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VP JD Vance on Face the Nation today:
“… VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: --Let's be honest, Margaret. You talk about the expertise from FEMA. FEMA in North Carolina, in California, in Florida with some of the hurricanes, has often been a disaster. And it's not because we don't have good people at FEMA. It's because bureaucratic red tape and garbage prevents the rapid deployment of resources to people who need it the most.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the states are now going to have to do this themselves?
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: The president is trying to encourage us to reform the way that we deliver emergency response in a way that gets resources to people who need it--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --So don't take him literally, is what you're saying?
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: No- we should take the president at his word that FEMA needs desperate reform, because it does. Margaret, when I went to North Carolina as VP-elect, but before we were sworn in, people would talk about how FEMA would get resources, food, medicine, water, to a warehouse, but then would have no plan to get it from the warehouse to the people in the mountains who were literally starving and thirsting to death. We can do so much better, and under Donald Trump's leadership, we will.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But they work with the state and local officials.
[crosstalk]
… VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: --They- no- the FEMA management officials, don't work well enough with state and local officials to get resources to the people who need it. We should expect- and this is, I think, one of the fundamental premises of President Trump's leadership. The American people should expect more of their government. When there's a terrible disaster, they should expect food, medicine and water to get to the people who need it. When there's a terrible fire in California, the fire hydrants ought to actually turn on. I am sick of the American people having such low expectations for their government. They should demand more of us, because it's the greatest country in the world, and that's what Donald Trump's leadership promises to bring back
MARGARET BRENNAN: So still count on the federal government, but watch that space. …”
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“… VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: --Let's be honest, Margaret. You talk about the expertise from FEMA. FEMA in North Carolina, in California, in Florida with some of the hurricanes, has often been a disaster. And it's not because we don't have good people at FEMA. It's because bureaucratic red tape and garbage prevents the rapid deployment of resources to people who need it the most.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the states are now going to have to do this themselves?
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: The president is trying to encourage us to reform the way that we deliver emergency response in a way that gets resources to people who need it--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --So don't take him literally, is what you're saying?
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: No- we should take the president at his word that FEMA needs desperate reform, because it does. Margaret, when I went to North Carolina as VP-elect, but before we were sworn in, people would talk about how FEMA would get resources, food, medicine, water, to a warehouse, but then would have no plan to get it from the warehouse to the people in the mountains who were literally starving and thirsting to death. We can do so much better, and under Donald Trump's leadership, we will.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But they work with the state and local officials.
[crosstalk]
… VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: --They- no- the FEMA management officials, don't work well enough with state and local officials to get resources to the people who need it. We should expect- and this is, I think, one of the fundamental premises of President Trump's leadership. The American people should expect more of their government. When there's a terrible disaster, they should expect food, medicine and water to get to the people who need it. When there's a terrible fire in California, the fire hydrants ought to actually turn on. I am sick of the American people having such low expectations for their government. They should demand more of us, because it's the greatest country in the world, and that's what Donald Trump's leadership promises to bring back
MARGARET BRENNAN: So still count on the federal government, but watch that space. …”

Transcript: Vice President JD Vance on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Jan. 26, 2025
The following is the full transcript of an interview with Vice President JD Vance on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that aired on Jan. 26, 2025.

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