marshall fund event is at 10:00 am. at 12:15 live coverage of a new america discussion about guantánamo bay and the 40 military detainees held there. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. every year c-span covers state of the state addresses from around the country. you can search for your governor@c-span.org. right now we hear from vermont

governor phil scott who gives his second inaugural address in montpelier. this is a little more than 30 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you. >> the chamber will please come to order.

>> i like bill lee as well, just for the record. [applause] >> how about those red sox. [applause] >> mister president, madam speaker, mister chief justice, members of the general assembly, distinguished guests and fellow vermonters. i think the people of vermont for the opportunity to serve as governor and their trust and support on the work ahead. it is the greatest honor of my life. i want to thank my wife diana, my two.erica and rachel, my mom, my entire family for their support and love. i couldn't do this without you.

[applause] >> this is the second time i had the privilege of addressing you at the open of the biannual session. each time we have got about our work against the backdrop of a national political environment that brought out the worst in the process. unfortunately it still exists today. as too many political points of policy solutions, social media fills with negativity and hate and politics as a whole means to divide us more than it brings us together. i truly believe in vermont we can set a standard others across the nation can aspire to and elected officials can look to as a better way, the right way to go about the work of the people. when the work gets difficult and tensions build, which they

will, when divisions seem too deep to overcome and we need to be reminded there is still good in the world, look no further than the people of vermont. [applause] >> we saw the good in the people who sheltered and fed their neighbors as floodwaters forced them from their homes in the depths of winter. the good lives in the young girls and boys who were inspired when they saw a month earlier native take the ice halfway around the world in south korea. when she was born hockey was a game from boys. 25 years later we welcome amanda home, and olympic gold medalist. the good is in the pride hundreds felt a cold day in november to celebrate the

return of the goddess of agriculture and the incredible work two vermont artists, jerry williams and chris miller, whose craftsmanship will stand for generations on top of this beautiful building. [applause] >> the good is in sarah myers, the owner of leonardo's pizza, giving those in recovery the opportunity to get back to work knowing full well the road may be rough but believing in the person and the journey and seeing past the stigma of addiction. the good is found in the perry family, combined 120 years of dedication and service in the navy was recognized in connecticut as the uss for

months was christened. four tons, three grandsons and a daughter-in-law all falling footsteps behind the former representative from richmond, captain now perry. we saw the good in two political opponents running for the house, lucy rogers and zach mayo, democrat, republican, debating the issues, sitting together, proving to the nation there is a better way. every day we see the good in our service men and women and our first responders, teachers and nurses and coaches, scout leaders, mentors and all those who serve others without expectation of praise and often too little recognition. the good is in this chamber. it is here because it lives in each and every one of our communities, the places we come from to the people we go home to.

our schools and churches, our businesses and farms and forest trails and townhall's. the good, the courage to show a better path is the same courage that allowed those that came before us to persevere through harsh winters, to harm our day of life in granite mountain and rocky hillside pastor. the good is in our hearts and minds and who we have always been. today more than ever, america needs us to be and to meet the challenges to best serve vermonters it is who we have to be. [applause] >> our focus must remain on those we are working for and what we are working towards.

to do that we must face economic realities that exist across the state in all 251 towns, cities and buildings and the impact our policies have on each of them. we must look for common ground. instead of highlighting or exploiting our differences, you can compromise not as a weakness but as a strength. if we can, our work, our actions, our results will inspire a new face in government and give hope to every community. together we can work toward a more prosperous future for the state and our people where families in every town are moving up the economic ladder with a good paying job and a way of life they can afford. where all kids get quality education with the same opportunity to achieve their goals and we do all we can to provide for our neighbors who need us most when they need us

most. unaffordable vermont with opportunity and economic growth, great schools and a recorder of the state and policies that benefit all vermonters. this can be our legacy. [applause] >> we can achieve this vision but it requires us to recognize the obstacles in our way. i know some may be tired of hearing me talk about our demographics and believe there is nothing we can do to change them. others may not feel a sense of urgency because their own community hasn't been impacted as dramatically as others. but you don't have to take my word for it. just ask rudy, who recently

downgraded our bond rating in part due to our lack of population growth resulting in fewer working age vermonters. these facts and this problem can no longer be ignored. take our labor force as an example. since 2009, our labor force has declined by 15,000. 15,000 fewer people working or looking for work. 15,000 fewer vermonters with jobs, businesses are trying to fill right now. 15,000 fewer potential income taxpayers. these losses have been felt across the state but had the greatest impact outside the county. washington and franklin counties have seen a laborforce decline of 2%. by the same measure, addison and orange have seen a reduction of 5%. grand island orleans have lost

6. bennington and wyndham have seen their laborforce shrink. windsor, 12, caledonia 13, roughland, 14. in essex, down by 20%. this demographic reality is perhaps most apparent in our schools like the canary in the mine shaft. public schools now educating 30,000 fewer people than we were in 1997. an average loss of three students a day for 20 years and that trend continues. there is not a single county that hasn't been affected. since 2004, this wasn't all that long ago, franklin county was struck by 3.5% and is doing the best by far. orange county has seen a

decline, and roll it is dropped by 16 in caledonia county, 17% in orleans, 19 in washington. bennington and grand isle, 21% and wyndham, 23. three counties, addison, windsor, lost a court or of their students for 14 years and in essex, they are educating 42% fewer kids. these declines are eroding quality of opportunity for children and this is happening on our watch. these trends not only mean fewer in our workforce and schools, fewer customers and businesses, ratepayers for utilities, fewer available for volunteer fire departments and others who support the needs of our community, fewer to share the cost of state government, ongoing needs in areas like

transportation, building maintenance, public safety and human services. and treat those impact, and protecting lakes and rivers which will cost vermonters nearly $1 billion over the next few years and we must keep the promises we made to state employees and teachers to pay pensions and healthcare costs. the debt we owe today is $4 billion. the annual payment to catch up continues to grow by tens of millions each year. let's be clear, a deal is a deal. each of these commitments are important and our stagnant population threatening every service we deliver, every program we benefit and every investment we hope to make.

the most optimistic among us must recognize what this means. without a different approach a major change in circumstances our current revenues support obligations, or wants or even needs. on the campaign trail, burlington business owner told me we don't need more taxes, we need more taxpayers. [applause] >> the solution is really that simple. the path to a better outcome requires the best ideas, our best work and the courage to make real change. that is what we signed up for and what is expected of each of us. vermonters elected me and many of you to ensure they don't have to shoulder any more of the tax burden.

they are doing their part, it is time for us to do hours. [applause] >> despite these challenges we have so much to offer and so much to be hopeful for. we are one of the safest, healthiest states in the country. we have a good education system which i believe we can make the very best. we have a culture and lifestyle that is second to none. these things offer great quality of life which is among the best recruitment tools we could ask for. this is all positive but we know it is not enough. this session, let's focus on strengthening those assets to keep and attract more working families with an eye on reversing our population trend. let's grow the economy to

support jobs and organic growth, expand our tax base, ease the burden on hard-working vermonters. if you want people to move here and stay, we must make it more affordable. this is how we rise above the challenges ahead of us and improve the lives of for monitors and chart a new course for the future. let's work to reinforce what makes vermont a great place to live, the health of our citizens and environment and the strength and safety of our community. vermont has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation. we rank among the top states for the health of women and children him of the number of mental health providers and physical activities. we are also among the best in the country with low instances of violent crime, obesity and infant mortality. many of you in this room as well as our predecessors have contributed to the success but

vermonters still struggle with high cost of insurance especially those in state marketplaces. that is why i propose health insurance reforms to focus on increasing affordability for vermonters and specifically young people as we work to retrain and attract more of them. during the campaign and talk about a voluntary balancing the value of this benefit with vermonters ability to pay and in coming weeks i will rollout the concept. i truly believe an opt in approach puts us on a path without raising a new tax. we can also build on our work to protect our environment, communities. we rank high when it comes to air quality but we can do more to lower emissions in our state using settlement funds to more vermonters purchase electric vehicles.

my budget will propose long-term funding source for our water quality initiative using existing revenue and new delivery model put this money to work on the ground. this fall, we learned from the department of health that some students may be exposed to lead entering water in our schools. here's an area we agree on. let's act quickly to protect our kids. in order to do that my budget will invest in led testing in schools statewide and if you work with me on budget adjustment you will have every school tested within a year. [applause] >> second, we will continue to transform our education system going from good to the very best in the country, supporting and educating every child from cradle to career.

many of us here today have heard countless debates about education but far too often it has been about something other than the kids themselves, from taxpayers to teachers, the fate of buildings and death, new district and rates and rebates. this created a fear of change that handcuffed us to the status quo and distracted from the single most important purpose of our schools, educating our kids. we must have the courage to make the conversation about giving every child the best chance of a good future and the truth is not all of them are getting equal opportunities. here is one example of what students are facing. i want to be clear, these are real middle schools in vermont. i am going to call them school a and school b. students at each are taught

language arts, math, science, social studies, but school a has advanced math like algebra one. school b does not. school a has 20 seconds of art, school b has one. schoolday offers multiple french classes, school b doesn't have any foreign languages. schoolday has banned, course, music, health education, industrial arts, consumer sciences. school b doesn't offer a single one of these. you might be surprised that these are not schools from opposite ends of the state. these two middle schools feed into the same high school. this is not an isolated case. it is happening across vermont so we must continue to address the inequality that exists. i heard you and believe me i

recognize a change of this magnitude takes time. in the near term i believe the best opportunity for progress is in early care and learning to give all kids regardless of their background a strong foundation. we have taken important steps. let's build on it this year by working together to give every child an equal chance at success. last fall i identified a new revenue source to put toward these initiatives which i will detail in my budget address. if we can work together high quality child care system that is affordable and accessible along with stronger education system, we could set vermont apart from other states as an education destination for families. we can and will debate on policy and that is okay. but let's focus on the merits of our ideas. let's not resort to scare tactics. let's roll up our sleeves to

make change the give all americans an equal shot at success, that put their interests above special interests, and hands-down the best cradle to career education system in the country. [applause] >> next we must ensure businesses can stay competitive with those states around the region because we can put all the best ideas on the table to attract support, working families. we don't have jobs it doesn't matter. act 250 was created 50 years ago to address rapidly growing state. at that time there wasn't regulatory oversight to deal with regulatory expansion brought by the baby boom and interstate highway system.

those circumstances no longer exist. i propose foreign to modernize act 252 expand growth in struggling downtown while continuing to protect the environment because we can and must do both. [applause] >> this proposal builds on the work we did last term to modernize regulation and support development of affordable housing in downtown and growth centers. this year we can do even more to build stronger communities by updating act 250 and encourage more compact development while preserving our working lands and we also know that broadband is crucial to states that are underserved or in some cases not connected

at all. i am sure most realize this isn't a cure-all to our economic challenges but as we seek to attract more people to live and work in vermont we must continue to expand access. the session i will put forward a package of reforms and my budget will include investments to do that. as i travel the state, i see places struggling to survive. many a shadow of what they used to be. we have reached the point were too many are not growing, they are shrinking. with your hear from reed's 0, island pond, springfield, newport or any of the proud communities that right vermont's i can like history but face tough times, no this. i'm eager to work with each of you to develop policies to revitalize all 14 counties and

to ensure that opened opportunities exist not only in burlington but in bennington, berkshire, barton and all 251 towns across the state. [applause] >> we need to do a better job leveraging our assets, things that made vermont a great place to visit, work and live. in 2017, top towns for millennial homebuyers were not new york city, boston or san francisco but willis and north dakota, athens ohio, aberdeen,

south dakota, millennials were willing to put affordably and quality-of-life over the conveniences and attractions of our biggest cities for buying a home. vermont cannot what they are looking for. the work we did in housing and education in downtown development, workforce training, striving to make vermont more affordable, positive steps forward but we must do more. we know the availability of affordable housing is a huge barrier to recruiting young workers. i hear every day from employees and employers, last term we work together for housing vermonters could afford. let's build on that progress by focusing on existing stock and rental units. my budget will propose a

package, focus on growing housing by revitalizing properties and investing in existing neighborhoods. this is a step in the right direction but not enough to offer things that appeal to young people and working families. we have to do a better job telling our story and use it to aggressively recruit new vermonters. even if you believe vermont is perfect it is clear we are not doing enough to persuade people to move and stay here. last year thanks to the innovative thinking from the legislature we launched a program offering incentives to remote workers who move here. just passing the law gained international media attention but as a result, 3000 people inquired about the program. this showed us a couple things, first, publicity works. second people do have an interest in moving here but sometimes just need a reason to

take the first step. that is why my proposal expansion package that targets those likely to move in a regional approach to close the deal. i hope you will join me in supporting this effort because investing to grow our workforce is one of the single most important things we can do for our economy. to reduce the tax burden on those here now. this fall, i visit employees in west charleston. my team heard they had success recruiting young workers to relocate but we wanted to learn more. i asked why they chose vermont. they like the sense of community we offer. many thought it was a good place to raise a family. them came for outdoor

recreation and someone shared the precision composite in linden villa wasn't having any trouble filling positions, even engineers. that got my attention because the week before, i was at collins aerospace, they were looking to hire 25 engineers who were struggling to do so. what was the secret in the northeast kingdom? a help wanted ad in a mountain biking magazine. the point is we know people want to come here. we need to identify those who do collectively. we have a lot of good ideas so let's act on them together, build the best education system in the country and nurture a climate that keeps good job so we can better compete with other states. let's think about attracting

more workers and families, we have the revenue to better serve those already here, support policies and make investments that will work toward these goals and do so without sinking further into the pockets of vermonters because to build the future we want for our kids and their kids, we must ensure vermont is affordable. [applause] >> our challenges are great, when we work together we can do great things. over the last two years our record speaks for itself. to improve efficiency and better serve vermonters we merged his apartment of liquor, a long-standing goal, creating the agency of business services

but to save taxpayers $4 million. with your leadership we supported foster parents and crime victims and consumer protections and we modernize our laws to expand and make it easier for members of the military and the civilian workforce. actions in washington put access to health care in jeopardy. speaker johnson, senator ash, party leaders from both houses and i, stood with senators leahy and sanders and congressman welch to protect medicaid funding. worlds but vermont would you see such a politically diverse group going together to defend access to healthcare?

for two years we didn't raise any taxes on the general fund. we also held statewide residential property tax rate level. we remove the tax on low and middle income vermonters and revitalize downtown throughout the state. we made the largest investment in housing the state has ever seen as well as a 70% increase in clean water funding and open the treatment center allowing more to start on a path to recovery. we did all this and so much more by working together. it wasn't always easy. or comfortable. but hard work, good work is rarely either of those things. we need more, because of solutions we seek in the political environment in which

history has plagued them, requires them above all else to focus on what it means to be true public servants. when announcing his retirement in 2005, senator jim jeffers said in no other job you have the freedom and obligation to solve problems on a daily basis. solve problems and help people. a simple concept and important reminder of why we are here as partisanship and division eroded the trust many have in our democracy. as conflict captures headlines far more often than the good work we have done to strengthen vermont. 's reports of our disagreement overshadow all that we agree on and progress we made coming together.

let's solve problems and help people. that is our job. it is our responsibility. our neighbors elected us, what the challenges were to confront to demand of us, most importantly, what vermont deserved. as we open up with the hope and promise of a new year, let's commit to this work. put aside our differences to work together to come together and solve problems and help people each and every day. thank you very much. [applause]

>> here is what we are covering on friday. on c-span, live coverage of the house begins at 9:00 am eastern time. they are expected to debate and vote on an interior department spending bill. on c-span2, the senate debates middle east policy. they gavel in at 10:00 eastern time. on c-span3 discussion about the meaning of american exceptionalism and us foreign policy. live coverage of the german marshall fund event is at 10:00 am. at 12:15, live coverage of a new america discussion about guantánamo bay and the state of 40 military detainees held there.

>> pennsylvania's midterms included a number of special elections to fill the seats of members who left congress early, shifting district boundaries, new district names and the addition of four women, all democrats, to a delegation that previously had been all mail. two of those women entered the house in november slightly ahead of the rest of her colleagues. mary gay scanlon's race included a special election to represent the seventh district for the last month and a half of the 115th congress and there was also a general election to represent the newly constituted fifth district in the 116th congress. representative scanlon was previously an attorney in private practice and served on her local school board. representative susan wilde's race included a special election to represent the 15th district and a general election to represent the newly constituted seventh. prior to running for congress she was the first woman to be

solicitor for allentown, pennsylvania. early in her career she was an attorney in private practice. voters in the fourth district elected madeline been who previously served in the statehouse. representative dean began as an attorney but later turned to academia teaching english and writing. congresswoman chrissy houlihan represents the sixth district. she is the former president of a nonprofit organization that promotes early childhood literacy. she also served three years in the us air force. republican dan user was elected to represent pennsylvania's ninth district. earlier in the decade he was the head of the state tax office. prior to that he was the executive and his family's company that manufactured scooters and other home medical equipment. pennsylvania's 15th district elected representative john joyce in his first bid for public office.

is a medical doctor, since 1991, and representing the 14th district, previously a state senator and before that a district judge. and and it served as an attorney to us congress and new leaders. watch it all on c-span. >> this is day 21 of the government shutdown. the senate will return at 10:00 eastern for more debate on middle east security bill. the senate has blocked legislation two times. senate democrats said they will block all bills related to the federal government. we have live coverage when the chamber gavels in later. until then, speeches by senators yesterday on border security and the government shutdown. >> all week i b