 more than it did just a few short years ago.”
With Trump at the helm, he said, the “Obamacare nightmare is about to end.”
Pence also touched on Trump’s plan to cut the business tax from 35 percent to 15 percent, saying it would allow Louisiana businesses to compete internationally.
“(Trump’s) going to put more money in your pockets, keep it out of the hands of wasteful bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”
He called it “the most significant tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan and one of the largest tax cuts in American history.”
Under the budget plan, Louisiana’s roads and bridges will get the improvements they need with help from federal dollars, he said. Defense, too, would see a dramatic funding spike of 10.1 percent, which he called “one of the largest increases in defense spending since the days of President Ronald Reagan.”
The budget also sets aside funding for a border wall, one of the cornerstones of Trump’s campaign.
“In the budget we just proposed, President Donald Trump is requesting the resources we’ll need to build a wall,” he said, prompting a round of applause.
Pence said illegal crossings at the nation’s southern border are down more than 70 percent since Jan. 1. He also praised the efforts already in effect to identify people in the country illegally.
“Even as we speak, this administration, working with local law enforcement, are taking gang members, drug dealers and criminal illegal aliens off the streets of Louisiana and off the streets of America,” Pence said.
The budget assumes 3 percent economic growth over the next few years, up from 1.6 last year, which critics say is optimistic at best.
But Trump stood by the plan, he said. No matter the mood in Washington, or what position the media take, Pence said, he and Trump will not lose sight of their mission.
“President Trump and I will never stop fighting for the issues that matter most to the American people — good jobs, safe streets, national security and a boundless American future.”
Vice President Mike Pence visited Louisiana on Wednesday for the third time since August.
