{"id":62603,"date":"2025-12-16T19:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62603\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T19:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:55:07","slug":"jd-vance-touts-trump-record-on-economy-in-lehigh-valley-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62603\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance touts Trump record on economy in Lehigh Valley visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration\u2019s economic record at an address in the Lehigh Valley on Tuesday, highlighting jobs numbers and easing inflation, even as polls suggest a majority of Americans remain unsatisfied with the state of the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

Vance, speaking before a crowd of hundreds at the ULine warehouse facility outside Alburtis, in Lower Macungie Township, promised that the golden age of the United States is \u201con the horizon,\u201d citing President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to cut taxes and crack down on immigration.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of supporters filled impromptu folding chairs and stood in a fenced-off area amid the stacked cardboard boxes that filled ULine\u2019s 926,000-square-foot packing facility, which opened in 2022.<\/p>\n

Vance and other GOP officials who spoke before him lauded provisions of Republicans\u2019 \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d which extended $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that were set to expire and added new tax cuts, including eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and car loan interest. The law broadly cuts taxes for nearly all Americans, although the wealthiest are expected to benefit the most.<\/p>\n

Vance placed blame for high inflation and stagnant job growth on Joe Biden and other Democrats, and made the case that Trump has presented a solution to the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear the Democrats talk about the affordability crisis that they created, it\u2019s a little bit like Charles Manson criticizing violent crime. Look in the mirror, my friend,\u201d Vance said. \u201cYou are the cause of the problem, and Donald J. Trump\u2019s administration is the solution to the problem you created.\u201d<\/p>\n

He touted the most recent jobs report, which saw 64,000 private sector jobs added in November, though the country lost 105,000 jobs in October<\/a>. The unemployment rate also rose slightly to 4.6%, its highest since 2021. The jobs lost in October were largely attributed to the layoffs of thousands of federal workers at the end of September, which Vance said was a positive example of the administration cutting down on bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s visit comes as a majority of Americans say they are unsatisfied with the economy; according to an AP poll, just 31% of adults surveyed are satisfied with Trump\u2019s economic leadership.<\/p>\n

Asked by a reporter whether he thought that affordability could be a \u201cliability\u201d for Republicans during the 2026 election, Vance said he thinks voters will understand that it will take time for Americans to feel the effects of their economic policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very confident that if we keep wages high, we keep energy prices low, we keep on chipping away at the affordability crisis created by Joe Biden\u2019s administration, yes, I believe the American people are going to reward us because the American people are smart,\u201d Vance said. \u201cThey know Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day. They know what Joe Biden broke is not going to get fixed in a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance was joined by Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who represents the Lehigh Valley\u2019s seat in Congress, and U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who gave remarks prior to Vance\u2019s address.<\/p>\n

Around four miles away, a group of 30 protesters stood with signs protesting Vance and the Trump administration. \u201cYOUR ECONOMY SUCKS\u201d and \u201cHIGH PRICES ARE REAL\u201d were written on some of their signs.<\/p>\n

Brooke McDermitt, the head organizer of Indivisible Lehigh Valley, a left-leaning organizing that helped organize the protest, said it is hard to claim inflation is a hoax when everyone can see the prices at the register.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know that prices aren\u2019t going down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The rate of inflation in the United States is 3%, higher than a low of 2.3% earlier this year but far below rates of inflation in 2021, which saw rates climb as high as 7%.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration\u2019s economic record at an address in the Lehigh Valley on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[18296,119,121,120,836,433,182,139,434,28,50,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-62603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-alburtis","9":"tag-allentown","10":"tag-allentown-headlines","11":"tag-allentown-news","12":"tag-election","13":"tag-lehigh-county","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northampton-county","17":"tag-pennsylvania","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}