Transcript: Sen. JD Vance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sep. 15, 2024

The following is a transcript of an interview with Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, Republican of Ohio on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 15, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. We have a lot to get to this morning, and we begin with Republican vice-presidential nominee Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Welcome back to Face the Nation..

SEN. JD VANCE: Thanks Margaret. Good morning. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, we heard from Donald Trump this week that he wants to end all taxes on overtime pay for workers. How would this exemption work? Would this mean someone working a 40-hour work week would then not pay payroll taxes and not pay income taxes? 

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, that’s exactly how he envisions it. Of course, we’re talking about hourly workers, and of course, when you work overtime in this country beyond 40 hours, you get time and a half, and the President saying, if you’re one of those select hard workers that’s really busting your rear end to try to make good in Kamala Harris’s economy, then you should get a tax cut. And I think it fits fully, Margaret, with his entire tax agenda, which is, we want American workers to get tax cuts under President Trump’s policies, and we want to actually penalize companies that are shipping jobs overseas through tariffs. And Kamala Harris’s tax policies are, in fact, the inversion of that. She wants to raise taxes on American workers and actually reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. So, it is a really stark contrast between the agenda of Donald Trump and of Kamala Harris.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Just to follow up on that, you said, penalize companies who ship jobs overseas. So your tariff policy would only apply to those companies who are shipping jobs overseas?

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, almost by definition, Margaret, when you apply a tariff, what you’re really doing is applying a penalty to somebody who manufactures or makes something overseas. You’re basically charging them a penalty to bring it back into our country. And so, what we’re trying to do here with these- these tariffs, is actually induce more people to make more things in the United States of America. One of the great tragedies of not just Kamala Harris’s leadership, but 40 years of American failure, is that we’ve lost our critical manufacturing industries to Mexico, to China. We started to undo that for four years under Donald Trump’s leadership, but we’ve got to do it for much longer and in a much more intense way, because, as we’ve learned just in the last few days, the world has gotten more dangerous. We can’t rely on other people to make the stuff we need.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s cheaper to manufacture overseas, which is why so many companies do it, but that- but that’s another issue. Just to follow up on the promise you’re making to working class voters, you are now saying no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on income from Social Security. All of that would wipe out a big chunk of the tax base. Do you really think that fiscally conservative Republicans in Congress are going to vote for this? 

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, I think obviously Republicans believe American workers should keep more of their own money. And yes, I think that if we actually balance this out by penalizing some of these companies for manufacturing overseas, I do think that we can get this to balance out in the right way, Margaret, where we’re not blowing a hole in the deficit, we’re giving workers more their money. But to your point, we’re actually making it easier to make things in the United States of America. Now you’re exactly right. Sometimes it is a little bit cheaper to manufacture overseas, but we have to ask why that is. It’s because a lot of these foreign countries use literal slave labor in manufacturing. We should not be allowing slave laborers to benefit from American markets. If you want access to our market, you’ve got to pay our workers fair wages. That is the Trump agenda, and it’s something he already implemented once, by the way, Margaret, but is going to double down on in a second term.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, the 10% to 60% tariffs you’re saying, this is just a range, and you’ll figure out exactly who it applies to if you win the election?

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, I think you have to take some recognition Margaret, that this is a negotiating tactic. You go into some of these negotiations, and sometimes you’re going to have to do higher tariffs. Sometimes you might be able to do lower tariffs, but I don’t think you go in saying you’re going to do exactly this on every country, you use that as part of the negotiation. This is one thing that Donald Trump was so good at during his first term, is actually negotiating with foreign countries and benefiting American workers in the process. If you say you’re not going to do any tariffs, you’re basically going into these trade negotiations completely unilaterally disarmed. You don’t want somebody who’s negotiating for American workers, who’s already saying, I’m not going to use the most important tool, which is exactly what Kamala Harris has done.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Harris and Biden have used tariffs in strategic ways on strategic industries, and it sounds like you’re saying, you’ll also be strategic there. You represent Ohio here in Washington, and your state’s governor is asking for federal help to deal with the influx of about 15,000 migrants over the past four years, which has strained the health system, he says schools- caused safety issues. You’ve been talking about these problems, but what have you done to help Governor DeWine with his request for federal help?

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, the most important thing that we can do to assist Governor DeWine and the whole state of Ohio, and frankly, the whole country Margaret, is to stop Kamala Harris’s open border. And for two years, I’ve been fighting for policies that do exactly that. You have to ask yourself, why have these 20,000 Haitian migrants been dropped into a small Ohio town in just a few years Margaret? And the answer is because Kamala Harris implemented what’s called temporary protective service for over 100,000 Haitian migrants. She basically, with a magic wand, granted amnesty to thousands of people who shouldn’t have been in this country, and now a small Ohio town is dealing with the consequences. And to anybody listening, Margaret, this is what Kamala Harris wants to do to every town in this country. Overwhelm them with migration, stress their municipal budgets, see communicable diseases on the rise. What is happening in Springfield is coming to every town and city in this country, if Kamala Harris’s open border policies are allowed to continue, we’ve got to stop this. American citizens are suffering because of what she’s done. And- please– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Here’s the fact- yeah- here’s the facts, though, many of those Haitian migrants moved there by choice because they have temporary protected status, which gives them the ability to work. That TPS, temporary protective status has been in place since 2010 and in fact, Donald Trump renewed temporary protective status for Haitians when he was president. Should he not have done that? 

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, let me, let me do a little fact check Margaret, because there was a renewal in June of 2017 I believe, which is very early in Donald Trump’s presidency. And he actually ended it in 2018 that temporary Protective Service for Haitian migrants– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: — he regrets having– 

SEN. JD VANCE: — Kamala Harris, having, when she became president or vice president- Kamala Harris reimplemented it as vice president, and now you’ve seen this massive explosion just in the last few years. I mean, Margaret, just to give some context here, there were maybe a thousand Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio just three years ago. Now there’s close to 20,000 and it’s impossible to overstate its overwhelmed local services and– 

MARGARET BRENNAN:– Okay, so I understand you want to end– 

SEN. JD VANCE: — schools. You have a thousand children now in a small district– please contextualize this, Margaret, because a thousand children who don’t speak English, so now the kids who are in that school district are not getting a good education. The local health services have become overwhelmed. This is a terrible tragedy. And I think it’s important Margaret to say we’re not mad at Haitian migrants for wanting to have a better life. We’re angry at Kamala Harris for letting this happen to a small Ohio town. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Governor DeWine has been calling attention to it and asking for federal help. On September 9, you amplified what you said yourself were rumors about Haitian migrants eating pets. Donald Trump then claimed those were facts, and he repeated them to 67 million people on the debate stage this past week. In Springfield yesterday, two hospitals went into lockdown after police were alerted to a bomb threat. On Friday, two elementary schools, one middle school were evacuated. Thursday, an elementary school was also evacuated, and Springfield City Hall had to evacuate due to a bomb threat made by someone who said they were concerned about immigration. These false claims are endangering your constituents. Do you regret your words?

JD VANCE: Well, Margaret, first of all, we condemn all violence and condemn all threats of violence. I want whoever made these threats to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but we don’t believe Margaret in a heckler’s veto in this country. You can condemn violence on the one hand, while also saying that there have been terrible problems caused by Kamala Harris’s open border in Springfield. Now, you said that these are false rumors. Well, I’ve heard about a dozen things from my constituents in Springfield, Ohio. Ten of them are verifiable and confirmable. A couple of them we have direct first-hand accounts of, for example, migrants abducting geese at the local park and slaughtering them and eating them. Now, maybe all of these constituents are lying to me, but I would appreciate if the American media showed up and did some real investigation, rather than amplifying the worst people in the world. Why is somebody calling in a bomb threat, Margaret? It’s because they want attention. I think that we should ignore these ridiculous psychopaths who are threatening violence on a small Ohio town and focus on the fact that we have a vice-president who is not doing her job in protecting that small Ohio town.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Well, CBS did hear from community members in Springfield who work with migrants, and they have talked about security concerns. I know the mayor of Springfield, a Republican, told ABC News, “we’ve been punched in a way we should not have been punched.” He said, “All these federal politicians that have negatively spun our city, they need to know they’re hurting our city, and it was their words who did it.” Your words, sir. Do you regret them? 

SEN. JD VANCE: Margaret, we’ve been hearing about these problems for months, even in some cases, for years, and the problem here is not that Donald Trump and I have called out what’s happened to Springfield. We’ve heard– 

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: — I have talked about the problems and cited Governor DeWine saying more legitimate problems– 

SEN. JD VANCE: — from so many constituents who are thankful– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: — I’m not asking about that. We have documented that. I’m asking about your words sir, which you are responsible for.

SEN. JD VANCE: But Margaret, you only documented it after Donald Trump called attention to it, and so look, with all respect to the Springfield mayor– 

MARGARET BRENNAN:– You tweeted September 9th– 

SEN. JD VANCE: — We’ve heard from many his town who are grateful- who are grateful, Margaret, for the fact that we are now talking about these problems and trying to solve them. We don’t want anything bad to happen to Springfield, but the worst thing that’s happened to Springfield and the last 20 years is that Kamala Harris allowed 20,000 migrants to be dropped on the front door with no plan to assimilate them, no plan to care for them, no plan to help the residents deal with the massive strain on social services. I understand. Look, I talked to a lot of people in Springfield. People are frustrated with the national media attention. Some people are also grateful that finally, someone is paying attention to what’s going on. You’re never going to get this stuff perfect, Margaret. But that’s why Kamala Harris shouldn’t have done this in the first place. These people are suffering because she didn’t do her job.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Again, the Springfield mayor is a Republican. That’s who I was quoting to you. Yesterday, you posted a video, the origins of which CBS cannot confirm, claiming Africans are grilling cats in Dayton. Haiti is not Africa. Dayton is not Springfield. But putting all that aside, what is your intent in furthering the focus on these people? You’re not talking about how to surge federal funds to help with safety, hospitals, and schools. You’re talking about this…

SEN. JD VANCE: Margaret is your argument really, that it’s a huge difference if migrants are grilling cats 20 miles away from Springfield rather than downtown Springfield? And would it change if the video was 20 miles closer to where these things allegedly occurred? My point here is that the American media ignores these stories. Everybody who has dealt with a large influx of migration knows that sometimes there are cultural practices that seem very far out there to a lot of Americans. Are we not allowed to talk about this in the United States of America? Margaret, because the American media is more interested in fact checking innocent people who are begging for relief than they are in investigating some of these claims. I’m going to talk about what my constituents are sending me. That video was actually filmed by a constituent. That video was filmed by a person who is worried about what’s going on in these communities. I’m going to talk about it because that’s what I need to do as the United States senator for Ohio, is represent Ohio and actually make sure that people’s concerns get their voice.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Again, as a representative of Ohio, these are officials from Ohio, including the Dayton police chief who said there is no evidence of what you just claimed as being verifiable or true. CBS confirmed- we were able to confirm this video, and it was of the Proud Boys marching through Springfield yesterday. We know hate groups have been amplifying the concerns about Haitians for weeks. What exactly- what constituency are you trying to appeal to here by putting this at the center of the conversation?

SEN. JD VANCE: Margaret, first of all, whatever some local mayor said about this case, I am hearing from dozens of constituents who are concerned about these issues. They are allowed to be concerned about these issues, and I think it’s shameful how the American media ignores them. Now, you mentioned a Proud Boys march. I imagine that’s the clip that I saw yesterday of about a dozen people marching down the street. Of course, I don’t align myself with the views of the Proud Boys Margaret, but we have to remember that this is a real problem. The media is using things like a dozen marchers to ignore and distract from the fact that thanks to Kamala Harris’s open borders, there are children who aren’t getting a good education. Thanks to her open border, there is a rise in HIV cases in Springfield, Ohio. Thanks to her open border, murders are up 81% in Springfield, Ohio. I am much more concerned about the Vice President of the United States failing to do her job than I am that a dozen people carried the wrong flag when they were marching in Springfield, Ohio yesterday. Let’s focus on the real problem. That’s the Vice President of the United States not doing her job.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator JD Vance, so much more to talk to you about. We have to leave it there today. I know you’re pressed for time. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.