Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack praised vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s plan to strengthen healthcare access, home ownership and cut taxes for the middle class in rural areas on Thursday.
The Minnesota governor spoke in Lawrence County on Tuesday about his goal to “rejuvenate rural America” by “mak[ing] sure wealth stays in communities.” He said an administration under Vice President Kamala Harris and himself would focus on the needs of rural Americans.
Pittsburgh native Vilsack said he believes Harris and Walz would invest in rural Pennsylvania during a phone interview with WVIA set up by the Harris campaign. He shared his own opinions on Walz and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and was not speaking in his role as the secretary of agriculture.
“The vice president and the governor understand and appreciate the importance of rural places,” Vilsack said. “The small towns and communities in Pennsylvania are incredibly important in terms of contribution they make to the Commonwealth [and] the country. [Rural Pennsylvania is] disproportionately sending sons and daughters in the military, for example, providing our food, our water [and] energy. It's an important place, and it requires investment.”
Walz focused on rural healthcare access during his speech in Western Pennsylvania. He promised a Harris-Walz administration would recruit 10,000 healthcare professionals, but did not give a timeline. Recruitment would alleviate “ambulance deserts,” he said.
“There's large places in America right now, if you dial 911, it's very difficult to get to an ambulance right on time. Our EMTs are in short supply,” Walz said.
He added that his goal is to increase access to telemedicine and create legislation to limit pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs) power over small, independent pharmacies.
“[PBMs] made it more difficult for you to access the medicines you need at affordable prices,” Walz said.
PBMs act as intermediaries between insurance providers, drug manufacturers and pharmacies. They allegedly put independent pharmacies out of business by providing low reimbursement rates and underpaying for prescriptions. In Pennsylvania, legislation passed in August to increase transparency and accountability for PBMs.
Walz also promised his leadership would build 3,000 new independent pharmacies across the country in rural areas.
Vilsack praised Walz’s plans for rural healthcare. He said young families need to have affordable healthcare to be able to plan for life’s challenges and into their old age.
“That's why the child tax credit at $6,000 is so incredibly important to that young family. They may also be taking care of mom and dad as they get older, and that's why it's important to be able to provide assistance … The plan basically calls for ways in which senior citizens can stay in their home, not necessarily be put into a nursing home.”
That $6,000 would go towards parents of newborns and the plan proposes bringing back pandemic-era child tax credits, according to CBS.
Walz also touted how Harris’ healthcare policies would help seniors age in their own homes.
“Especially in rural America, where we're aging, the proposal that Kamala Harris put forward on Medicare is transformational. The ability to care for our loved ones through Medicare within home care is transformational,” Walz said.
Vilsack believes the only way to improve healthcare systems in rural areas is to create incentives for nurses and doctors to live and work there. He talked about potential loan forgiveness programs for new providers and Harris’ promise to create a first-time homebuyer program that would give up to $25,000 to finance the down payment on a new home.
He doubled down on Walz’s argument that healthcare professionals and other in-demand workers will plant roots in rural communities if they are given access to internships and apprenticeships to start their careers.
“You can't just improve health care, you also have to improve the economy,” said Vilsack. “And that's why they're investing in small business development. That's why they're creating a tax program that's really focused on working and middle class families.”
Walz emphasized his plan will prioritize new businesses over large corporations.
“I see our young people wanting to start their own business, wanting to be [their] own boss … They are the American spirit, and we've been frozen at … things like the red tape that makes it difficult to do it, or the inability to get tax breaks,” said Walz. “Why can the biggest corporations get tax breaks to expand and a small business owner gets a $5,000 tax credit?”
Under a Harris-Walz administration, he said that credit would expand to $50,000.
Walz and Vilsack criticize conservative policies
Walz also criticized Project 2025, a 922-page-plan created by conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation. He warned of a second Trump presidency and said the former president would implement Project 2025’s policies like pulling back on broadband investment and eliminating the Agricultural Risk and Price Loss Coverage programs for farmers.
“Look, this is policy stuff,” said Walz. “Donald Trump doesn't want to talk about this … He doesn't know a damn thing about farm policy. Doesn't know what the FSA is. He doesn't know the risk Loss Coverage proposal. He doesn't know [about] crop insurance. That's all true, but the people behind him do, and they're the folks that are concerned about one thing, tax cuts for the wealthy at the top make sure corporations can get bigger. That doesn't help rural America.”
He added that his and Harris’ plan would invest in energy programs in rural areas, especially in renewable energy.
Vilsack said “every economist worth their salt” has said Trump’s policies on tariffs would raise the cost of living by around $4,000 per year for the average American family. The AP and PBS covered how Trump’s favor of large tariffs could affect the economy.
“The Trump administration has been very clear about their tax policy. They believe that providing additional tax cuts for those who are incredibly wealthy is the way of stimulating the economy that's not worked before. It won't work now, basically cutting Medicare and Medicaid, basically restricting the capacity of folks in rural places to actually have access to health care," Vilsack said. "That's not a way of building up rural America. That is a way of basically encouraging more people to leave rural places.”
Trump campaign responds
WVIA reached out to the Trump campaign regarding the statements made by Vilsack and Walz. They responded as follows:
- On Project 2025, senior advisor Danielle Alvarez said: "Since the Fall of 2023, President Trump's campaign made it clear that only President Trump and the campaign, and NOT any other organization or former staff, represent policies for the second term. President Trump personally led the effort to establish 20 promises made to the forgotten men and women across our nation, as well as RNC Platform -- these are the only policies endorsed by President Trump for a second term."
- On tariffs, Republican National Committee spokesperson Anna Kelly said: "In his first term, President Trump instituted tariffs against China that created jobs, spurred investment, and resulted in no inflation. Now, Kamala Harris is trying to fearmonger and lie about his plan – even though she and Joe Biden kept the Trump era tariffs in place, and she is now stealing President Trump’s plan for her campaign. Harris can’t keep her story straight, but the truth is the same: Harris has always opposed tariffs because she can’t be trusted to put workers first, but President Trump will re-shore American jobs, keep inflation low, and raise real wages by lowering taxes, cutting regulations, and unshackling American energy."
- On agriculture, Kelly said: “Rural Americans have long felt left behind by Kamala Harris’ weak, failed, dangerously liberal policies to cripple our economy, impose red tape on our farmers, and create uncertainty through measures like their burdensome WOTUS rule. While working hand-in-glove with Tim Walz, who reduced rural America to ‘rocks and cows,’ Harris opposed the USMCA because she will always cave to Communist China over farmers, workers, and families in Middle America. In contrast, President Trump stood up to China, delivered fairer trade deals, supported rural infrastructure, and put America First."
Voting deadlines
The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Monday, Oct. 21. Those already registered have until Oct. 29 to request a mail-in ballot.
