But Jim has been there all the way. He's highly respected in Washington, just a respected person. Really knows what it is to go out and make a dollar, go out and spend a dollar. Understands business, understands what we're doing in the country, and understands what it takes to make America great again. And I give Jim my full support.
And, Jim, maybe you could say a few words. (Applause.)
REPRESENTATIVE RENACCI: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you and welcome back to Ohio. It's really great to have you here. The first time I met you, you were candidate Trump. And I told you I was with you then, and I've been with you every day since.
THE PRESIDENT: It's true.
REPRESENTATIVE RENACCI: I appreciate what you're doing. Look, I was a small businessman. As many of you know, I created over 1,500 jobs, employed over 3,000 people. So I understand. And I'm still a CPA, and I still have my CPA license. I understand what this tax law does. So I was so happy when the President said we're going to cut taxes for Americans.
And as I travel the state, I hear that all the time. I hear it from small business owners. I hear it from employees. I'm so happy that we're hearing these stories - and I know we're going to hear some more - because, as I travel the state, it's working. It's working here in Ohio. Everywhere from KeyCorp, who raised their minimum wage because of these tax cuts; to Smucker's, who gave everybody a $1,000 bonus, added money to their pension plan. STERIS, right up the road - $1,000 bonus. All these things. (Applause.)
But you know, it's just not the big companies either because the small companies, the little companies are doing just the same thing. Coach Truck and Tractor, in (inaudible), just seven people actually gave - seven-person business - gave bonuses to their employees. Small business. We also have the first federal community bank in Dover - $1,000 bonus to fulltime employees and $500 to part-time. So it's working.
But you know what the greatest story is when I travel the state of Ohio? It's when I walk into a restaurant and somebody walks up to me and says, "Thank you. Thank you because I got a couple extra hundred dollars in my check last month, and now I can put a little bit more away for college or I can put a little bit more away and pay off my car loan." These are the stories that are working. This is why I'm so proud to be standing here - or sitting here with the President and knowing that we, together, were able to put a tax plan together with his vision, and get it passed.
So again, thank you for being here, Mr. President. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: And I have to say. I just looked at the numbers, and Jim is really doing great. He's really got a big shot at doing it. He's been - as I said, he's been a fantastic congressman, and I really suspect you're going to be an even more fantastic senator.
So we need your vote; we need your help. So go out and help Jim. We'll get it done. Right? (Applause.) Thank you.
Tony, would you say a few words?
MR. TRISCARI: My turn? (Laughter.) Mr. President, I want to thank you for inviting us today. I'm really, truly honored to be here. I hope you don't mind if I stutter a little bit because -
THE PRESIDENT: Not at all. Not at all.
MR. TRISCARIL - I'm a little bit nervous. (Laughter.) I first want to recognize a couple of people. Ohio Congressman David Joyce. His aide, Nick Ciofani. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: He's here?
MR. TRISCARI: Nick, and Ted Yates, who is the mayor of Twinsburg, Ohio.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Good.
MR. TRISCARI: These are the gentlemen who made it possible for me to be here today.
THE PRESIDENT: Great.
MR. TRISCARI: So thank you, guys. My name is Tony Triscari, and I'm the owner of Ohio Industrial Sales. We're a small company located in Twinsburg, Ohio, which is about 25 miles from here, I guess, just south of Cleveland. I started this company in my basement in 1978. And in July of this year, we will celebrate 40 years being in business.
THE PRESIDENT: That's great. Great.
MR. TRISCARI: After working for 38 and a half years, I finally decided to retire, and I turned the business over to my son and named him president - who happens to be in the first row in the blue shirt. And although I still remain active in some of the important decisions of the company - let's call them "veto rights" - (laughter) - Todd still runs the business. I try to stay out of his way, and he's doing a great job.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. (Applause.)
MR. TRISCARI: I know your people were interested in having small business represented here today, and I guess you could say we're about as small as you're going to get. Our company employs 13 people, 14 if you include me, and we have annual sales of approximately $3 million.
When I received the news about the tax cut, I contacted our accountant to find out how it impacted our company. And I was thrilled to find out that we would receive over a 20 percent tax reduction in our final bottom line. (Applause.)
With that information, along with the savings that our employees got on their paycheck, I decided to give everybody in the company a $500 bonus. And I know it's not the $1,000 that a lot of the other people are getting, but you can let Nancy Pelosi know that my people appreciate the crumbs that they receive. (Applause.)
The additional money that we're receiving from the tax benefits are going to be used to buy some new equipment and to hire some additional employees. We may even get up to 15 or sixteen. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Good. That's good. That's good. (Applause.) And Todd - and I'll bet he's very easy to work with. Right, Todd? (Laughter.)
MR. TRISCARI: Now a little bit about our company. We're a distributor for several manufacturers that manufacture high-temperature ceramic fiber products. These are products that are used in applications that range from 1,000 degrees up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. And our services for them include die-cutting, steel fabrication, distribution, and also contracting. We service the steel industry, aluminum, heat treating, forging foundries, chemical, et cetera, and we also have several military contracts.
If I was to make one final point, I know there have been many people in the media and some of your opposition who have claimed that your tax cut is only benefiting the large companies and their executives. Well, I'm here to say that's not true. We're small and we are getting - excuse me, I'm stumbling over my words. We're small and we're getting the benefit as much as any big company goes.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Tony. Thank you, Tony. (Applause.)
And Tony, you know, you have to remember that these large companies that you keep hearing about - this is, sort of - you know, plays into a certain narrative, but most of these companies are owned by millions of shareholders, and they're the beneficiaries. Those are the people out there. So whether it's a large company and they have a million or two million shareholders - and those are the people that are getting that dividend, or they're getting the benefit of a stock increase. It's because you look at the stock prices; they're at all-time highs.
But when you hear the word, "the large companies," most of them are owned by millions of people, so everybody is benefitting. So you got to put that down and you have to remember that. Very important. Tony, thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.)
MR. TRISCARI: Just one final point, and I hope this doesn't sound like a commercial. But I'm sincere when I tell you, President Trump, that we thank you for what you're doing for our business and small businesses. And I think I speak for small businesses all over this country that we thank you for doing what you're doing to help us make America great again.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Tony. That's beautiful. (Applause.) Good job. Good job. Thank you, Tony. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.
Please.
MR. LACY: I'd like to thank Tony Triscari and President Trump for being here today. It's an honor and a privilege, sir. I have a positive story to share about the tax cuts, and it centers around my son, Grayson, who is one year old. It was the proudest, happiest day of my life.
Due to the tax cuts, our company was able to give out a very generous $500 bonus to myself and other employees. I used that bonus to start a college savings account for my son that I would not have been able to do at that time without the bonus.
Also, due to the extra take-home pay in my paycheck - it's about $125 a month - we've been able to move him into one of the better daycares in our area. And it's just fabulous. I see him growing every single day - he's learning something new, reading his favorite book - and it's heartwarming.
But you know, the negative spin, the rhetoric from the media, you don't hear positive stories like that. Those don't grab the headlines. And I just want to say I'm a damn proud American to be here today and to be able to share that story and to thank you for all your hard work that you do and you continue to do on a day-to-day basis. It's great. Keep up the great work.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. That's great. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. That's beautiful. And that is beautifully stated, too. Thank you very much.
Please.
MR. JARAMILLO: Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Chris Jaramillo. I'm from New Franklin, Ohio. I was born and raised in Texas. When I was 19, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. After four years of active duty service - (applause). Thank you. After four years of active duty service, I moved to Ohio with my wife, and we decided to settle down and start a family.
I've been here for eight years now, and we have two daughters, Hayden and Savannah. They're both a home right now. And with the rest of my family still in Texas, we only get to visit them every other year or so. So because of these tax cuts, we're now saving over $1,400 a year, which gives me the opportunity to take my family here in Ohio down to Texas to visit my family down there. Family is very important to me and my wife, and it just means a lot to us that we are now able to do that on a more frequent basis. So thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: That's so great. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Kate, did you want to say something?
MS. JARAMILLO: Thank you. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to come here and tell you in person thank you for what you're doing for our family. Like my husband said, we're saving over $1,400 a year because of this tax cut.
And not only does that give us the opportunity to go visit family in Texas that we don't get to see often, my husband and I actually made, kind of, a deal with each other when we decided we were actually going to settle down in Ohio and not Texas or North Carolina or any of the other states we were tied to: We were going to hold off on buying a house until we had our debt paid off. You know, we wanted to get the student loans and the car loans, and just all the little debt that catches up with you in adulthood that we wanted to pay off before we bought a house.
So not only is that giving us the opportunity to stay closer to our out-of-state family, that puts us that much closer to our goal of actually buying our house and settling down permanently in Ohio.
THE PRESIDENT: That's fantastic.
MS. JARAMILLO: So thank you so much for what you're doing for (inaudible). (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, these are stories that you're hearing all across America. And there's just nothing negative to say. They're incredible people. They're savers; they're workers. They're proud to pay tax. They're proud. They love to pay. They know what's happening. But now we're spending the money wisely also. You know, you have to spend it wisely at the top.
But our country is doing great. It's, I think, maybe doing as good or better than it's ever done before, and it's only going to get better. We have tremendous things planned, and we're going to start being smart about our relationship with other countries and others. And you're going to see tremendous progress over the next hopefully seven years, but it's not even going to take seven years. It's going to go very quickly. It's going to happen, really, very quickly.
We all love this country. We love it a lot. Those were incredible stories. I really - I think it's just amazing to hear. We could take almost everybody in the room - probably everybody in the room - and hear a similar story.
But I'm very honored to have been able to do the tax cut plan because it has led to a lot of jobs. It had led to better jobs. It has led to increased salary, but also - not only the increase in the salary, but you have a lot left over, which is money that most people, even - the people up here certainly, but probably most of the people in the audience didn't expect to see or have. And it's made a big difference in a lot of lives.
We do a lot of these and we meet a lot of people. It's made a tremendous difference. And I am so honored to have been able to help, and we're going to do a lot more over the coming years.
So again, thank you all for being here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: God bless you, Donald Trump!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughs.) thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. That's very nice. I really appreciate it. And you are special, special people. And enjoy your lives; we're going to make your lives a lot better. Every single year, they're going to get better and better. And it's an honor to be with the people of Ohio. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
END
