VP Debate: Tim Kaine and Mike Pence Tackle the Economy, Taxes, and Minimum Wage

Date: October 06, 2016

As policy-focused as the night was, the two did manage to squeeze in some barbs at one another, too.

Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Mike Pence weren’t shy about trading a few punches during the first and only vice presidential debate. 

While relying on a more relaxed temperament, though, Pence emerged as the victor, according to CNN. He was working “in full talk-radio mode,” they reported. Kaine, meanwhile, continually made interruptions that “were so distracting” that they “often detracted from the substance of the debate and made policy conversations hard to follow.” 

DON’T MISS NFIB’S COVERAGE OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

However, Pence’s good performance doesn’t change that he is only the running mate to Donald Trump, who is currently polling at 44.2 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 48.1 percent. What remains is whether Pence’s win will positively affect Trump’s numbers, or if the Indiana governor only made a case for himself on a presidential ticket in 2020 or 2024, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“Win or lose next month, Pence did himself real good in the eyes of the Republican world on Tuesday night,” the Tribune reported. 

When the candidates stopped the attacks and answered policy questions, they focused on the economy, taxes, immigration reform, racial divides, and terrorism. Here are some of the key points from their answers (a full transcript of the debate from the Washington Post is available here):

Economy

  • Pence used what he’s done for in Indiana as an example of his policy, and said he and Trump will bring back the economy of the 1960s and 1980s “by lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms, ending the war on coal that is hurting jobs and hurting this economy even here in Virginia, repealing Obamacare lock, stock, and barrel, and repealing all of the executive orders that Barack Obama has signed that are stifling economic growth in this economy.” 
  • Kaine asked the American people if they wanted a “you’re hired president” (Clinton) or a “you’re fired president” (Trump), then laid out his five step economic plan:
  1.      Invest in infrastructure and manufacturing
  2.      Invest in workforce
  3.      Raise the minimum wage
  4.      Promote small business growth
  5.      Enact a tax plan that relieves the middle class and asks the upper class to pay more 

Minimum wage

  • In Congress, Pence opposed minimum wage increases and bashed the minimum wage in general, according to PolitiFact. But, he didn’t really touch on this during the debate.
  • Kaine did propose to raise the minimum wage, although he didn’t give an exact number. He also touted “equal pay for equal work” for women.

Taxes

  • When Kaine said that his and Clinton’s economic plan would create 10.5 million jobs, Pence shot back: “You can roll out the numbers and the sunny side, but I got to tell you, people in Scranton know different. People in Fort Wayne, Indiana, know different. I mean, this economy is struggling. The answer to this economy is not more taxes. It’s not more spending.”
  • Mentioned when he laid out his economic plan, Kaine said his and Clinton’s tax reform would relieve middle class individuals and small businesses, and would ask “those at the very top who’ve benefited as we’ve come out of recession to pay more.”

Healthcare

  • Healthcare was not a primary topic during the debate, but Pence did mention how “even former Pres. Bill Clinton calls Obamacare a crazy plan,” and went on to say Clinton and Kaine “want to build on Obamacare.”

*Note: This news coverage does not equate to an endorsement of any candidate by NFIB.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

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