Fighting for the American dream

PLOVER, Wis. — Vice President JD Vance and Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden visited Pointe Precision Inc., a manufacturing company in Plover, Feb. 26, highlighting what the Trump administration is doing to improve affordability for Americans and their businesses.

Affordability and cost of living are topics of great concern to 70% of Wisconsinites according to a poll conducted by Marquette University Law School.

“We want people to have really good lives,” Vance said. “To be able to give their kids a nice meal every day, maybe take their kids on a nice vacation once or twice a year. We want people to be able to afford that. Those Americans are still running behind, working to catch up. We’re trying every single day to come up with ideas to make the American people’s lives better.”

Vance said the high energy prices are plaguing Americans, especially those in the upper-Midwest, during the coldest winter in several years.

“We took over with a simple principle, which is drill, provide American companies with what they need,” Vance said. “Now we’ve got gas prices lower, we’ve got electricity, utility bills lower and we’ve got businesses just like Pointe Precision that can actually afford the cost of doing business.”

While focusing on affordability for families and businesses, Vance addressed the state’s primary industry of agriculture and concerns over commodity prices.

“We’ve got to do everything we can to ensure our farmers can stay afloat during these very tough times,” Vance said. “We’re making sure that whatever commodity prices are, our farmers can do their jobs, they can provide food and if they fall on tough times, there’s a bit of a support mechanism there. If we don’t have American sovereignty in our food supply, we don’t have sovereignty at all. If the food you’re relying on comes from another country, say goodbye to sovereignty because that country that controls the food is the country that will ultimately control the entire world.”

Vance said the Trump administration’s work to level trade relations between the U.S. and China benefits Wisconsin farmers and manufacturers.

“The president is fighting back to make sure that we have fair trade practices,” Vance said. “If you don’t have countries honoring the United States of America, our great farmers and our manufacturers, if you have countries that are able to come in and undercut the wages of our workers, but we’re not able to export their products — that’s not trade, that is international fraud. That is what has been happening far too long, all over the world. The president of the United States is stopping it to the benefit of Wisconsin farmers and manufacturers.”

Vance said he remains optimistic about continued agriculture-related legislation making it out of Congress.

“As broken as Congress is as an institution, sometimes there are still some good pieces of bipartisan legislation that happen,” Vance said. “Luckily, I think agriculture is one of those areas where you still have some good bipartisan pieces of legislation. We’re going to keep working with farmers, especially here in central Wisconsin, by listening.”

The Trump administration is hearing from those in Congress that American farmers are concerned about lagging commodity prices combined with high input prices, particularly fuel and fertilizer, Vance said. He said those concerns are priorities for the administration.

“We’ve got a great legislative team in the White House, with great allies like Derek Van Orden in Congress, and these guys are coming to us with ideas,” Vance said. “We’re going to have some good legislation on this front over the next year. It’s just a question of getting it over the Hill and getting it to the president’s desk for his signature.”

In an interview after the event, Van Orden addressed the lingering status of the farm bill. Van Orden serves Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District. Markup for the bill was postponed due to a mid-February blizzard in Washington, Van Orden said. Markup was completed March 4 and sent from the committee to be scheduled for presentation on the House floor.

“Agriculture is the cornerstone of Wisconsin and the backbone of our nation,” Van Orden said. “The Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026 builds on that progress, the progress we made supporting farmers, ranchers and rural communities. It delivers the tools our producers need to stay competitive and keep our nation fed.”

Van Orden said he hopes the changes made to the Dairy Margin Coverage program last summer will have a positive impact for dairy farmers in Wisconsin. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, signed by Trump in January, is a flagship piece of legislation for Wisconsin’s dairy farmers, Van Orden said.

“We always talk about trying to expand markets, and that is important,” Van Orden said. “Getting whole milk back into our schools will help us build markets domestically.”

Vance closed his speech, mentioning how the football movie “Rudy” led him to look at the idea of the American dream through a different lens.

“I’m not talking about my American dream, I’m talking about your American dream,” Vance said. “Whether you want to have a good job and raise a healthy, happy family, whether your kid wants to go and play college football, whether you want to start a business like the one we’re standing in — whatever it is, the great thing about this country is that the American dream comes in many shapes and sizes. The government cannot give it to you, but the government with bad policy and bad leadership can destroy that dream. This country is still a place of very big dreams.”