that were drowned in mud putting hundreds of vermonters out of work overnight. after years at this podium, i pledge the following. i will urge businesses to get access to capital when they need it most. when lieutenant governor phil scott and i traveled the state together, reaching out to hundreds of small businesses, hundreds of them shuddered by triple storms, our message was we stand with you, we stand by you and the state of vermont will do its part to help you get back on your feet. partnering with vermont economic authority, we created an emergency low-interest loan program that with minimal bureaucracy and maximum effectiveness got credit of up to $100,000 to crippled job

creators within days. more than 300 businesses and farms were granted loans totalling $15.3 million with liquidity, vermont ingenuity and hard work, miracle after miracle happened as business after business reopened. bartle bee's bookstore open. simon pierce, windsor, open. the red toy wagon company, woodstock, open. winhall market in bonneville. raw goldfinger in northfield, open. nelson's hardware right here in barry, open. the rochester cafe, open. and the list goes on and on. the lesson for vermont

government in helping to grow jobs in vermont is pretty simple. getting credit to entrepreneurs when they need it most grows prosperity and grows jobs. in fact, there is nothing to stand in the way of vermont's job creators that cannot be made right by a partnership with state government that's built on a foundation of common sense, trust and expedited risk capital for businesses when others won't lend to them. vermont's response to irene perfectly illustrates the strong state of our state. perhaps the greatest lesson we can take from the challenges of the previous four months is that despite irene's devastation, despite our heartbreak and our

pain, we are bound by a common purpose. we're also bound by tragic loss. to the hundreds and hundreds of vermonters who lost so much, lost their houses, lost their belongings, lost the land that their homes rested on or the land that they tilled, we stand with you in a long recovery that lies ahead to help you close the gap between your hopes and dreams that were washed away and the paltry $30,200 maximum reimbursement afforded you by the federal government. while we know we can never make you whole, our resolve as your neighbors and friends to continue to help you rebuild your lives is as strong as ever. [ applause ]

>> so we're so grateful to everyone who stepped up and contributed, from the students at mooretown elementary school who passed a jar in class to countless church groups, non-profits and private companies who contributed millions of dollars. vermont's musicians like fish and grace potter held concerts that raised over a million. and tony parmelow who just recently pledged an extraordinarily generous $1 million to the vermont disaster relief fund. at a youthful 93, tony is here today, and tony, we thank you for your generosity to the state of vermont. [ applause ] >> thank you, tony.

vermonters have been so generous, but we have many miles to travel before we rest and many dollars to raise before we sleep. in that spirit, we are pleased to introduce our new vermont strong license plates, which can be purchased at vtstro vtstrongvermont.gov. if you place this plate at the front of your vehicle, the proceeds will go to the vermont relief fund to help those who still need us, so buy one and put it on the front of your rig.

vermont strong. [ applause ] >> you know, i could devote this entire speech to the recovery, because i do believe that tropical storm irene represents a defining moment in vermont's history. but now is our moment to apply that same courage, strength and in gentlem ingenuity to our most pressing need. i've never questioned our ability to get tough things done and help us grow jobs in 2012. if we can rebuild destroyed roads and bridges in less than four months, we can meet my promise of connecting every

corner of vermont to high-speed internet and vastly improved cell service by the end of 2013. in the past year, we've connected 7500 locations and installed 1600 miles of fiber in our ongoing effort to connect vermont. we're going to keep our promise of closing vermont's connectivity gap, and we're going to join jobs as we connect up. [ applause ] >> if we can rebuild our transportation infrastructure at 35 cents on the dollar, we can lead the nation in arresting the skyrocketing cost of health care that's hurting job growth and picking the pockets of our struggling middle class. your green mountain health care board is hard at work building that system?

[ applause ] >> if we can reopen hundreds of flooded businesses in 14 weeks, we can transform vermont into the innovative education leader where from early childhood education to higher education to continued education we train employees for the jobs of our future. in my budget address next week, in addition to addressing the challenges and opportunities of replacing our state hospital and state complex, i will propose significant state investments in higher education and dual enrollment, all aid in making vermont students even more competitive and creating opportunities for employers to recruit the employees that they are now seeking. we must do that together. [ applause ]

>> if we can turn the lights back on. in just three days, for over 70,000 utility customers -- thanks, by the way, to the hardworking utilities -- we can create jobs by harnessing the sun, wind, water, forest and fields to produce computer-generated renewable power. we have made progress in the past year, but we need to keep building. this session i'll propose requiring an affordable and achievable renewable energy portfolio standard that sets a goal of obtaining 75% electricity from renewables in 20 years, and we must get that done. [ applause ] >> i'll also recommend that

vermont build on our standard offer program so we can keep building renewables for vermont's future. if we can reconnect hundreds of miles of washed out dirt roads in just days so that no trucks can get to our dairy farmers who had to dump milk during the storm, we can create jobs by fueling the renaissance in locally grown vermont food. this year will continue to focus on our efforts on farm to fork, buy local farmers markets while addressing the challenge to produce enough vermont milk to meet the needs of our dairy companies that are springing up all over vermont. [ applause [ applause ] >> if we can build a partnership between state and municipal government to keep our citizens

safe and secure, we can work together to address two of the most serious problems we face: winning the war on recidivism and stemming the epidemic abuse ofr particularly opiates, that are driving crime and destroying the lives of too many of our neighbors. [ applause ] >> next week i'll also propose changes to the monetary system. it needs to recognize an individual's right to privacy while giving law enforcement the tools they need to track down abuse so that we can fight prescription drug epidemics. this growing problem is so frightening because fda-approved

prescription drugs, and opiates in particular, are easy to get, but many of them are just as addicting and dangerous as street heroin and crack cocaine. since taking office a year ago, i have visited countless businesses throughout the state. and we've met small business owners from beau muller moore who had a simple idea from the phrase to eat more tail on t-shirts and now works 14-hour days to fill orders throughout the country to bio tech, a global leader in medical technology. i'm very optimistic about our jobs future, and every day i see evidence of vermont's entrepreneurial successes. [ applause ]

>> but we have a lot more work to do. too many vermonters continue to struggle to make ends meet for themselves and for their families. but to those who say that vermont is a bad place to do business, that our bold policies for job growth aren't getting results, that our optimism about vermont's jobs future is not matched by progress, i ask you to consider these facts. our unemployment rate at the peak of the recession was 7.3%. today it's among the lowest in america at 5.3%. chitning county now enjoys the fourth lowest unemployment rate across america. over the past year, new jobs in vermont grew 62%, more than any

other state in the nation. [ applause ] >> vermont ranked second on how well the state used funds, and our legislature gets the credit for that. if you don't believe the data, i invite to you join me on the road, reaching out to vermont's jobs creators. here are just a few that i visited over the past year. in newport, bill stanger is working on several projects in orleans county in addition to building a world class four seasons resort at j.p. that

employs hundreds of vermonters. they're bringing in bio and four other new projects that represent $350 million worth of investment that will produce 3,000 direct and indirect jobs in the heart of the northeast kingdom. in rutland, ge continues to expand. one of the largest ge manufacturing plants of jet engines in the nation for both commercial and military aircraft. in castleton, hubbinger forge is on track to meet its goal, doubling sales in just five years. the capacity to produce parts for 100,000, plug in hybrid vehicles within lee years, and they're shipping all over the world, including to china. in essence, green valley coffee roaste

roasters is growing. ibm continues to innovate and create jobs in the ibm plant that's thriving and adding jobs and is now one of the world's largest producers of semi-conducting, producing six miner s. revision eyeware, i was there last week, is thriving and has developed a new combat helmet that if adopted by the u.s. military will allow them to vastly expand manufacturing in vermont. up in newport, louis garneau will be building new facilities to expand manufacturing jobs there. from the massachusetts line to the canadian border, companies that opened this year include commonwealth, that's tomorrow.

nice. they're growing our customer base, creating jobs and adding vitality to a revitalization. [ applause ] >> my administration and i commit ourselves every day to growing jobs one job at a time. and we slowly, but surely, will grow our way out of the most painful recession in our nation's history. let me say one last word about staying competitive and creating jobs. you may have heard me say this

before, but vermont's problem is not that our taxes are not high enough, it is that they are too high. i'm a proud and strong supporter of vermont's progressive income tax structure, the most progressive in the country, where unlike the federal government, we require our wealthiest citizens to pay their fair share of income tax. but we cannot correct the failures of washington from the state house in montpelier, and you must always be mindful that every day we compete with our neighboring states for the same jobs. therefore, i remain determined not to increase broadbase taxes on vermonters as we begin to see signs of modest, economic growth. [ applause ]

>> rutland's pierce isn't clapping because it's his birthday. looking back on the last year, we have so much to be thankful for and so many opportunities ahead. as we enter the new year, partisanship continues to paralyze our democracy in washington, d.c. at a tame when many of american cities and communities beyond vermont's borders often seem more divided than united, our little state has distinguished itself. indeed, there is nothing wrong with america that could not be made right by the in genuity an caring spirit of the people of the state of vermont.

[ applause ] >> by continuing to set aside what divides us and finding common ground to unite us, we will rebuild our state better than the way irene left us that will lead us to continue job growth and a bright future for vermont. let's get back to work. thank you so much. [ applause ] here's what's coming up next. more state of the state speeches with washington democrat christine gregoir. later, a look at coming

elections. join us next week for the select committee on intelligence. hear about global threats to the u.s. witnesses include head of the cia david petraeus and robert muller, director of the fbi among other intelligence chiefs. we'll have live coverage for that beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on our competitor c-span. c-span's road to the white house coverage takes you live to the candidates' events through the weekend, leading up to the gop primary. >> by the end of my second term -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be american. [ applause ] >> and by the end of 2020, we will have the first continuous propulsion system in space capable of getting to mars in a

remarkably short time, because i am sick of being told we have to be timid and i'm sick of being told we have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old. >> and when the founder said that the creator had endowed us with certain unalienable rights, among them life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they laid out a path for america that was not temporary but enduring, a path that says in america, we can pursue happiness as we choose. we do not need a government to tell us what kind of car to get, we do not need a government to tell us what kind of light bulb we can have, we do not need a government to tell us what kind of health care we're going to have. >> and see what the candidates are posting on social media, along with political reporters and viewers like you. at cspan.org/campaign2012. washington state governor i christine gregoire delivered her last state of the state address in olympia last month.

the governor indicated last year she was not running for a third term. she talked about her state improvements but struggled on the ways to decrease college education and maintaining the state's highways. she also urged lawmakers to pass a marriage equity bill in this term. this is just about half an hour. [ applause ] >> thank you, everyone. thank you. thanks, everyone. thank you. [ applause ]

>> thank you all very much. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you, everyone. let's start this morning to observe a moment of silence for some who have served washington so well and who have passed away recently. let us remember your colleague, senator scott white, who sadly left us in the prime of his public service. let us remember two men who gave us so much during their time in office, senator alex desio, senator bob mccaslin. and let us remember always, governor al roselini. al was a mentor to me and one of the best friends this state ever had. and also please remember the nine washingtonians who lost

their lives in afghanistan and iraq serving our country. and just last week, the normally idyllic mount rainier national park was witness to the loss of park ranger michael anderson who died in the line of duty. will you all please join me in a moment of silence in their honor. thank you. good afternoon, everyone. first can i say thank you, bishop burger, for starting us off with such an inspirational prayer this morning. may god bless you. thank you. and thank you, sophia, for your beautiful performance of our national anthem. you are our future. remember, public service, political office is in your future. mr. president, mr. speaker,

madam chief justice and distinguished justices of our court, honored officials, members of the washington state legislature, former governor, tribal leaders, local government officials, members of the consular association of washington, my fellow citizens. i have some of my family with me today, my daughter courtney and son-in-law scott aren't with me, but i'm pleased to say they're moving back to this washington. my effort was not subtle, but it has been steadfast and finally i got my wish. my extended family, thank you for being here today, all of you. and to nana gregoire who is watching at home who turned 90 years young this past year, we're sorry you're not here to join us today. here with me, however, is my daughter michelle. michelle is now a second year law student. she loves it.

go figure. [ applause ] >> and my husband mike, i think you all know, he is number one champion for the veterans of the state of washington and this nation. thank you, mike. mike is not only a great husband, my best friend and a great dad, but i'm noticing something else lately. as he gets older, he's becoming even more athletic. golf on channel 60, football on channel 13, soccer on channel 32. so, michelle, dad will not be making dinner this evening. as for me, i have a very complicated relationship with growing older. first i get carded at hanna's tavern and now i'm getting hearing aid offers in the mail. but as mike and my staff will

tell you, i am not slowing down. not this year. and that's because today i begin my last year as governor of my beloved great state of washington. we are in a time of great challenge and even greater opportunity. yes, challenge and opportunity. like so much else this day, the 24-hour news cycle, these words have lost a bit of their meaning, but not today, not for me, not in the year 2012. for me if ever those two words meant anything, it's right here and it's right now. while our challenges are unprecedented, so, too, are our opportunities. here in our washington, we turn crisis into opportunity. why? because we have a culture and a history of both personal and shared responsibility. when things get tough, we step up. we step up individually and together to build our future.

today we govern in a nation where some won't even talk to each other, much less compromise, believing that compromise is just another word for surrender. but here in our washington, we don't say my way or the highway, we say let's work together t solvproblems. what's best for our washington is more important than politics. many believe that government is the problem, and many believe it's the whole solution. but that's not our washington. here we know that government can't do it all, but we also know we need great schools and universities, good highways and safe communities. many believe we should just ride out this great recession or use this time of economic stress to dismantle our government. but that's not our washington. here we build the roads and bridges our people and businesses must have in order to succeed, we keep our streets safe, we help the poor and the vulnerable.