In response to a reporter’s question highlighting concerns from Georgia Republicans that the GOP bill could push more than 100,000 people off Medicaid, Vance said the Trump administration has an “open door” to work with state leaders of both parties to ensure voters keep access to health benefits.

Vance added that many reforms will be phased in over several years to minimize disruption, while underscoring that undocumented immigrants should not receive taxpayer-funded coverage.

“We want to work with people to make sure that American citizens get what they’re entitled to. What we do not want is people who have no legal right to be here to benefit from the generosity of the American taxpayer and bankrupt those programs,” Vance said.

Illegal immigrants are generally not eligible to access federal programs like Medicaid, but the GOP tax law attempted to curb their ability to access certain benefits, including emergency services.

The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation projects the law’s Medicaid provisions will extend well beyond undocumented immigrants, estimating that work requirements, stricter eligibility checks, and higher cost-sharing could leave about 7.8 million more people uninsured by 2034. While Republicans frame the changes as protecting citizens’ benefits, KFF notes they are likely to affect many low-income Americans who face unstable work or administrative barriers to coverage. 

As they sell the massive legislation to voters, Vance and other Republicans have rebranded it as the “working families tax cut,” moving away from Trump’s initial “big beautiful bill” label. Their pitch spotlights provisions like eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay and expanding the child tax credit, while downplaying the healthcare and food assistance cuts Democrats have seized on to explain the measure’s unpopularity. 

“If you’re working hard every single day right here in the United States, or if you’re building a business right here in the United States, you ought to have a tax code that rewards you, instead of punishing you,” Vance said Thursday. “And that’s what happened when we passed the working families tax cut just a couple of months ago.”`

At the rally, Vance criticized Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who is up for re-election, as out of step with Georgia voters, accusing him of saying one thing at home and doing another in Washington.

Ossoff, who first won his seat in a 2021 runoff, is considered among the most vulnerable Democrats on the 2026 map. Republicans are seizing his vote against the tax bill as they ramp up attacks in states Trump won or came close to winning.

“While Jon Ossoff pretends to be a moderate when he comes to Atlanta, he is a far-left liberal in Washington, D.C., and that’s the only place that it actually counts if you’re a United States senator,” Vance said. “So why don’t we ask Jon Ossoff, why did you vote to raise taxes? Why did you vote to keep illegal aliens on Medicaid? Why did you vote to bankrupt Medicare?”

Democrats have vowed to make the bill’s steep cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, and other health programs a central issue in next year’s midterm elections, spotlighting Evans Memorial Hospital in Georgia, which has warned it may be forced to close its ICU under Trump’s budget law. As part of their counteroffensive, Democrats are traveling the country branding the measure the “big, ugly bill” and highlighting what they call its harmful consequences. 

“Georgians don’t support defunding hospitals and nursing homes and throwing 100,000 people off their healthcare in order to cut taxes for the wealthiest people in the country,” Ossoff said Thursday morning at an event of his own. “The vice president is here on a damage control mission to try to defend this policy, but Georgians have already turned against this policy.”

“I think it is embarrassing for the Vice President to be coming to Georgia to sell a policy that is already resulting in harm to hospitals in the state of Georgia, that’s projected to throw more than 100,000 people off of healthcare in the state of Georgia,” Ossoff said Thursday morning at an event. 

“The vice president is here on a damage control mission to try to defend this policy, but Georgians have already turned against this policy,” he added.

Late last month, the House GOP’s campaign arm told members to seize the August recess to showcase how the Big Beautiful Bill Act would benefit voters and to push back against Democratic attacks. Since then, Republicans across both chambers, led by Vance and other high-profile figures, have launched a nationwide blitz to sell the massive tax, spending, and policy package. Their challenge is persuading voters to trust promises that may not materialize for years, as many of the law’s key provisions won’t take effect until well after the midterm elections. 

Voters who turned out to see Vance in Peacetree said they backed Republican efforts to promote the legislation, but urged the party to confront Democratic criticisms directly. Amelia Hatfield, a 56-year-old project manager at a FinTech firm in Columbus, Georgia, said she expects the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” to deliver results as it phases in, but worries about the narrative taking hold. 

“It worries me, everybody knows [Democrats] spin a negative story on everything, so we have to address the points head on,” she said. “It hasn’t taken effect yet, so that’s even more important right now.”

VANCE TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST OSSOFF IN THURSDAY TRIP TO GEORGIA

Recent polls show that Trump’s tax, spending, and domestic policy package are broadly unpopular with voters.

A Pew Research survey found only 32% support the package, while nearly half disapprove, and a Quinnipiac poll reported 55% opposition nationwide. In Georgia, a public policy poll showed a majority of voters oppose the measure, underscoring the political challenge Republicans face as they try to sell its benefits.

Jim Burton, a GOP voter from Heard County, said it’s critical for Republicans to win the messaging war early.

“Democrats are saying people are losing their healthcare, but that’s not true, so we need to let people know it’s phony baloney,” he said.