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U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) makes a statement at the U.S. Capitol March 13, 2020 in Washington, DC. Speaker Pelosi spoke on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that the House will vote later on. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how ill-prepared the U.S. is to address basic human needs. Unlike every other wealthy nation, the US fails to provide access to health care for everyone, paid time off for workers who are sick, safety standards to protect health workers, adequate payment to caregivers for people with disabilities, or financial support for businesses in times of natural disasters or widespread illness.
The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Rosa DeLauro, stepped up to fill this void. In the early hours of Saturday morning, in a stunning victory for the House leadership, the Democrat's Families First Coronavirus Response Act, with compromises negotiated by Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, passed the House on a bipartisan 363-40 vote. It is urgent for the Senate to pass this bill quickly and for the President to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk.
The multibillion-dollar bill includes important provisions that will save lives as the pandemic unfolds, and will help families and businesses weather the financial fallout from the crisis. The legislation that passed provides paid time off for many--though not all--of the workers whose livelihood is, or will be, threatened by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The legislation excludes employers with 500 or more employees from the paid sick days and paid family and medical leave provisions. The bill that passed temporarily guarantees 10 paid sick days (80 hours) to full-time workers, prorated for part-time workers. Employers with fewer than 500 employees are required to provide paid sick days to all workers at their regular rate of pay for their own illness and at two-thirds pay to care for a family member.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is temporarily amended to provide paid leave to employees working for a business with fewer than 500 employees. Following the first 14 days of absence from work, workers who require further days of leave will be covered under the FMLA for up to 12 weeks, collecting at least two-thirds of their monthly pay. These paid leave provisions will reduce the public's exposure to the virus and help flatten COVID-19's exponential growth curve.
Passage of the Families First bill means the food security of low-income families will be protected. Kids who depend on school meals will get fed; women, infants, and children will continue to get food support through the WIC program; and the SNAP (food stamps) program will be temporarily expanded to cover poor or jobless workers and provide emergency food allotments for families suddenly in need of food.
The legislation provides emergency transfers of funds from the federal government to state unemployment insurance (UI) funds so states can meet the increased demand for UI benefits as a result of layoffs related to the coronavirus. States can modify their work search and first-week unpaid rules or choose not to raise UI premiums for employers whose workers claim benefits during the health crisis.
Diagnostic testing for COVID-19 is free. Health insurance companies are required to cover diagnostic testing and are not allowed to impose any cost-sharing on those tested. Patients do not need to get prior authorization to get tested. State Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and CHIP programs are required to pay 100 percent of the costs of diagnostic tests. The federal government will reimburse costs for these tests and for testing people with no insurance. Unfortunately, the federal government has not offered to cover the costs of care for individuals diagnosed with the disease.
Employers can claim a quarterly tax credit against payroll taxes for payments for sick days and family and medical leave up to an amount that does not exceed the business' total payroll taxes paid in that quarter. Any claims in excess of this amount will not be reimbursed. Self-employed workers, including independent contractors and gig economy workers, can claim a credit against their self-employment taxes. Importantly, the Families First legislation appropriates payments from general taxes to the Social Security trust funds equal to the revenue lost as a result of these payroll tax credits and assures that the solvency of the trust funds and Social Security's ability to pay workers retirement benefits are not affected.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act that passed the House provides a wide array of much needed temporary benefits that will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and will enable people and businesses to get through the pandemic. However, it incorporates a series of compromises demanded by the administration and agreed to by Speaker Pelosi in order, as she put it, to "assure the American people, that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them." Important provisions of the original House bill were left on the cutting room floor.
One of the most egregious compromises is the "big box store exclusion" that excludes employers with more than 500 employees from the Families First bill's paid sick days and paid leave provisions. The legislation excludes workers at big companies like Whole Foods and McDonald's as well as those at Walmart and Target, whose CEOs appeared with President Trump on Friday afternoon as he declared a national health emergency. Small employers with less than 50 employees can seek a hardship waiver from the Trump administration's Department of Labor.
The American Hospital Association lobbied successfully to eliminate provisions that would have set safety standards for health care workers and shielded nurses, EMTs, and other workers on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic from contracting COVID-19. One wonders what hospital executives are thinking, since protecting workers is vital to keeping hospitals from becoming short-staffed and unable to care for seriously ill patients. Not having rules exposes nurses, doctors, aides, and others to a heightened risk of infection.
The original House bill allowed paid sick days to be utilized to care for loved ones who are "otherwise in need of care." This would have covered situations where people with disabilities lose their paid caregivers due to the pandemic and need a loved one to provide the necessary care. Unfortunately for individuals with disabilities, the compromise bill does not cover a family member who takes off from work and steps-in as a caregiver in this situation.
It's not possible to know what would have happened if House Democrats had not engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration over the bill. The original bill could have passed in the House even without the support of Republicans, although it is likely that some may have voted for it. But what about the Republican-controlled Senate? GOP senators were wary of returning to their districts without passing something that would protect the public's health and that would bailout their constituents. It is not difficult to imagine that some would have broken with the administration and voted for a more robust bill without carve outs for big employers.
Finally, we should note that the provisions of the Family First act sunset at the end of 2020, leaving workers once again without paid leave and all of us vulnerable if the coronavirus reappears in 2021. The pandemic highlights, if it were not already obvious, the urgent need for national paid sick days and national paid family and medical leave so that every worker can care for themselves or a loved one when illness strikes.
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how ill-prepared the U.S. is to address basic human needs. Unlike every other wealthy nation, the US fails to provide access to health care for everyone, paid time off for workers who are sick, safety standards to protect health workers, adequate payment to caregivers for people with disabilities, or financial support for businesses in times of natural disasters or widespread illness.
The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Rosa DeLauro, stepped up to fill this void. In the early hours of Saturday morning, in a stunning victory for the House leadership, the Democrat's Families First Coronavirus Response Act, with compromises negotiated by Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, passed the House on a bipartisan 363-40 vote. It is urgent for the Senate to pass this bill quickly and for the President to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk.
The multibillion-dollar bill includes important provisions that will save lives as the pandemic unfolds, and will help families and businesses weather the financial fallout from the crisis. The legislation that passed provides paid time off for many--though not all--of the workers whose livelihood is, or will be, threatened by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The legislation excludes employers with 500 or more employees from the paid sick days and paid family and medical leave provisions. The bill that passed temporarily guarantees 10 paid sick days (80 hours) to full-time workers, prorated for part-time workers. Employers with fewer than 500 employees are required to provide paid sick days to all workers at their regular rate of pay for their own illness and at two-thirds pay to care for a family member.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is temporarily amended to provide paid leave to employees working for a business with fewer than 500 employees. Following the first 14 days of absence from work, workers who require further days of leave will be covered under the FMLA for up to 12 weeks, collecting at least two-thirds of their monthly pay. These paid leave provisions will reduce the public's exposure to the virus and help flatten COVID-19's exponential growth curve.
Passage of the Families First bill means the food security of low-income families will be protected. Kids who depend on school meals will get fed; women, infants, and children will continue to get food support through the WIC program; and the SNAP (food stamps) program will be temporarily expanded to cover poor or jobless workers and provide emergency food allotments for families suddenly in need of food.
The legislation provides emergency transfers of funds from the federal government to state unemployment insurance (UI) funds so states can meet the increased demand for UI benefits as a result of layoffs related to the coronavirus. States can modify their work search and first-week unpaid rules or choose not to raise UI premiums for employers whose workers claim benefits during the health crisis.
Diagnostic testing for COVID-19 is free. Health insurance companies are required to cover diagnostic testing and are not allowed to impose any cost-sharing on those tested. Patients do not need to get prior authorization to get tested. State Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and CHIP programs are required to pay 100 percent of the costs of diagnostic tests. The federal government will reimburse costs for these tests and for testing people with no insurance. Unfortunately, the federal government has not offered to cover the costs of care for individuals diagnosed with the disease.
Employers can claim a quarterly tax credit against payroll taxes for payments for sick days and family and medical leave up to an amount that does not exceed the business' total payroll taxes paid in that quarter. Any claims in excess of this amount will not be reimbursed. Self-employed workers, including independent contractors and gig economy workers, can claim a credit against their self-employment taxes. Importantly, the Families First legislation appropriates payments from general taxes to the Social Security trust funds equal to the revenue lost as a result of these payroll tax credits and assures that the solvency of the trust funds and Social Security's ability to pay workers retirement benefits are not affected.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act that passed the House provides a wide array of much needed temporary benefits that will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and will enable people and businesses to get through the pandemic. However, it incorporates a series of compromises demanded by the administration and agreed to by Speaker Pelosi in order, as she put it, to "assure the American people, that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them." Important provisions of the original House bill were left on the cutting room floor.
One of the most egregious compromises is the "big box store exclusion" that excludes employers with more than 500 employees from the Families First bill's paid sick days and paid leave provisions. The legislation excludes workers at big companies like Whole Foods and McDonald's as well as those at Walmart and Target, whose CEOs appeared with President Trump on Friday afternoon as he declared a national health emergency. Small employers with less than 50 employees can seek a hardship waiver from the Trump administration's Department of Labor.
The American Hospital Association lobbied successfully to eliminate provisions that would have set safety standards for health care workers and shielded nurses, EMTs, and other workers on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic from contracting COVID-19. One wonders what hospital executives are thinking, since protecting workers is vital to keeping hospitals from becoming short-staffed and unable to care for seriously ill patients. Not having rules exposes nurses, doctors, aides, and others to a heightened risk of infection.
The original House bill allowed paid sick days to be utilized to care for loved ones who are "otherwise in need of care." This would have covered situations where people with disabilities lose their paid caregivers due to the pandemic and need a loved one to provide the necessary care. Unfortunately for individuals with disabilities, the compromise bill does not cover a family member who takes off from work and steps-in as a caregiver in this situation.
It's not possible to know what would have happened if House Democrats had not engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration over the bill. The original bill could have passed in the House even without the support of Republicans, although it is likely that some may have voted for it. But what about the Republican-controlled Senate? GOP senators were wary of returning to their districts without passing something that would protect the public's health and that would bailout their constituents. It is not difficult to imagine that some would have broken with the administration and voted for a more robust bill without carve outs for big employers.
Finally, we should note that the provisions of the Family First act sunset at the end of 2020, leaving workers once again without paid leave and all of us vulnerable if the coronavirus reappears in 2021. The pandemic highlights, if it were not already obvious, the urgent need for national paid sick days and national paid family and medical leave so that every worker can care for themselves or a loved one when illness strikes.
The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how ill-prepared the U.S. is to address basic human needs. Unlike every other wealthy nation, the US fails to provide access to health care for everyone, paid time off for workers who are sick, safety standards to protect health workers, adequate payment to caregivers for people with disabilities, or financial support for businesses in times of natural disasters or widespread illness.
The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Rosa DeLauro, stepped up to fill this void. In the early hours of Saturday morning, in a stunning victory for the House leadership, the Democrat's Families First Coronavirus Response Act, with compromises negotiated by Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, passed the House on a bipartisan 363-40 vote. It is urgent for the Senate to pass this bill quickly and for the President to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk.
The multibillion-dollar bill includes important provisions that will save lives as the pandemic unfolds, and will help families and businesses weather the financial fallout from the crisis. The legislation that passed provides paid time off for many--though not all--of the workers whose livelihood is, or will be, threatened by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The legislation excludes employers with 500 or more employees from the paid sick days and paid family and medical leave provisions. The bill that passed temporarily guarantees 10 paid sick days (80 hours) to full-time workers, prorated for part-time workers. Employers with fewer than 500 employees are required to provide paid sick days to all workers at their regular rate of pay for their own illness and at two-thirds pay to care for a family member.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is temporarily amended to provide paid leave to employees working for a business with fewer than 500 employees. Following the first 14 days of absence from work, workers who require further days of leave will be covered under the FMLA for up to 12 weeks, collecting at least two-thirds of their monthly pay. These paid leave provisions will reduce the public's exposure to the virus and help flatten COVID-19's exponential growth curve.
Passage of the Families First bill means the food security of low-income families will be protected. Kids who depend on school meals will get fed; women, infants, and children will continue to get food support through the WIC program; and the SNAP (food stamps) program will be temporarily expanded to cover poor or jobless workers and provide emergency food allotments for families suddenly in need of food.
The legislation provides emergency transfers of funds from the federal government to state unemployment insurance (UI) funds so states can meet the increased demand for UI benefits as a result of layoffs related to the coronavirus. States can modify their work search and first-week unpaid rules or choose not to raise UI premiums for employers whose workers claim benefits during the health crisis.
Diagnostic testing for COVID-19 is free. Health insurance companies are required to cover diagnostic testing and are not allowed to impose any cost-sharing on those tested. Patients do not need to get prior authorization to get tested. State Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and CHIP programs are required to pay 100 percent of the costs of diagnostic tests. The federal government will reimburse costs for these tests and for testing people with no insurance. Unfortunately, the federal government has not offered to cover the costs of care for individuals diagnosed with the disease.
Employers can claim a quarterly tax credit against payroll taxes for payments for sick days and family and medical leave up to an amount that does not exceed the business' total payroll taxes paid in that quarter. Any claims in excess of this amount will not be reimbursed. Self-employed workers, including independent contractors and gig economy workers, can claim a credit against their self-employment taxes. Importantly, the Families First legislation appropriates payments from general taxes to the Social Security trust funds equal to the revenue lost as a result of these payroll tax credits and assures that the solvency of the trust funds and Social Security's ability to pay workers retirement benefits are not affected.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act that passed the House provides a wide array of much needed temporary benefits that will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and will enable people and businesses to get through the pandemic. However, it incorporates a series of compromises demanded by the administration and agreed to by Speaker Pelosi in order, as she put it, to "assure the American people, that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them." Important provisions of the original House bill were left on the cutting room floor.
One of the most egregious compromises is the "big box store exclusion" that excludes employers with more than 500 employees from the Families First bill's paid sick days and paid leave provisions. The legislation excludes workers at big companies like Whole Foods and McDonald's as well as those at Walmart and Target, whose CEOs appeared with President Trump on Friday afternoon as he declared a national health emergency. Small employers with less than 50 employees can seek a hardship waiver from the Trump administration's Department of Labor.
The American Hospital Association lobbied successfully to eliminate provisions that would have set safety standards for health care workers and shielded nurses, EMTs, and other workers on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic from contracting COVID-19. One wonders what hospital executives are thinking, since protecting workers is vital to keeping hospitals from becoming short-staffed and unable to care for seriously ill patients. Not having rules exposes nurses, doctors, aides, and others to a heightened risk of infection.
The original House bill allowed paid sick days to be utilized to care for loved ones who are "otherwise in need of care." This would have covered situations where people with disabilities lose their paid caregivers due to the pandemic and need a loved one to provide the necessary care. Unfortunately for individuals with disabilities, the compromise bill does not cover a family member who takes off from work and steps-in as a caregiver in this situation.
It's not possible to know what would have happened if House Democrats had not engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration over the bill. The original bill could have passed in the House even without the support of Republicans, although it is likely that some may have voted for it. But what about the Republican-controlled Senate? GOP senators were wary of returning to their districts without passing something that would protect the public's health and that would bailout their constituents. It is not difficult to imagine that some would have broken with the administration and voted for a more robust bill without carve outs for big employers.
Finally, we should note that the provisions of the Family First act sunset at the end of 2020, leaving workers once again without paid leave and all of us vulnerable if the coronavirus reappears in 2021. The pandemic highlights, if it were not already obvious, the urgent need for national paid sick days and national paid family and medical leave so that every worker can care for themselves or a loved one when illness strikes.
'Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it'
Outraged by Elon Musk's devastating contributions to the Trump administration, tens of thousands worldwide held "Tesla Takedown" protests at over 200 locations on Saturday.
Protests began the day in front of Tesla showrooms in Australia and New Zealand. They then rippled across Europe, including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. In the US, protests occurred in nearly every state, including the northeast, south, midwest, and west coast.
"Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it," organizers wrote on Action Network, which has an interactive map of the protest sites. "We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup."
Organizers also have a message for people with ties to the company: "Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines."
Since Musk began dismantling the federal bureaucracy as chief of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), critics have protested at Tesla facilities and posted videos about selling their vehicles on social media.
In an aerial view, protesters demonstrate against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives during a nationwide “Tesla Takedown” rally at a dealership on March 29, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Getty image)
While protesting at the Tesla dealership in west London, Louise Cobbett-Witten told The Guardian: “It’s too overwhelming to do nothing. There is real solace in coming together like this. Everyone has to do something. We haven’t got a big strategy besides just standing on the side of the street, holding signs and screaming.”
Alainn Hanson, of Washington, DC, brought her mother from Minnesota to their first Tesla protest. She told CNN: “I’m sick of billionaires trampling over working class people.”
Here are some of Saturday's actions:
Saint Petersburg, Florida
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Washington, DC
Tucson, Arizona
Manlius, New York
Salt Lake City, Utah
Vancouver, British Columbia
Chicago, Illinois
And in London, England
Attorney General Josh Kaul accused the world's richest person and top Trump adviser of "a blatant attempt to violate" Wisconsin's election bribery law.
Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to stop Elon Musk—the world's richest person and a senior adviser to President Donald Trump—from handing out $1 million checks to voters this weekend in an apparent blatant violation of bribery law meant to swing next Tuesday's crucial state Supreme Court election.
"Wisconsin law forbids anyone from offering or promising to give anything of value to an elector in order to induce the elector to go to the polls, vote or refrain from voting, or vote for a particular person," the lawsuit notes. "Musk's announcement of his intention to pay $1 million to two Wisconsin electors who attend his event on Sunday night, specifically conditioned on their having voted in the upcoming April 3, 2025, Wisconsin Supreme Court election, is a blatant attempt to violate Wis. Stat. § 12.11. This must not happen."
On Thursday, Musk announced on his X social media site that he will "give a talk" at an undisclosed location in Wisconsin, and that "entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges."
"I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to two people to be spokesmen for the petition," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and de facto head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency wrote.
As Common Dreams reported earlier last week, Musk's super political action committee, America PAC, is offering registered Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition stating that they reject "the actions of activist judges who impose their own views" and demand "a judiciary that respects its role—interpreting, not legislating."
The cash awards—which critics have decried as bribery—are part of a multimillion dollar effort by Musk and affiliated super PACs to boost Judge Brad Schimel of Waukesha County, the Trump-backed, right-wing state Supreme Court candidate locked in a tight race with Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.
Left-leaning justices are clinging to a 4-3 advantage on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Crawford and Schimel are vying to fill the seat now occupied by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, a liberal who is not running for another 10-year term. Control of the state's highest court will likely impact a wide range of issues, from abortion to labor rights to voter suppression.
Musk has openly admitted why he's spending millions of dollars on the race: It "will decide how congressional districts are drawn." That's what he said while hosting Schimel and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for a discussion on X last weekend.
"In my opinion that's the most important thing, which is a big deal given that the congressional majority is so razor-thin," Musk argued. "It could cause the House to switch to Democrat if that redrawing takes place."
Crawford campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman issued a statement Friday calling Musk's planned cash giveaway a "last-minute desperate distraction."
"Wisconsinites don't want a billionaire like Musk telling them who to vote for," Honeyman added, "and on Tuesday, voters should reject Musk's lackey Brad Schimel."
Greenlanders are giving the administration of President Donald Trump—who renewed threats to take the Danish territory—the cold shoulder.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance, and two top Trump administration officials traveled to Greenland on Friday on an itinerary that was markedly curtailed from its original plans due to Greenlanders' frosty reception amid President Donald Trump's ongoing threats to take the Arctic island from NATO ally Denmark—even by armed force if deemed necessary.
Vance visited Pituffik Space Base—a U.S. Space Force installation on the northwestern coast of Greenland about 930 miles (1,500 km) north of the capital, Nuuk—with his wife, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
The vice president's wife originally planned on a more interactive and cultural itinerary, including attending a dogsled race. However, Greenland's leftist government said earlier this week that is had "not extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official."
Compounding the Trump administration's embarrassment, U.S. representatives reportedly came up empty handed after canvassing door to door in Nuuk in an effort to drum up support for the visit. The administration denies this ever happened.
And so the Trump officials' audience was limited to U.S. troops stationed at Pituffik. After arriving at the base, the vice president told troops in the mess hall he was surprised to find the snow- and ice-covered Arctic island is "cold as shit."
"Nobody told me!" he added.
Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visited a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland Friday. Vance is expected to receive briefings on Arctic security and address US service members.
Read more: https://t.co/1OIkkT3VnD pic.twitter.com/lbXeObJTgq
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) March 28, 2025
Getting down to more serious business, Vance said: "Our message to Denmark is very simple—you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass."
Addressing Arctic geopolitics, Vance argued that "we can't just bury our head in the sand—or in Greenland, bury our head in the snow—and pretend that the Chinese are not interested in this very large land mass. We know that they are."
"The president said we have to have Greenland, and I think that we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland," Vance continued. "We respect the self-determination of the people of Greenland, but my argument to them is: I think that you'd be a lot better coming under the United States' security umbrella than you have been under Denmark's security umbrella. Because what Denmark's security umbrella has meant is effectively they've passed it all off to brave Americans and hoped that we would pick up the tab."
This follows remarks earlier this week from Vance, who said during a Fox News interview that Denmark, which faithfully sent troops to fight in both Afghanistan and Iraq—43 of whom died, the highest per capita casualty rate of the alliance—is "not being a good ally" to the United States.
Asked by reporters on Friday if the U.S. would ever conquer Greenland by military force, Vance said he didn't think that would be necessary.
However, just a day earlier, Trump—who on Friday posted a video highlighting defense cooperation between the U.S. and Greenland—said his administration will "go as far as we have to go" to acquire the island, which he claimed the United States needs "for national security and international security."
It was far from the first time that Trump—who has also threatened to take over parts or all of countries including Panama and even Canada—vowed to annex Greenland, and other administration officials have repeated the president's threats.
"It's oil and gas. It's our national security. It's critical minerals," Waltz said in January, explaining why Trump wants Greenland.
The U.S. has long been interested in Greenland, and while the close relationship between the United States and Denmark has been mostly mutually beneficial, it has sometimes come at the expense of Greenland's people, environment, and wildlife.
Such was the case when a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber laden with four thermonuclear warheads crashed into the sea ice of Wolstenholme Fjord in 1968. The accident caused widespread radioactive contamination, and the nuclear fuel components of one of the bombs remain unrecovered to this day.
Elected officials from across Greenland and Denmark's political spectrum expressed alarm over the Trump administration's actions.
Outgoing Greenland Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede earlier this week
called Vance's trip "highly aggressive" and said that it "can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit."
"Because what is the security advisor doing in Greenland?" Egede asked. "The only purpose is to show a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood."
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke called Vance's remarks on Friday "a bit inappropriate," adding that maybe the Trump administration "should look at yourself in the mirror too."
"When the vice president.. creates an image that the only way Greenland can be protected is by coming under the American umbrella, so you can say that Greenland is already there," Løkke elaborated. "They are part of the common security umbrella that we created together with the Americans after the end of World War II called NATO."
"We have always looked at America like the nice big brother to help you out and now it's like the big brother is bullying you."
Ordinary Greenlanders and Danish residents of the island were not happy about the Trump delegation's visit.
Anders Laursen, who owns a local water taxi company, told NBC News that "we have always looked at America like the nice big brother to help you out and now it's like the big brother is bullying you."
Nuuk resident Marie Olsen said of Vance, "I think he's a big child who wants it all."
In the Danish capital Copenhagen, hundreds of people rallied Friday against the U.S. delegation's visit to Greenland. One protester decried what she called the U.S. administration's "mafia methods."