>> vice president jd vance is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative political action conference or cpac. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. ♪ >> democracy will always be the greatest creation. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we are here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we are still at our core democracy.

>> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. >> during her state of the state address, kansas governor laura kelly asked legislators to expand the state's medicaid program and pledged to block a gop-proposed school voucher program. >> please be seated.

mr. speaker, mr. president, madame chief justice, and the entire kansas supreme court, members of my cabinet, leaders of kansas tribes and all the constitutional officers and legislators assembled, it is an honor to speak with you tonight, and i do want to thank you with a very warm welcome. it is also my honor to welcome the lieutenant governor and his family in the gallery, his wife beth and her children, caroline and william. along with my family members, especially my granddaughter lori, who are joining us tonight via livestream. for much of my time in office, we have been focused on righting the wrongs of the past, getting our state back on the road to prosperity, and that is exactly

what we have accomplished together. we have funded our public schools six years in a row. [applause] we have balanced the state budget six years in a row. [applause] we have closed the bank of kate out and we are investing in our roads and bridges and broadband -- we have closed the bank of kdot. we have attracted the largest economic development projects in the history of our state. [applause] we have paid down our debt, and we have seen our state's financial ratings be upgraded

three times. we have completely asked -- we have completely axed the tax on groceries. [applause] as a two weeks ago, no kansan is paying state sales tax on groceries. as you will know, it took a while, but we got it done. [applause] and there is more relief on the way. in total, i have signed into law $2 billion in tax cuts. it was not easy, but together, we made it happen for kansas. [applause] this april, seniors won't pay any state income tax on their social security.

[applause] a higher standard deduction will ensure that kansans pay less when they file their taxes, and we lowered the tax that everyone hates -- property tax. [applause] in an era that might be defined for its divisiveness on the national level, we have shown that here in kansas, we can still find common ground and get things done. [applause] we have accomplished so much, but because of the nature of our challenges, we have often been so focused on what's ever needed immediate fixing -- our schools, our infrastructure, our foster care system -- we have not

always spent much time talking about what lies ahead for kansas, not just next year or the year after but in the decades ahead. the kansas we will leave for our children and grandchildren. since i have been in office, we have built an incredibly strong foundation for our city. kansas has never been in better financial shape. responsible, steady governance has earned kansas recognition nationwide for our economic achievements and for our educational system. now it is time to build on that foundation. we are two weeks into 2025, a quarter of the way into the 21st century. tonight instead of looking back at last year or ahead through the current year, let us think about the rest of the century and how we prepare for it. as ceo of the state, i am going

to deliver what is essentially a report, outlining how we reached key metrics over the last 25 years and what we must accomplish over the next 75 years for kansas to prosper throughout the rest of the 21st century. when i think back on the year 2000, it's hard to fathom how much kansas and the nation in the world in which we live has changed. i was across the street as executive director of the park association. in 2000, except for representatives bauer and halverson and senator haley, none of us was in this chamber. fewer than 5% of rural americans had internet access. the average price of a dozen eggs was $.91. there were no smartphones.

social media was still in its infancy. people actually talked to one another. the world has changed in colossal ways, probably more than any other 25-gear period -- 25-year period. when i talked to kansans, i hear two things. first, kansans are accepting of the future. they really are. they see the new educational opportunities and new innovative companies setting up shop, and they can see bright futures for themselves and for their children, but i can also hear that they are worried, worried that the traditions they grew up with, the way of life they cherish so much, could be slipping away. i think we can all relate to that. nobody really wants a world

where we speak more to computers and ai bots than we do our neighbors. nobody wants a world where it seems we are always at each other's throats. as i think about our future, i keep coming back to the same thought -- how do we embrace change? how do we embrace opportunity? how do we embrace the future but do it in the kansas way where we remain true to our kansas core values? a place where "the good life" means getting a great education, working hard, and doing right by our children, our grandchildren, and others, and where our common decency always rises above divisiveness. as leaders of our state, we have a responsibility to set this tone, to show kansans that we, too, have our eye on the future, that we intend to embrace it in the kansas way starting right

now. first, let's talk about our very youngest kansans. children born today will live to see the 22nd century. how we invest in those children now will determine our state's trajectory the rest of the century. research is clear that a child's experiences from birth to age five determine the trajectory of his or her entire life from social emotional development, academic success, into career success. we have done a lot in this front over the past few years. we have aggressively tackled childcare prices, recognizing that shortages across the state and skyrocketing costs have handicapped our workforce, our businesses, and hurt our children during their most formative years. because of our investments and our work to lift childcare

providers, more parents can access early, quality childcare then -- childhood education and care than ever before. [applause] even better, we are on track to add more childcare capacity in the next two years than we have in the last 15. families are still struggling with the cost of childcare, but we are addressing this issue with the urgency it requires. but all of this would be so much easier if we eliminated the red tape that makes it so difficult for so many families to access services and for childcare providers to even operate. right now, early childhood services are siloed in 4 different state agencies.

a family must navigate among three different agencies to figure out which program is right for them. if a childcare center wants to get off the ground, it must work with one state agency to get licensed, another to receive financial aid, and a third to get assistance with startup costs. a system overloaded with democracy -- a system overloaded with bureaucracy might be manageable for some parents and some providers, but it is a nightmare for most parents who do not have the time or resources to plow through the maze, and they should not have to. thankfully, there's is a solution readily available. let's put the functions of these agencies under one roof, the office of early childhood. let's offer a one-stop-shop for young families, for childcare providers, and for businesses to access early childcare services.

let's do it missouri and north dakota and arkansas have already done. in kansas, this concept already enjoys bipartisan support. over 700 childcare providers, legislators, and families have spoken out in favor of the one-stop shop idea. last session, it passed the house with 110 votes. eliminating unnecessary government bureaucracy, cutting red tape, and making it easier for parents and businesses to support our kids is not a democratic or republican idea. it is a commonsense idea we all can get behind, so let's get this done. [applause]

but early childhood is just the first step. if we are going to continue to attract new businesses and young families, we must have strong public schools. it is pretty straightforward. 90% of our students go to our public schools. along with early childhood education and care, the smartest, most effective investment we can make in our next generation is through our public schools, but even beyond the economic angles, when we talk about protecting the kansas way of life, our public schools are the heart and soul of so many of our communities. it's where we come together, particularly in our rural areas for friday night football, for school plays, for carnivals and bake sales, where we gather to build strong communities. for the future we aspire to create and the values we aspire to maintain, we must continue to

make public schools our top priority. that's why my budget proposal this year will again for the seventh consecutive year fully fund our public schools. [applause] prioritizing our public schools means investing in them, protecting them, always fighting to make them better and never, ever taking taxpayer dollars from our public schools to give to private schools. [applause] doing so weakens our public school system, particularly in

our rural communities, and as a state, we just cannot afford to do that. simply put, i will continue to reject any attempt, no matter what it looks like, to reroute public taxpayer dollars into private schools. [applause] now let's go back to the quarterly report. in the last 25 years, high school graduation rates have increased by 11%, and today are at an all-time high. 10 years ago, we were neglecting special education, ignoring state funding requirements, and looking away as special education students did not get the support they needed and are entitled to. last year, we invested $75 million into special education, the largest single-year investment in state history,

putting our state on track to fully fund state education by the 2028-2029 school year. 2000, only 59% of fourth graders were reading at a basic level. we made modest progress. according to the most recent data, 63% of students have now reached that level. that is not good enough. in response last year, republican and democratic leaders came together to pass a new plan for literacy. this is an all hands on deck approach to ensure our teachers have the training and tools they need to bring 90% of our students to the reading benchmark for 2033. the blueprint for literacy is an amazing example of what can happen when we think long-term and when we work together. i would like to recognize the two people who championed the blueprint for literacy effort.

former state senator molly bumgarner and dr. cynthia rein, who actually stepped down from her position as member of the kansas board of regents to direct this new mission. unfortunately, senator bumgardner was able -- unable to join us tonight, but dr. cynthia, would you please stand and be recognized? [applause] you have a big job ahead of you, and a lot of people are watching. but we constantly come together because we have funded our public schools. we have gotten ourselves back on track, finally ending decades of litigation and judicial oversight. we should all take pride in this milestone, but we should not

take it for granted, and this is where we talk about taxes. we cannot risk our state's financial stability by implementing any semblance of the reckless tax experiment that devastated our schools a dozen years ago. [applause] as kansans know, i'm all for tax cuts. i have already signed over $2 billion in tax cuts, but going forward, i will not support any proposal that robs our schools of the funds they need to teach our children. [applause] for instance, there was a proposal to slash the state

corporate income tax to zero. that is a nonstarter. [applause] we have seen that movie before. we know how it ends. we know what happened to our schools, to our roads, and to our reputation. we must stay on the path to prosperity as we move through the rest of the 21st-century. with all that said, let me add a caveat. while i would prefer that we postpone discussions about taxes until next session, we will have a better handle on the tax cuts we passed last year, i will consider proposals to modify our tax structure if they pay for themselves and do not threaten our state's long-term financial health. [applause]

speaking about long-term health issues -- and, no, i'm not going to talk about medicaid expansion -- instead, i want to talk about childhood hunger. roughly 49% of kansas kids live in low income households. we know these kids cannot afford to pay for school meals. that's why my budget this year will provide free school lunches to over 35,000 kansas students, many of them in our rural areas. [applause] kansas is fortunate. when it comes to eliminating childhood hunger, we have advocates all over the state

doing all they can to ensure our kids don't go to bed hungry and that they don't go to school hungry. let me introduce you to one of them. the director of nutrition services for usd 480 is also the president of the kansas school nutrition association knows firsthand how difficult it is for children to learn or even to behave when they are hungry. connie also knows many hard-working families and how they struggle to put food on the table. currently 87% of students in ust 480 qualify for free or reduced lunch. that is the highest anywhere in our state. by eliminating this burden, we can reduce childhood hunger. we can reduce the stigma of our low income students face in cafeterias, and we can increase

academic success. in addition, we can streamline administrative nightmares for our school districts and for professionals like connie. connie, thank you for what you do. could you please -- oh, you are standing to be recognized. [applause] let's do this for our children. work with me to pass this budget and make sure that no kansas child goes hungry. when i imagine the end of this century and the state our youngest kansans will inherit, i see so many good things on the horizon, but there is one thing that is seriously concerning, and that is our dwindling water supply. some parts of western kansas do

not have groundwater enough to last another 25 years. without that water, the agricultural industry that fuels our economy and sustains our rural way of life cannot survive. no one knows that better than joe ferguson, a soldier in the kansas army national guard and a senior studying sustainable agriculture. after he graduates, he will return to kensington kansas, the fourth generation in his family to work their wheat, corn, and hay fields. even though he's only 23, he's already thinking about succession plans for his farm. what would he leave for that next generation? would there be anything left for that next generation? his generation of family farmers are depending on your generation of state leaders to secure that water supply.

farmers like joe are the backbone of our state. the tradition of family farming is core to who we are. we owe it to joe and other young farmers across the state and those who come after to act now before it is too late. joe, will you please stand and be recognized? [applause] i am so grateful to those of you in the legislature and beyond who have been working with me to change decades of inaction on our water supply. the kansas water authority has gone all over the state listening to farmers, crop insurers, lot owners, and bakers . as a result, we have set a goal.

from now on, each generation will work to protect the water supply for the next two generations. we are calling the multigenerational promise. it may look different in different areas of the state, but the fundamentals are the same -- stabilize the aquifer, maximize the capacity of our reservoirs, and ensure all kansans have access to clean, sustainable water. [applause] that requires us to attract -- attack the issue on two fronts. first, we have to develop a better water management system. right now, water faces some of the same issues i described in

early childhood. it is managed by 14 different agencies, making it difficult if not impossible to align efforts around possible, planning, and investment. if this is going to work, that has got to change, so let's create an office of natural resources. let's streamline our systems to make our work more effective and more efficient. second, to deliver on that multigenerational promise, we need to invest more resources. last year, the legislature came together and provided 35 million additional dollars every year the next five years. in my budget tomorrow, i will propose another $30 million above what the legislature added , bringing our overall water investment dollars to $90 million every single year.

[applause] in addition to enhanced resources, it is imperative that we develop a comprehensive, long-term, and sustainable strategy to ensure that kansans have the water supply they need to exist, much less to thrive for generations to come. over three and a half decades ago, the kansas legislature understood that to create a transportation system that would effectively serve our citizens, support commerce and ensure public safety, we needed to have a strategic plan that included a dedicated funding source, and thus the legislature created comprehensive plans. that innovative is in every

thinking is exactly what kansas needs to ensure that people like joe, his children, his grandchildren have the water needed to farm the land, preserve their communities and their way of life. no doubt this is a tough task. perhaps even more challenging than the one faced by the legislative task force that overhauled our transportation plan in 2018, but it is one to which my office and so many of you are deeply committed. we have already invested substantial resources and time -- in time, money, and political capital. we stand ready to support the legislature's efforts in any way we can to solve our state's most pressing problem. by presenting the kansas quarterly report, i think it is easy to say the first quarter brought us our share of challenges.

the last 24 years, kansas has endured two historic recessions, a devastating tax experiment, a once in a century pandemic, and then global inflation. at times, we were dangerously close to collapse. given all that, it is amazing how we brought our state back from the brink. since i came into office, we have brought in $20 million in new business investment to every corner of the state, created and retained more than 70,000 jobs, created the largest budget surplus and the largest rainy day fund kansas has ever seen, and it it all while cutting taxes for our veterans, for seniors, for homeowners, for businesses, and for farmers and ranchers. long gone are the days of kansas making headlines for failure. now we are attracting companies bringing in $4 billion and 4000

jobs to desoto, and over a billion dollars and 1000 jobs to cobs. we are winning war after war for economic development. just stop by david tolman's office, there's barely space for all the trophies. along these lines, i would like to introduce you to the seagraves family. mike, his wife, and their two children moved to independence, kansas, from north carolina. since then, they have welcomed their third child, who was born in 2023 and thus is a true kansas native. mike is associate of sawyer processing while cassie works as a therapist providing much needed mental health services

for people. their two older children are enrolled in public school at usd 446 in independence, and their youngest just started daycare. they even formed a little league baseball team so landon can continue to play his favorite sport. they have been warmly welcomed by the community, and they are making significant contributions . over the course of my administration, we have created a modern economy that is attracting cutting-edge companies and families like the seagraves. the seagraves family, could you please stand and be recognized? [applause]

when you are able to recruit from tar heel and blue double country to jayhawk and wild cap country, i cannot tell you how satisfying that is -- from tar heel and blue devil country to jayhawk and wildcat country. when it comes to making kansas a place more families want to call home, trust that i will continue to be laser focused. we must keep supporting our homegrown businesses or working around the clock to bring new, innovative companies to kansas. they are not just job creators, they are career creators. i want a future where our economy is built by people in every corner of the state, where there are every opportunities -- where there are opportunities.

no matter where you are from or where you live, our cities, suburbs, or communities, you need a career for which you are prepared, for which you are passionate, on which you can support a family. let's agree right here, right now, that kansas must continue to aggressively pursue innovative business opportunities both domestic and overseas. [applause] speaking of opportunities, here's another idea -- here it comes -- medicaid expansion. [applause] i have proposed this the last

six years, and i am proposing it again this year. let's be honest -- the only reason we have not expanded medicaid is partisan politics. over the past six years, all the horror myths around medicaid expansion have been debunked and all of our states surrounding us have expanded. the one myth that continues to linger here in kansas is that expansion is too expensive. that is patently false. in fact, it actually costs us money not to expand medicaid. [applause] in 2020 the cost to kansas taxpayers, ♪ -- in 2022, the

cost to kansas taxpayers was 67 point $5 million. in 2024, 61 point $8 million. if we don't expand medicaid this year, it will cost kansas taxpayers another 78 point $3 million -- $78.3 million. we have wasted kansas taxpayer dollars holding onto an ideological falsehood. imagine the property tax relief we could have given to kansans. that does not count the $7.6 billion in kansas taxpayer dollars that have been left on the table in washington, d.c. imagine any ceo of any business rejecting nearly $700 million every year just to score political points. it just would not happen in the real world.

if we could strip away partisan politics and look at the real numbers, we will expand medicaid this year. i'm going to end on this tonight. so often it is easy to get lost in the day to day tumble around here. how do you score points on him? how do you outmaneuver her? it's easy to forget that we are not playing some kind of game here. we have real power. the decisions we make in this building touch every aspect of the lives of people we work for, and here's the truth. in kansas, our grandchildren -- the kansas our grandchildren will inherit is up to us. it is our agricultural economy booming because we preserved our water for farmers like joe or is rural kansas dried up and deserted? that is up to us. are we turning out the best and brightest work is because we made it a priority to ensure

kansas has superior public schools? that is up to us. his kansas going to be an economic powerhouse in the center of our country for -- where young families move to build a life? that is up to us. will kansas be a place where we hold onto small-town traditions we cherish while also embracing the future with a sense of optimism? that is up to us and only happens if we put partisanship aside and put kansas and kansans first. [applause] the only way we will move forward on any of the challenges facing us is we recognize that

both parties have brought good, common sense ideas to the table. and both parties have also brought some pretty wacky ideas to the table. our job is to lift up the common sense, smart, reasonable ideas that will help kansans and then meet in the middle to get it done. i'm not asking you not to love your political party. i'm just asking you to love your state a little more. that's the only way we build that future we all want. thank you and good night. [applause]

>> vice president jd vance is scheduled to give remarks on thursday at the conservative political action conference. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. browse through our latest collection of c-span products, apparel, books, home decor, and accessories. there's something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or any time at c-spanshop. >> next, we take you to the