♪ later in the day, the house rules committee will meet to consider bills to fund and reopen the federal government as the shutdown is now on its 18th day. that will be live from capitol hill starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span3. tonight president trump will address the nation on what the administration is calling a humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border. this is the president's first address to the nation from the oval office. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer will respond after the conclusion of the president's remarks. live coverage starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

up next, massachusetts governor charlie baker gives his inaugural speech to law makers in boston. this is about 40 minutes. [ applause ] >> congratulations. >> you need to hold the bible. >> i state your name do solemnly swear. >> i charles d. baker do solemnly swear. >> that i will bear true trafai and allegiance to the commonwealth of massachusetts and will support the constitution thereof. so help me god.

i your name do solemnly swear and affirm. >> i charles d. baker do solemnly swear and affirm. >> that i will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform. >> that i will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform. >> all the duties incumbent upon me as governor according to the best of my abilities and understanding agreeably to the rules and regulations of the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth. so help me god. i your name do solemnly swear. >> i charles d. baker do solemnly swear. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> congratulations. >> thank you. [ applause ]

>> congratulations, sir. you have done well. [ applause ] >> a brief recess. [ applause ]

>> thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] save it. let's see if they're still clapping at the end. mr. speaker, madam president, governor phil scott from the great state of vermont, thanks for joining us. [ applause ] members of the house and the senate, fellow constitutional officers, members of the governor's council,

congratulations. members of the judiciary, members of the cabinet and our administration, mr. mayor, thank you for letting us hang out in your city. sheriffs, district attorneys, local officials, clergy, distinguished guests, i want to start by saying to our lieutenant governor, my partner in leading this administration, that i want to extend our gratitude on behalf of all of us here today for your commitment to this endeavor and the sacrifices that are made by your family on your behalf. thank you. [ applause ]

members of my family who are here today, my brothers, jonathan and sandy, hanging out there in the balcony. [ applause ] my dad, the best and smartest guy i know. [ applause ] you have been an incredible role model for us all. our children, who have been giving me grief ever since i got up here. charlie, a.j. and caroline. [ applause ] my wife, lauren, the awesome first lady of the commonwealth and the love of my life for the past 31 years. [ applause ]

to my fellow citizens, let me begin by thanking the people of the commonwealth for giving the lieutenant governor and me four more years to serve them. we both remember election night in 2014. it was so close it didn't end until the next day. we had a lot to prove to the people of massachusetts. about our vision for the commonwealth, our approach to governing, our priorities, our work ethic and our capacity to get things done. we said we would work to build a state government that was as thrifty, hard working as creative as the people of this great state, and we're grateful for your continued faith in us. to the lawmakers returning to this chamber, we say welcome back. we look forward to building on the partnership we have established and the progress we have made. i want to give a special welcome

to those of who you are embarking on a new journey on beacon hill. i'm quite sure you have heard about all the good work that goes on up here. as well as those areas in which we fall short. we all strive to build a community of hope, opportunity and possibility. we seek to do so in a way that ensures the people are heard. my advice, spend time outside of the state house. listen to your constituents. lead with your head and your heart and make the best decisions you can for those you serve. in this era of snapchat, tweets, facebook and instagram posts, putdowns and smackdowns, i would ask you to remember the good public policy is often about perseverance and collaboration. many times it's a story written frame by frame by many players who write it over time relent

ldz t thelessly pursuing an issue. we had ten legislative sessions, five governors and four presidents. we have best in the nation gun laws. the story that was written across multiple legislative sessions and several governors and was almost always done on a bipartisan basis. we have a k through 12 education system that despite its limitations is the envy of this country. the story was written by a large cast of leaders and contributors across decades of deliberation and action. as we approach the third decade of the 21st century, we're engaged in a number of difficult policy issues. some will be with us all long after our time on beacon hill is done. it's incumbent on us to pursue

these tasks with foresight, intelligence and commitment so we can rest assured those who come after us will build on the foundation we have established. as i look forward, i'm grateful that we are taking on difficult policy issues from a position of strength. massachusetts no longer has a structural budget deficit. with your help, we ended last year with a major budget surplus, deposited over $650 million into the stabilization fund and anticipate making another major deposit to that fund at the end of this year. [ applause ]

we did it without raising taxes. [ applause ] that was for you. wheth when we took office, the growth rate in medicaid spending was in double digits, are reducing whas available to support other important programs. today it's growing at a race in line with the increase with state spending. we added 4,000 seats to our vocational and technical schools. with your help, the department of children and families made ma

jur major progress. caseloads are at historic lows and virtually all of our social workers are licensed. [ applause ] thank you, madam secretary. [ applause ] i'm pretty sure i'm the only governor who talked about the registry of motor vehicles in two inaugural addresses. yes, madam secretary, i know how important that is to you. the registry implemented a major new technology platform at the same time they implemented the federal real i.d. program. this was a big lift. there were bumps along the way. this past fall, the registry served 90% of its customers in under 30 minutes and virtually everyone else in less than an hour. best all-time performance. [ applause ]

we ep anacted the brave act andd a $200 million rebuild of the soldier home, proving no state is more committed in serving and delivering for its veterans than the commonwealth of massachusetts. [ applause ] we doubled the earned income tax credit for 450,000 low income families, invested over $100 million in new funding into our early education system and

reduced the use of hotels and motels to shelter homeless families by over 95%. [ applause ] we also worked with the legislature on two procurements that will lead to 50% of our electricity being generated by clean resources and then delivered a bid process that came in far below the prices anybody anticipated. i want you to think about this for a minute. we delivered huge environmental benefits at lower energy prices and now everybody in the country wants to duplicate what we pulled off. that's a huge win for everybody who cares about our environment. [ applause ]

our regulatory our regulatory reform project reduces the complexity of state government across the board, allowing our small businesses to become more competitive in a dynamic economy. and the get stuff done approach that we have taken on public/private partnerships and economic development, advanced manufacturing, robotics and smart materials has created jobs and opportunity across this commonwealth. as a result, our economy is booming. we have more people working than at any time in state history, over 200,000 new jobs have been created. our labor force participation rate is at an all-time high and people are moving to massachusetts because we offer good jobs and opportunity for them. [ applause ]

so i'm just going to ask you to stay standing for one second. thanks to the hard work of so many, many of whom are in this room, i can say with complete confidence that the state of our commonwealth is strong. [ cheers and applause ] thank you! [ applause ] by putting the public interest ahead of partisan politics, we have made our commonwealth a better place to live for our residents, but there is always more left to do.

25 years ago, massachusetts wasn't a national leader in public education. since then, we have achieved remarkable success by working together on a series of education reforms. and as a result, massachusetts students have scored number one on the national assessment of educational progress exams in english and math for much of the past decade. and last year finished first on the advanced placement exams, as well. but when it comes to the difference in performance between urban and suburban school districts, we can and we must do better. the foundation formula needs to be updated and we'll propose updates when we file our budget later this movement month. [ applause ]

the problem here gress here is about money. jeff riley proved that significant progress can be made in improving school and student performance by changing the way our schools operate. and before that, jeff transformed the clarence edwards middle school in boston from the lowest performing middle school in the city to one of the best. with that success in mind, our budget will also include opportunities for underperforming school districts to invest jointly with the department of education and proven best practices like acceleration academies, professional development programs, after school enrichment initiatives and leadership development programs. we all -- [ applause ] we all have an opportunity to give our kids the best chance to succeed in a 21st century

economy. and it's up to us to come together, seize this opportunity and lay the ground work for their future success. [ applause ] surprisingly, there's also much to do in transportation. i'll begin with a quick shoutout to our transportation futures commission. predicting a future when there's so much possibility is difficult. and they did great work, and i want to highlight some of their recommendations. first, continue to invest in public transportation. [ applause ] this is an area in which the commonwealth sat on its hands

for far too many years, and we're all playing catchup and paying the price for it. over the course of the next five years, the t plans to spend over $8 billion on infrastructure, much of which will be invested in its core system. this is more than twice what has ever been spent by the t in any five-year period of time. [ applause ] now, this will be no small task. one of the reasons previous administrations didn't invest in the core system is the complexity of upgrading and modernizing a system that operates 20 hours a day, seven days a week. the constant tug between getting people where they want to go and disrupting that system to make it better is a big challenge. but it's one that must be identified, scoped and overcome if we're to succeed in delivering on that $8 billion objective. the t also needs to leverage its automated fare system once it's

in place in 2020. when that system is up, for the first time, the t will have real-time data on how its riders actually use the system. this creates huge opportunities to improve service, to think differently about fares and routes and pricing and to modernize operations to better serve customers and to create a truly customer-focused transportation infrastructure. second, we must make the investments in public infrastructure that will enable the next generation a zero emission vehicles and autonomous vehicles to thrive here in the commonwealth. getting this right will require unprecedented collaboration with local government, our new england neighbors, as well as innovative partnerships with the private sector. third, reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the transportation system. the work we're poised to do with our northeast and mid atlantic partners should produce a capped

investment system for transportation that mirrors our successful model for energy. it will be the largest program of its kind in u.s. history. [ applause ] and finally, we need to more fully appreciate the relationship between where peopleleleleled where they work and how state and local government policies affect their ability to get from one to the other. i have spoken before, probably more than anyone would care to remember, about the housing crisis. for over 20 years, we've produced less than half the new units of housing that we produced like clockwork for the previous 40 years. as a result, we have limited inventory, and the inventory we have gets priced out of sight

the second it comes on the market, forcing people to live farther and farther away from where they work. i believe that our housing bill was a strong step in the right direction to deal with this. it respected the need for communities to plan for themselves, but created incentives to tie development more closely to overarching strategies concerning transportation and land use policy generally. in the end, it failed because it was too much for some and not enough for others. we should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good on this one. [ applause ] or maybe not. the only thing that's more stronger, more equitable and more resilient in our

commonwealth rests on several pillars. one of the most important is delivering a big increase in housing production. we absolutely, positively must get this one done. in this session. [ cheers and applause ] we've also made progress on criminal justice. three years ago, we enacted legislation that prohibited sending women who had been civilly committed due to an addiction to prison. [ applause ] and two years ago, we brought the curtain down on 30 years of shame and reformed the operations at bridgewater state hospital. [ applause ]

and last year we worked together on an ambitious, comprehensive criminal justice reform package, one that, among other things, gives us more tools to help the men and women who will some day return to our communities, get the training, life skills and support they need to succeed upon their release. but our work here is not done. [ applause ] in deciding whether or not it makes sense to hold a dangerousness hearing, current law requires a judge to ignore any previous criminal history and to focus only on the crime before the court.

in addition, the list of crimes for which a prosecutor is allowed to make that request is very narrow. too often, career criminals are arrested only to be released as soon as they appear in court. this sort of revolving door serves to undermine people's faith in law enforcement and the courts, and it's a threat to public safety. now, nobody wants to see somebody's life ruined over a small-time lapse in judgment. and the law that we worked on together last year addresses many of those issues. but we still need a common sense approach that provides the system with the ability to schedule a dangerousness hearing when individuals with violent histories come before the court. yarmuth police sergeant sean gannon, weymouth police sergeant michael chess that, auburn police officer ron tarantino, and state trooper thomas clarity, all gave their lives protecting the people of the commonwealth. we've been joined here today by

yarmuth police chief frank frederickson, weymouth police chief, richard grimes, auburn police chief -- andrew, you're skru screwing me up here, buddy. and superintendent of the massachusetts state police, colonel kerry gilpin. [ applause ] we owe it to them, to their brothers ask sisters in law enforcement, and to our citizens to ensure that we're doing all we can to keep dangerous people off our streets.

[ applau [ applause ] massachusetts is also a national leader in health care. we're one of the healthiest states in the nation. we have the highest rate of health care coverage. our health care cluster is a wonder. economically and clinically. it's constantly delivering solutions to some of the most challenging and complicated problems facing patients and their families. the flip side is the price we pay. small businesses in massachusetts have among the highest health insurance costs in the country. the price for the same medical service can vary by as much as 300%, depending upon where it's provided. our community hospitals continue to struggle, and ironically, some of the commonwealth's rules make it tough to practice modern medicine. later this year, we'll file legislation to address these and other issues. by expanding the use of telemedicine, rethinking some of our scope of practice guidelines and dealing with the parity issues that have negatively affected individuals and families dealing with mental health issues.

[ applause ] an opioid addiction, as the lieutenant governor said, we have made great progress. we didn't get into it overnight and the we won't get out overnight, either. the legislators have been true partners on this issue, enacting two major bills that build on our four pillars of reform. prevention, education, treatment and recovery. and it was not all that long ago when families, providers, and first responders had virtually no hope. today we're one of a handful of states that can say that overdose deaths have dropped since 2017. their interventions and policy changes have worked and others

show progress. a and we have also added credentialed recovery coaches coming online throughout 2019 and beyond. [ applause ] dealing with opioid addiction is enormously difficult. relapse is an inevitable part of the story. helping people to avoid becoming addicted in the first place remains a challenge. and diffusing the presence of fentanyl, now present in 90% of all drug overdose deaths is an enormous challenge. but on behalf of the people of this commonwealth and especially the families and family members who deal with this addiction issue every single day, i want to thank you for all that you've done, and we look forward to working with you going forward as we continue to battle this

deadly disease. thank you. [ applause ] on the afternoon of september 13th, a series of explosions rocked greater lawrence, resulting in one of the biggest disasters in the history of the merrimack valley. dozens of house fires broke out across the region, and one young man tragically lost his life. fire and police teams from across massachusetts and new hampshire raced to and spread out across lawrence, north andover and andover and directed traffic. they worked with state officials and the leadership of the three communities to get people safely

out of their homes and if they had no place to go, into shelter. for the next 90 days, there was an army of operators, trades people, first responders, inspectors and state and local officials working throughout the three affected communities to lay down 50 miles of main line pipe to replace thousands of service lines in houses, businesses and apartment buildings and repair and replace thousands of hot water heaters, stoves, dryers and boilers. it was an enormous and complex undertaking. throughout this ordeal, homeowners, families and businesses affected by this disaster showed a tremendous amount of patience, resilience, flexibility and fortitude. there were hundreds of local officials and elected officials who went above and beyond the call on this one. but i want to give special message and thanks to several local officials who are with us today. lawrence mayor dan rivera, his

fire chief brian more orty, andrew flanagan, michael mansfield and police chief patrick keefe. and town manager andrew mailer. fire chief william mccarthy and police chief charles gray. these people delivered and we're honored to have them here. [ cheers and applause ] you know, it's in moments like that that everybody remembers why committed and creative public service matters. but at the same time, the day-to-day work often goes on without much notice.

the fact that 351 cities and towns in this commonwealth have worked with state government on over 800 best practices and now use that program to spread the word on other smarter, better ways to deliver services doesn't make much news. the work we have done together to invest billions of dollars in housing, downtown and regional economic development and public/private partnerships in communities across the commonwealth are stories that come and go. the 16,000 trees we've planted and the thousands of l.e.d. lights we have installed with our colleagues in local government is just doing our job. each day, the wheels turn. when they turn well, they build strong communities, support great schools, grow the economy, clean up the environment, promote justice and give people a chance. those wheels create hope, opportunity and possibility from one end of moassachusetts to th other. [ applause ]

sure, there's noise. tons of it. most of the time, that back and forth is positive. it's people offering a point of view with heart and intelligence and a democracy that's designed to encourage it. but these days, too much of what pretends to be debate is just rhetoric or character assassination. and every time someone joins that chorus, they steal time, attention and focus away from finding common ground, creating solutions and doing the work that matters. now, whether it's the grind of the day-to-day or a crisis, we all need to work together, because that's what great public service is all about. [ applause ]

during the winter of 2015, we saw firsthand during those snowstorms how amazing this nation's mutual aid programs between states can be. other states bailed us out as the snow kept falling with no end in sight. during that first chaotic and terrifying 24 hours in the merrimack valley, the number of first responders who just dropped whatever they were doing and headed there, it was amazing. that's public service, and people appreciate it. over the past four years, lieutenant governor and i have heard time and time again that the way we all work together is a model for the nation. people like our collaborative approach to governing, and they say they're proud to be from massachusetts. [ cheers and applause ]

you know what? so am i. [ applause ] this state is bursting with talent and decency, boldness and common sense. an abiding sense of patriotism, belonging and community has made us strong and has carried us forward for almost 400 years. let others engage in the cheap shots and the low blows. let's make our brand of politics positive and optimistic instead of cruel and dark.

and instead of the bickering and the name-calling that dominates much of today's public debate, let's build on the work of those who came before us and make our work about how we can make this state better for the people who call this glorious place home. thank you, god bless the commonwealth and god bless the united states of america! [ cheers and applause ]

later in the day, the house rules committee will meet with bills to reopen the federal government as the shutdown is on its 18th day. that will be live from capitol hill starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span3. tonight, president trump will address the nation on what the administration is calling a humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border. this is the president's first address to the nation from the oval office.

house speaker nancy pelosi and senate democratic leader, chuck schumer, will respond at the conclusion of the president's remarks. live coverage starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. sunday on q & a, the author and columnist, james grant. >> i make my living by writing about markets and something called grants interest rate observer, which is much too expensive for some of the people out there. i think the trouble that lies not so much in wall street -- wall street is what it is. it's been a name either -- mostly an infamous name. wall street is an epithet. mostly in american history, right? but i think what we are more -- what we ought to be more on our guard about are the institutions in the federal government that are avowedly benign in their intentions. the federal reserve, for

example, the department of the treasury. the securities and exchange commission. these institutions set up as benefactors for the public. i think, increasingly, they are not. >> author and columnist, james grant, sunday night at 8:00 eastern, on sunday's "q & a." next, florida governor ron desantis gives his inaugural speech. this is 20 minutes. [ applause ] please place your left hand on the bible, raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, ron desantis, do solemnly swear -- >> i ron desantis, do solemnly swear that i will support, protect and defend the constitution and government of the united states and of the state of florida.