() Vice President JD Vance visited a steel plant in Ohio to tout the success of the recently passed “big, beautiful bill” while President Donald Trump floats sending rebate checks to Americans.
The bill makes the tax breaks from Trump’s first term permanent, includes no taxes on tips on income up to $25,000 and allows Americans over the age of 65 to avoid taxes on Social Security, which some say would be costly to the country.
The president said the rebate checks would come from the funds produced by the recent influx of tariff revenues collected by the government.
Politically, the rebate checks could go over well with voters because the stimulus checks had also become popular. Legally, however, it would likely be something that would have to go through Congress and get approved.
“We’re thinking about it because we have so much money coming in from tariffs,” Trump told reporters. “A little rebate for people of a certain income level might be very nice.”
Democrats would likely be against the idea, and some Republican members of Congress have said they would be against it because they say the country needs that revenue to pay down the national debt and deficit.
As Republican Congress members return home from Washington, touting the budget bill will likely be their biggest challenge yet, because while aspects of it are popular, there are others that are not. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, 42% of Americans favor the bill while 52% oppose it.
Vance made his case for the bill in Canton, Ohio, on Monday.
“We made those promises,” Vance said. “We said we were going to cut taxes on tips and 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. I hope the people will reward us for it; anybody who voted against it I think should have to pay a penalty.”
