By Dan Hall
Tribune Reporter

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence discussed the ways provisions of the new tax cut law are already helping small business profits resulting in more employee hiring. He said that unemployment among Hispanics and Afro-Americans has reached record low numbers with overall unemployment now at near all-time lows.

Pence promised that this tax cut was only the first installment of additional tax reforms including total elimination of the “death tax.” He, reported on the various significant accomplishments of the first 1½ years of the new administration, including the sharp reduction in burdensome federal regulations that he said had, “laid a wet blanket” over the U.S. economy.

Prior to the Pence address, a panel including a rancher, small business man, and a Kansas U.S. congresswoman praised the new tax law’s provisions. They said that the result was better profits allowing for business expansion resulting in new hiring. They agreed that several key tax law provisions will “kick in” during 2018 allowing for even more economic growth.

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff, David Clark, opened the Republican gathering at the Downtown KC Marriott Hotel Wednesday noon. He said that the “resistance” movement wasn’t a “protest,” but was truly a violent “insurgency” aimed at destroying the Trump presidency. Clark, an Afro-American, was most critical of the “black lives matter” movement as part of the “resistance” formed after the 2016 presidential election.

Other speakers included Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley who is running in the Missouri Republican primary for U.S. Senate nomination. Candidates for Kansas governor, Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer were acknowledged by Vice President Pence.

Two “hecklers” attempted to interrupt the Vice President’s remarks but were quickly escorted from the room by security officers. One heckler, seated near me, identified himself as a retired UAW Auto worker.