Pence Touts Tax Cuts, Border Wall at CPAC

Vice President Mike Pence touted victories of the Trump administration and promised a border wall Thursday during a rapturously received appearance at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Pence praised the tax cuts passed by Congress and supported by President Donald Trump that, among other things, slashed corporate rates and went into effect Jan. 1.

“President Trump promised to cut taxes across the board for working families and job creators, and two months ago today, President Trump signed the largest tax cuts and tax reform in American history. Promises made, promises kept,” the vice president said.

Mainstream America already is benefiting overall from the tax reform package, he said.

“Our economy is already starting to feel the effects,” Pence said, adding:

About 90 percent of working Americans are going to get a tax cut, millions have already seen more money in their paychecks and feel it in their wallets. And we have not just cut taxes in your income. The Obamacare individual mandate tax is gone. Businesses large and small have actually announced more than $480 billion in investments in American jobs and American workers. … More than 4.3 million Americans have already gotten a raise or a bonus, and we are just getting started.

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Pence touted Trump’s attention to longstanding issues related to illegal immigration.

“President Trump promised to enforce our laws, secure our borders, and today, illegal crossings along our southern border have been cut nearly in half. And make no mistake about it, we’re going to build that wall,” Pence said.

The vice president, a favorite with conservatives, praised Trump’s leadership on the national stage.

“Under this commander in chief, we have taken the fight [to] terrorists on our terms, on their soil,” Pence said. “Thanks to the courage of our armed forces and the leadership of this commander in chief, ISIS is on the run, their caliphate has crumbled, and we will not rest or relent until we destroy ISIS.”

Pence said the president “made history” Dec. 6 when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“On the world stage, we’ve also been restoring strong American leadership, and under President Donald Trump, America once again stands without apology as a leader of the free world,” Pence said.

He urged CPAC attendees to share the successes of the Trump administration:

I am asking [everyone] to go back home to your communities, to your workplaces, talk to your families and friends and neighbors, tell them what they don’t hear in the media about everything we have accomplished, tell them how the policies that the president has advanced are making a difference in the lives of American families … tell them that we have cut their taxes and have put more money in the pockets, tell them we are restoring America’s strength at home and abroad.

CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington.