Vance touts tax breaks in Pennsylvania as he makes White House's first big pitch on Trump's new law

WEST PITTSTON, Pa. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday made the Trump administration's first big pitch to sell the public on President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget-and-policy package in the swing political turf of northeastern Pennsylvania.

The vice president, whose tiebreaking vote got the bill through the Senate, touted the legislation's tax breaks and cast Democrats as opponents of the cutting taxes because of their unanimous opposition to the legislation.

Democrats, who've decried the wide-ranging law's cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, along with other provisions, are expected to try to use it against Republicans in closely contested congressional campaigns next year that will determine control of Congress.

The GOP plans to use it to make their case as well, something the Republican vice president asked the crowd in working-class West Pittston to help with.

“Go and talk to your neighbors, go and talk to your friends, about what this bill does for America’s citizens. Because we don’t want to wake up in a year and a half and give the Democrats power back,” he said.

As Vance spoke at at an industrial machine shop, the vice president was quick to highlight the bill's new tax deductions on overtime.

“You earned that money,” Vance said. "You ought to keep it in your pocket."

He also promoted the legislation's creation of a new children’s savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury Department. Recognizing the significance of the coal and gas industry in Pennsylvania, he also talked up the ways the law seeks to promote energy extraction, such as allowing increased leasing for drilling, mining and logging on public lands, speeding up government approvals and cutting royalty rates paid by extraction companies.

“We are finally going to drill, baby drill and invest in American energy,” Vance said. “And I know you all love that.”

The historic legislation, which Trump signed into law earlier this month with near unanimous Republican support, includes key campaign pledges like no tax on tips but also cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion.

Democrats recently held a town hall in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s home state of Louisiana to denounce the legislation as a “reverse Robin Hood — stealing from the poor to give to the rich.”

Vance’s office declined to elaborate on plans for other public events around the U.S. to promote the bill. After his remarks, he visited a nearby diner where he picked up food and spoke to some of the patrons.

It’s unclear how much Trump plans to promote it himself. He told NBC News last week that he would travel “a little bit” to help champion the measure he dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“But honestly,” he said, “It’s been received so well I don’t think I have to.”

But later Wednesday during a signing ceremony at the White House for a separate fentanyl-related bill, Trump said Republicans will need to promote the law and acknowledged that Democrats may have found an effective message.

“We’re going to have to start speaking about it because the Democrats use it, they say, ‘It represents death.’ How effective is that, right? That’s pretty good,” Trump said.

The battle for control of the messaging on the bill could be critical to how well the measure is ultimately received, as some of the most divisive parts of the law, including Medicaid and food assistance cuts, are timed to take effect only after the midterm elections. The bill was generally unpopular before its passage, polls showed, although some individual provisions are popular, like boosting the annual child tax credit and eliminating taxes on tips.

West Pittston, which sits in Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan's district in northeastern Pennsylvania, is a place where Trump's populist brand of politics has found a foothold. Trump's popularity with the white working class has accelerated the political shift in nearby areas, including around Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, turning reliably Democratic areas into contested turf and contributing to Trump's 2024 win in Pennsylvania.

There, and in a swing district around Allentown just to the south, Republicans last year knocked off two Democratic U.S. House incumbents after years of trying.

Walter Volinski, a 74-year-old retiree from nearby Swoyersville, said he liked that the bill extended the tax cuts that Trump enacted in his first term. He said he hasn’t read the nearly 900-page legislation but he thinks most politicians haven’t either. Still, Volinski said, “I trust Donald Trump and the Republican Party to make this country a great country again.”

Steven Taylor, a 52-year-old truck driver from West Pittston, thought the new law would help people struggling to pay their bills. Taylor, a Republican who voted for Trump, said he liked that the law contained tax breaks on tips and overtime pay. “Everybody’s hurting out here," he said. "We need a little extra help.”

But Taylor said he was concerned that his nephew, who has diabetes, could be affected by the legislation's cuts to Medicaid. “We don’t know as of yet. But we’re really hopeful that it doesn’t,” Taylor said.

Maegan Zielinski, a 33-year-old small business owner from Wilkes-Barre who was among a group of people protesting Vance’s appearance, said she worried the law will hurt vulnerable people, including those on Medicaid and Medicare. “I do not like that it continues to support the billionaires instead of the working-class people of America, continuing to give them tax breaks while middle-class America suffers,” she said.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has aggressively gone after the state’s Republican members of Congress who voted for the bill, including Bresnahan, whose seat is a top Democratic target.

“Shame on these members of Congress who spent the last few months saying, ‘Oh, I’ll never cut Medicaid,’” Shapiro said during an appearance earlier this month on WILK-FM radio in Wilkes-Barre. “I mean, Rep. Bresnahan told you, your listeners, your newspapers, told me to my face, this was a red line in the sand for him, he wouldn’t harm people on Medicaid, he wouldn’t harm our rural hospitals. … He caved and voted for this bill.”

Bresnahan has defended his vote by saying it strengthens Medicaid by cracking down on fraud, waste and abuse and requiring those who can work to do so. He also said it ensures hospitals in northeastern Pennsylvania will qualify for the funding they need to stay open.

Price reported from Washington.

Vice President JD Vance walks off Air Force Two on arrival at Wilkes-Barre Scranton Airport in Avoca, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025, as he travels to speak about the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

Protesters demonstrate ahead of an event with Vice President JD Vance in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Attendees wait to enter an event with Vice President JD Vance at Don's Machine Shop in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Vance is traveling to West Pittston, Pa., for an event touting the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)https://epix.ap.org/#

Protesters demonstrate ahead of an event with Vice President JD Vance in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Attendees wait in line for an event with Vice President JD Vance with a cutout of President Donald Trump at Don's Machine Shop in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Vance is traveling to West Pittston, Pa., for an event touting the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

Vice President JD Vance speaks at Don's Machine Shop in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President JD Vance walks off Air Force Two on arrival at Wilkes-Barre Scranton Airport in Avoca, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025, as he travels to speak about the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

Protesters demonstrate ahead of an event with Vice President JD Vance in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Attendees wait to enter an event with Vice President JD Vance at Don's Machine Shop in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Vance is traveling to West Pittston, Pa., for an event touting the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)https://epix.ap.org/#

Protesters demonstrate ahead of an event with Vice President JD Vance in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Attendees wait in line for an event with Vice President JD Vance with a cutout of President Donald Trump at Don's Machine Shop in West Pittston, Pa., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Vice President JD Vance boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. Vance is traveling to West Pittston, Pa., for an event touting the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 116 and over 2,600 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of previous unrest in Iran.

Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation, without discussing dead demonstrators, whom it increasingly refers to as “terrorists." However, it also acknowledged protests went on into Sunday morning, with demonstrations in Tehran and in the holy city of Mashhad to the northeast.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”

U.S. President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, reporting citing anonymous U.S. officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but hadn't made a final decision.

The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marked the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran's 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

It also repeatedly aired video of purported protesters shooting at security forces with firearms.

In one online video verified by The Associated Press, protesters demonstrated Friday in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as “operational terrorist teams.” It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Online video purported to show protests ongoing Saturday night as well.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

Airlines have canceled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.

Meanwhile, concern is growing that the internet shutdown will allow Iran's security forces to go on a bloody crackdown, as they have in other rounds of demonstrations. Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest “so we can only fear the worst.”

“They are fighting, and losing their lives, against a dictatorial regime,” Rahmani said.

Associated Press writers Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows a fire as people protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from a video released Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a man holding a device to document burning vehicles during a night of mass protests in Zanjan, Iran. (Iranian state TV via AP)