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Vice President Mike Pence greets supporters in Buffalo

Caitlin Whyte / WXXI News

Vice President Mike Pence came to Buffalo Tuesday to talk tax reform.

At the Buffalo International Airport, a crowd of media and supporters gathered on the windy tarmac to greet Pence as he exited his plane.

The vice president was greeted by Western NY Republican Congressman Chris Collins, an early supporter of the Trump campaign. The two shook hands and took pictures as a sea of fans pressed against a barrier to get a glimpse.

Although his time on the tarmac was brief, Pence said he was grateful to be in the western New York city.

"Great to be in Buffalo, it’s an honor, wonderful warm reception, very grateful, thank you."

Reese Clothier was at the arrival with her mother, Amy, and brother Bryce.

"It’s much bigger than normal planes, and I never even knew that that’s what it looked like."

Amy said as a mom, the experience was exciting.

Credit Caitlin Whyte / WXXI News

"To see who helps us in the U.S. and watching the plane come in. I felt he was a very warm, friendly body that came over, greeted all of us, stuck his hand out and is a proud American"

Pence and Collins loaded into a motorcade, bound for a fundraiser for Collins at a local restaurant. The Buffalo News says about 80 people protested against Pence and Collins outside a suburban Buffalo restaurant where the fundraiser was held.

Others appeared outside the Collins fundraiser to speak out against the Trump Administration's efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, including his recent Executive Order.

"They keep coming back for it and chipping away little pieces of it," said Rachel Larkin, representing the New York State Nurses Association. "With that executive order, they're just trying to make the law functionally unable to do what it's supposed to do. By doing that, they're trying to get people on that bandwagon that they should just repeal it." 

Later, Pence went on a tour of Performance Advantage, a tool mounting company in Lancaster.

There, they held a roundtable discussion on overhauling the current tax code. "You take a tremendous amount of time off the road, tremendous amount of time out of growing your business, whether that be selling cars or selling coffee, trying to figure out what you owe the government. Well, that’s going to change, because we’re going to have real tax simplification here and nine out of 10 Americans are going to be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper," Pence said.

Video of the Vice President's arrival in Buffalo by WXXI videographer Katie Epner: