Vice President Vance touts ‘big, beautiful bill’ in metro Atlanta

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Vice President JD Vance was in metro Atlanta on Thursday touting the White House’s recently passed federal budget bill.

Before making a 2 p.m. appearance at a Peachtree City refrigeration manufacturing plant, Vance delivered remarks at a Republican National Committee meeting underway in Atlanta.

Vance’s visit to Alta Refrigeration, which makes products for Atlanta-based Chic-Fil-A, was partly a victory lap on the Trump administration’s signature tax and spending policy, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Vance said it was meant to incentivize domestic production.

“If you’re building it here, if you’re making it here, if you’re producing it here, we are going to give you, and already have given you, a big fat tax cut,” Vance said on stage. “It’s the carrot and the stick. We want to make it easier to build in America, and we want to make it harder to build overseas.”

The White House is now frequently referring to the bill as Trump’s “working families tax cuts.” After his speech, Vance also took questions from reporters and others attending the event.

He downplayed a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released last week that showed the bill will lead to the bottom 10% of American earners losing $1,200 annually, while adding around $13,000 to the yearly incomes of the wealthiest 10% of Americans. Vance called the report “atrocious” and said provisions of the bill that eliminate taxes on tips, overtime wages and Social Security will help to offset that figure.

“The most important thing for people who are living at the bottom of the income ladder is that they not pay taxes on their income sources,” he said. “So if you’re working hard and you’re working overtime, you’re going to get a big fat tax cut. If you’re working at a restaurant or some other business where you’re earning your wages primarily through tips, you’re going to get a big fat tax cut.”

Workers at Alta seemed pleased with the way the bill has been rolled out, even if it’s a small difference.

“The more money we can take home and give to our families, the better,” said employee Chase Campbell. “Especially these days, you know?”

Ahead of Vance’s visit, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff — who is up for reelection next year — stepped up his attacks on what he calls cuts to the nation’s vital health and social programs.

“Defunding hospitals and nursing homes to cut taxes for the wealthiest people in the country is not popular here in Georgia,” Ossoff said. “Not where we’ve lost nine rural hospitals in a decade; not after Atlanta Medical Center/Georgia Baptist closed just for the last couple of years; not when we already have a maternal mortality crisis in the state of Georgia and a health care access crisis in the state of Georgia, throwing 100,000 people off Medicaid.”

“The vice president is here because Georgians understand that defunding hospitals and nursing homes to cut taxes for the wealthiest people is bad for Georgia. The vice president’s here to defend that policy. I don’t think he’ll succeed.”

Ossoff’s seat has been targeted by national GOP leaders as a pickoff in the 2026 midterm elections, with three Republicans already entering next year’s GOP Senate primary.

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