death by a thousand cuts cuts to food stamps, cuts to w.i.c., cuts to head start, cuts to educational opportunities. death by a thousand cuts. we have not heard any on the other side speak about that >> but what this legislation does is not enough to stop low income women, for women particularly made of color, -- women of color asians, latinas --it is not enough to prevent abortions, some of them who have become pregnant because of rape or incensed -- incest or forced

trafficking, that is not enough. this legislation is so nefarious to prevent women that have been lucky enough to get a job at a small business, lucky enough to afford insurance to use their own money, they have been lucky enough to prevent them, by some extraneous nexus supposedly health care funded payments through the affordable care act to seek this care. this is a backdoor approach. it is trying to undermine the law of the land wrote the weight -- roe v. wade. many women know on a personal level the history of shame and stigma that come forward when they are trying to seek the best remedy for their life at that time. for whatever reason that they need to have an abortion.

i know personally, not an speaker of women that are 13 years old and have become victims of statutory rape. the best solution for their lives at their time and their health is an abortion. their life is truly in danger.. this is the kind of bill that would prevent them from having that opportunity. madam speaker, i hope that you will accept this motion. >> your time has expired. >> for what purpose does the gentlewoman from tennessee seek recognition? >> i withdraw my point of quarter and claimant the time in opposition to the motion. >> the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you madam speaker. we have heard a lot of charges

and accusations made by some of my colleagues as they have chosen to describe the bill before us, h.r. 7. i want to be clear about what the bill does and doesn't do, and accomplishes. this bill follows the long-standing rentable -- long-standing rentable going back to 1976. both members from both sides of the aisle in both chambers of congress have supported this for decades. that is that taxpayer dollars should not be spent on abortions and abortion coverage. the vast majority of my colleagues voted for this exact same principle in countless appropriations bill. including a built we passed out of this chamber last month. yet today, some members are fighting the widely shared believe that taxpayers should

not be used to take an innocent life. the bill provides much-needed transparency about what money pays for abortions. the obama administration promised to provide the american people of a list of plans. yet they refuse to live up to that promise. they forced congress to act and in fact the gao has informed us that 100 and 36 plans include abortion coverage. there is no excuse to hide information about abortion coverage from the american people. 68%, a vast majority of the american people, believe there should be no taxpayer money used for abortion and abortion coverage.

hhf has forced congress to act on this issue, but common sense transparency requirement that is in h.r.7 that is needed and it is supported by all members. this bill is about following an established, high principal and providing transparency. i urge each and every one of my colleagues to vote to protect life to vote to protect taxpayer dollars and promote transparency by rejecting the motioned to recommit in supporting their underlying bill. i yield back my time and urge a no vote on the recommit. >> the house went on to pass that bill prohibiting federal funding for abortion. three democrats voting in favor one republican voting against. minority leader nancy pelosi talked about her opposition during the weekly breeding --

weekly briefing with reporters. >> in contrast, they are talking about job creation and bigger paychecks that undermines the health of america's women. it is worse than the built they have pulled from the floor yesterday, that affected thousands of women --this affects millions of women. did not only affects their health, it affects their personal decision of how they spend their money for insurance. that is what we are voting on now./ it is hard to imagine what is all that is going on with talks of the middle class, that that is what the american people want us to address they go down this path pulling down the bill last night and come back with the even worse bill.

>> minority leader nancy pelosi speaking before that final vote on the abortion funding bill passing 240 22 179 -- 242 to 179. the white house issuing a statement, saying it is a decision that protects a men's freedom to protect her own choices about her health. it would intrude on evidence reproductive freedom and access to health care. he concludes by saying, as we reflect on this critical moment in our history, let us all we dedicate ourselves to ensure that our daughters have the same freedoms and opportunities as our sons. taking a look at washington journal tomorrow, mark been ginsburg --mark ginsberg talks

about the attacks in yemen and how they may affect u.s. policy. plus, we will be taking your phone calls, they spoke comments, and treats -- tweets. live on cspan. speakers include potential i-16 presidential candidates. rick perry, scott walker, and chris christie. businessman donald trump, and dr. ben carson. as well as 2008 vice presidential nominee sarah palin. >> missouri governor jay nixon issued his state of the dress from jackson city.

he talks about the protests in ferguson and loans to help small businesses. this is about 50 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. good evening. thank you lieutenant governor kander members of the general assembly, i thank god for the people of missouri for the privilege to serve our state. it would not have been possible without the steadfast support of my family. here tonight is the first lady of the state my wonderful wife georgeanne. [applause]

>> throughout my life i have been guided by principles. i was taught as a young boy in dasota boy scroti troop to do my duty to help the country, help other people at all times and leave things better than when you found them. following these principles i became an eagle scout, husband father, state senator, attorney general, and now governor. they remain touch stones for service for our great state. in nearly 30 years of public service, i have learned a lot about the character of the people of missouri. we don't expect something for nothing. but give us an opportunity, and we will roll up our sleeves and get to work. give us a challenge and we will rise to meet it.

i have learned a lot about state government. it we are mired in partisanship, nothing gets done. when we aim high and work together there is much we can accomplish. let's show the people we serve we can rise above partnership and unite and move forward and leave missouri better than we found it. and that means working together. [applause] >> i am willing to do my part. rumor has it on some front i don't spend enough time up on the third floor. [laughter] i hear you. i am going to be coming around a lot little off more often. just be careful what you wish for. [laughter]

one hour ago, i presented a lesion of honor -- in the summer of 1944, mr. girling was a hellcat gunner with the battalion. he drove through france and germany during the battle of the bulge and was awarded a bronze star for service. he represents millions of members of the greatest generation. men and women that demonstrated the grid, courage, and unshakable optimism that made the country what it is today. sergeant girling, would you stand? we thank you on behalf of all of the missourians and the men and women in uniform. [applause]

[applause] >> thank you. >> for their courage and sacrifice, our veterans deserve more than gratitude from a our courage and sacrifice. they deserve to live with dignity and pride. today with the era of vietnam vets getting older we need to make sure all of our vet rbis get the care they need.

that is why i propose a model to improve the veterans home they they are up to the standards our veterans deserve. [applause] >> but you know we need to do more. nearly 2,000 missouri vets are on the waiting list to get the care they earned. that is unacceptable. that is why i am proposing the construction of a new veteran's home for these proud missourians. [applause] >> these men and women did their duty to god and country and now we need to work together to get that built. the spirit of optimism and the willingness to face any challenge makes us special as

americans and missourians in times of struggle and unrest like those we saw this last year. that spirit helped us find a path forward and the same spirit that has produced some of missouri's proudest moments over the last six years. together we led the rebirth of , the auto industry together right here in the heartland. [applause] >> together, we helped communities recover and rebuild stronger in the aftermath of floods, blizzard and the deadliest tornado in joplin history. we are moving missouri together on a foundation of fiscal discipline and economic growth. fiscal discipline is a value here. we balance budgets, keep taxes low, and continue to downsize

state government while improving services through innovation. we trimmed the state workforce by 4,000 positions, paid down debt and sold off property at a time when pension cost were dragging down other states, we worked together to shore up the pension system saving taxpayers more than $600,000 over ten years. -- $600 million. strict fiscal discipline helped protect our aaa credit rating giving us the opportunity to make essential long-overdue investments. we passed additional bonding capacity and that means this year we can move forward to fund improvements to college campus state parks and buildings, and veteran's homes. [applause] it means more jobs, better labs

for students, taking care of mer veterans. quite simply, let's just get it done. in the past six years, we have made government smarter by embracing technology. from hunting permits to child care information missourians can access programs from their smart phone saving money, time and aggravation. i think the general assembly for supporting technology to better serve our taxpayers. [applause] >> technology has improved our daily lives at the at the same time it has created serious security challenge. growing anxiety about the safety of sensitive information from credit card fraud to identity theft to cyber terrorism, there are real and founting threats to our personal information

financial and medical records, and even our power grid. hackers are constantly trying to crack firewalls. they target government and private companies alike. this year we will ramp up the cyber security efforts by partnering with businesses, law enforcement, and universities to educate the public and make missouri a leader in cyber security. it will make our families and personal information safer create more jobs in the tech sector, and strengthen our growing economy. it will. [applause] and you know our economy is growing. let's take a second to remember where we started. when i took office in january 2009, the state had lost more than 65,000 jobs in the previous year. the unemployment rate was 8.6 percent and rising. today we got the news our unemployment rate dropped again to 5.4 percent. that is good news.

[applause] >> home construction is up personal income is up, and missouri employers created more jobs in 2014 than any year since 1997. >> that is right. we just closed out the best year for job growth in 17 years. [applause] >> and you know we are just getting started. the largest economic development program in history is underway in kansas city. a $4.4 billion campus for 1600 workers in high tech health care thank to the work we did in the special session one year ago

boeing is bringing commercial aircraft manufacture to missouri for the first time in history putting hundreds more to work in st. louis north county. >> and more enterprise missourians across the state are starting their own business than at any time in the last 20 [applause] >> and another way we are creating more jobs at home is selling more missouri products to brazil, china, korea, canada, and others. some of you in the room joined me on trade missions and signed agreements send billions of goods. last year, our exports hit $14 billion. that is $14 billion made in missouri products going all over the world. that is huge. [applause] >> now, a big part of that success is from our number one

industry -- agriculture. 2014 was a phenomenal year for agriculture. from corn, soybeans, rise, hog chicken and turkeys and 11 million more in cuba. for many in my generation, trade with cuba was unthinkable. but never underestimate the power of american democracy to improve people's lives and open people's hearts and mind. once free markets begin to flourish, freedom will follow. i went to a coalition including 40 agriculture groups calling for expanded trade to cuba. in march i am going to havana with our director of agriculture and leaders of the state to make sure missouri is first in the door. [applause] >> all we need is an open door and missouri's hard working

innovators will do the rest. we are working to bring economic activity to small towns and rural communities by boosting our cattle industry. missouri is second in the nation in cattle production thanks to research and the know how of our ranchers. but here is the beef. nearly all of the animals leave missouri before being full grown and are finished and processed in other states. that means missouri is missing out on $1 billion every year. we need to keep those candles and those dollars right here in the show me state. [applause] >> earlier this month we brought hundreds of folks from around the state -- producers, scientist, packers, corn growers and legislators to develop a

plan to do that. we are also proposing $1.2 million to research new way toes make our cattle industry more profitable. with the right strategy on beef, we can strengthen our rural economy and the families and communities that depend on it. now, getting more missourian goods to global markets require the transportation infrastructure to get their safely. we traditionally pay for roads and bridges through user fee like the gas tax. missouri residents believe it it only fair to pay for the roads if you use them. but with more fuel efficient vehicles, there is less gas and money for roads and bridges is drying up. missouri has the 7th largest highway system in the nation but

we rank 46th in how much we invest to maintain it. last week, we heard mo-dot lay out in stark terms what this means. on thousands of miles of state roads we will barely be able to patch pot holes. by 2017, we will not have enough revenue to match federal highway dollars. what do we do? one option is a toll road on i-70. one report shows it would make missouri safer and better. it would free up tens of millions of dollars for the state. trucks and out of state vehicles that do the most damage to i-70 would have to pay their fair share. another option is missouri's gas tax. it hasn't gone up a penny in 20

years and the fifth lowest in the nation. with gas prices as low as they are this is worth a close look. if we want to leave missouri roads better than we found them , the only thing we cannot do is sit still. this is a major long-term challenge, and this is the time to get moving now. absolutely. now, creating opportunity for all missourians requires us to face painful truths and tackle difficult challenges. the events in ferguson following the death of michael brown sparked a national conversation about race and equality, education and economic opportunity, law enforcement and the courts. we have taken meaningful steps forward in ferguson. we provided loans to help small businesses recover, we will

invest $2.5 million to invest florescene street. we are overseeing a summer program for thousands of low income families in st. louis and kansas city. last fall i created the ferguson commission which continues its vital work of listening, learning and evaluating solutions. [applause] i look forward to receiving their final report this september. but make no mistake. the legacy of ferguson will be determined by what we do next to foster healing and hope. and the changes we make to strengthen all of our communities. [applause]

>> many of the broader systemic issues will require sustained efforts by those in this room. we need to reform municipal courts so all citizens are treated fairly. [applause] >> we need to update the state statue governoring deadly force to be consistent with supreme court and u.s. constitution precedent. [applause] >> we need to support policies that foster racial understanding and compassion. [applause] >> we need to create greater economic opportunity and encourage personal responsibility. absolutely. [applause] >> we need to strengthen failing schools and provide access to affordable health care. and we must recruit, train, and

certify law enforcement that reflects the community it serves. [applause] >> the men and women of law enforcement serve and protect in difficult and dangerous circumstances. they put their lives on the line to protect our lives. we are proud of our law enforcement officers. [applause] >> we send them into streets

where there is too much violence and too little hope. too much fear and too little trust. but some folks feel they have to choose sides -- them or us. black or white. but the truth is we are all in this together. ok? [applause] >> the truth is, real and lasting change is only possible when we stand together. religious leaders, residents and business owners pitched in and teachers volunteered to provide hundreds of activities at the public library after school was canceled. one day last summer, troopers from missouri state highway patrol were driving through can

field green and noticed a basketball hoop that looked pretty sad. bent over and didn't even have a net. so with their own money to troopers went to a local store and bought a net, and basketball and drove back and hung the net and tossed the ball at a the neighborhood kids. back on the same street the next day the troopers saw a pickup game was under way and they joined in. of course it was more than just friendly game of hoops. it was an opportunity to ease tensions, to begin fostering trust, and to bring about the kind of change that is needed in communities all across america. [applause] and as we search for long-term

strategies to promote opportunity, we don't need to look further than education. education is the great equalizer. because when every child has a quality education, every child has the opportunity to succeed. [applause] an education is the best economic development tool we have. ok? that is why we have increased funding while raising our expectations with more rigorous classes, tougher tests, and stricter accountability, and missouri' schools are rising to the challenge. over the past six years math and reading scores have gone up, and we are seeing solid progress in the most troubled school districts. tonight we are joined by the

superintendent of jennings school district and a student with a 4.0, brenda parker. listen to the numbers -- [applause] there we go. school district and a student with a 4.0, brenda parker. >> isn't it nice to be in a room where everyone else got straight a's? fellow travelers with you. more than 90% of the kids in her district come from poor families, but her superintendent and her team are not letting anything hold them back.

jennings students have made big leaps are higher test scores and graduation rate. join me in thinking the leader dr. anderson, for her dedication with these kids. i visit communities across the state and you will get a sense of how strongly missourians support their local public schools and their teachers. last year at the polls, voters rejected a tax on public school -- rejected an attack

on public school teachers with more than 76% of missourians voting against it. that initiative lost in every single county of the state. in stone county, wane and washington, green, and iron county demonstrated how fiercely they stand behind public schools, because missourians know we need to pay the teachers more not chip away at their schools. [applause] >> if we are honest about where our schools stand we still have work to do, because isn't goo enough. our kids deserve the best. my budget will invest an additional $11 million in

pre-school so more children start kindergarten ready to learn. and once again i am proposing record-funding for k-12 with an additional $150 million for our public schools. [applause] that means more technology in the classrooms, smaller class sizes, more hands-on learning, and better pay for the folks doing the toughest job there is, teaching our kids. [applause] i also appreciate the good bipartisan discussions we have had about the school transfer law, and i am confidant the legislature will get a clean fix to my desk this session. we know the fastest-growing, highest-paying jobs in the global economy are in science, technology, engineering, and math. right now less than 20% of our

undergrads at our public universities are getting degrees in these demanding disciplines. we got to expose kids at an early age to programs that bring science and math to life, like project lead the way. i have been to project lead the way classes where kids were analyzing dna and designing software. we have more lead the way computer science programs now than any other state. [applause] but we are not using project lead the way at the elementary level. we need to ramp that up. that's why my budget provides startup grants to expand project lead away to another 350 elementary schools all across the show me state. when it comes to higher education, we continue to be guided by our core principles -- quality, affordability, and

accountability. since 2009, missouri has led the nation in holding down tuition increases at our public universities. number one. [applause] i am proposing an additional $25 million for colleges and universities based on how well they meet strong performance standards. we are working to provide state of the art facilities that will prepare our students for high tech jobs, replacing lab equipment that is more than 30 years old, and upgrading engineering buildings, because we cannot prepare students for 21st century jobs with equipment that was obsolete in the 20th century. underway. -- one of these projects is underway.

long overdue renovations at missouri's college of engineering is going to add classroom and lab space to prepare more missourians. education and educating a competitive workforce is something we can all get behind. i want to thank each of you for helping our educate our workforce. our national resources are key to the state. missouri is blessed with an abundance of fresh water. mississippi and missouri rivers and clear running ozark streams. we take it for granted. if you go upstreams to the dakotas or the headwaters of the missouri, it is an entirely different story. they are fighting over water. they want to divert as much water from the missouri river as they can, leaving our farmers and shippers high and dry. take kansas. their latest idea is a

construction of a 360-mile aquaduct to siphon off more missouri river water. we cannot let that happen. [applause] as long as i am governor, we pp-- i will not allow another state to divert our water because we will rely on the water for drinking, farming and industry. we need to protect the amount of water in missouri and the quality of the water we have in our state. all across the state, drinking and waste water systems are starting to fall apart. if you ever had a pipe burst in your basement or a cracked main in your subdivision you know how

costly and annoying that can be. that is why my budget includes $70 million, funds approved by the voter and legislature, to rebuild the aging water systems now and ensure we leave missouri waters better than how we found them. our rivers and streams are part of the priceless outdoor heritage missourians can enjoy. our 87 state parks have been recognized as the finest in the nation for camping, hiking, with million of visitors. this year is our opportunity to update state park cabins and lodges with special attention built by the conservation corps. the bridge of bennett springs is one of many special places we need to preserve for generations to come. absolutely. [applause]

i have spoken about big challenges we must overcome to create opportunity and build a brighter future for our state. i would like to talk about another challenge, but really a greater opportunity -- strengthening and reforming medicaid. [applause] a lot has changed since last year. since i stood here last year missouri taxpayers have sent $2 billion to washington. those dollars are being used right now in other states to reform and improve their medicaid system. that is $2 billion missouri taxpayer dollars and this year there is another $2 billion at stake. if we keep standing still, that is $4 billion missouri has lost

to other states by the end of the year. people are moving past the politics across the country. republican governors in arizona, iowa, michigan, new jersey, new mexico, nevada, north dakota and ohio have already stregthened medicaid in their states. since last year, even more republican governors have come forward with medicaid proposals. utah, tennessee, indiana, and wyoming. even the republican governor of alabama has indicated he may join them. many states are pursuing reforms demanding personal responsibility and encourageing stregthened medicaid in their states. work and cracking down on fraud, and they are using our tax dollars to do it. where our tax dollars have gone,

health care jobs have followed. states that have improved medicaid growth have had three times the growth. hospitals are often the largest employers in our communities. but jobs in health care that comprise 1/6 of the economy are not growing like they should. in fact, thousands of missouri health care jobs in the past year have been lost and hospitals and clinics have closed. if we don't take action, more will follow. the ceo of a hospital explained he would cut 60 missouri jobs but hire 62 new workers in arkansas.

the ceo wrote, and i quote, "the reason we are hiring in arkansas and laying off in missouri is arkansas chose to expand medicaid and missouri did not. i fear missouri will never recover the ground it is now losing state-wide as a result of political posturing." folks, this is real. the time to move forward is now. [applause] also, it is really important to remember that standing still on medicaid has a human cost. the 300,000 missourians who would get health care if we moved forward are your friends

and neighbors. 13,000 are veterans. 50,000 are people struggling with mental illness or substance abuse, and tens of thousands more are working missourians who live below the poverty line because they are working and earn too much to get medicaid, but couldn't afford to buy health insurance on their own. let's work together, rise up and strengthen and reform medicaid this year. [applause] when we work together we can make a real difference. look what we did to strengthen

our mental health system. we have helped children with autism and rebuilding mental institutions and working hand and hand with local law enforcement. together they are helping thousands of missourians with mental illness getting the help they need. for the first time in 20 years there is no longer a wait for in-home services for missourians with developmental disabilities. that is what happens when we work together. [applause] those of us in state government understand its role in protecting the vulnerable and preserving the peace and fostering greater economic

opportunity. and yet many missourians have grown cynical about state government's ability to help them better their on life. that is because they believe the system is rigged against them. favoring the wealthy and ignoring the hard working folks. folks who drive trucks, wait tables, stock shelves, folks trying to make ends meet. missourians don't expect something for nothing. but they do expect a fair shake, and they deserve it. what good are we to the people who elected us if they cannot trust us to represent their best interests? that is exactly why we need ethics reform. ok? [applause] i have talked about it every year i have been governor.

we have the weakest ethics law in the nation. it's not fair, and we know it. every day we don't act, the public's confidence in us continues to erode. no more excuses. let's get a meaningful ethics reform bill to my desk this year. [applause] when we work together, we can achieve great things for the people of our state. last week i was at the detroit auto show, where missouri's award-winning trucks and vans once again took center stage. today our automotive comeback may seem like it was inevitable. but back in 2009, the

national recession and competition overseas crippled our auto industry and plants were closing in hazelwood, north and south st. louis and there were rumors that kansas city's ford plant and 4,000 residents were going to be next. i wasn't going to let that happen. as long as cars were going to be made somewhere, i was determined to make sure it was missourians who were building them. ok absolutely.

the first order i signed was creating an automotive jobs task force and ramped up the efforts in workforce training. but to secure the next-generation of automotive manufacture in the state we had to do more. that is why i called a special session to pass strategic, fiscally responsible legislation that would pull our auto industy back from the brink. when it passed, i signed it right there with the hardworking men and women of local 249. it is no accident that soon more vehicles will be rolling off that line than any other ford plant in the world.

[applause] it is no accident general motors plant continues to expand and build the award winning chevy colorado and gmc cannon. [applause] it is no accident that "motor trend's" top trucks are built all here in the show me state. ford, gm, and more than 60 suppliers have invested in

missouri more than $2 billion since 2010. it required two passages of edge legislation during the special session and one passed by just two votes. many said it would not get done. they were wrong. 4 members voted for both bills who are still serving in the legislature today, including then speaker ron richard. look at this, though. look at the other four. president protem dempsey, house legislature today, including speaker, and house minority leader. these were not easy votes for everyone at the time, but it was the right thing to do. the rest of you want to get in

leadership and ahead? you got some good examples. do the right thing. reach across the aisle. together we can do great things for our state. the real credit for rebuilding the auto industry goes to the workers. we are by some of them tonight. please stand, if you would members of the uaw. today's high-tech vehicles are not your parents' trucks and vans. building them takes a level of skill that is extraordinary. you guys, you build the strongest, toughest vehicles in

the world, and you are making the show me state the national leader in automotive excellence and innovation. your work ethic is second to none, your work product is the best in the world. quite simply, you make the show me state proud. thank you. think about it for a second. because of the work of the people sitting here just a few short years ago and the work we did together, these men and women have the dignity of a good family-supporting job. those paychecks cover more than the monthly bills. they pay for books and baseball gloves, computers and college tuition, and put something in the collection plate on sunday.

specific shoutout to representative pierce. it was made possible by the decision made in this building. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> this, my friends, is what public service is all about. representative pierce. this is why we are here. to create real opportunity that leaves no one behind. the fact is our state works best when everyone has an opportunity to succeed. every college student in our state deserves an opportunity to earn a degree that prepares them to compete in a global economy and enter the workforce without a mountain of debt. every parent in our state deserves an opportunity to get a job that pays enough to provide for their families and save a little.

every farmer who wakes up before sunrise and works past sunset deserves a chance to sell his crops around the country and around the globe. and every missourian -- every missourian -- deserves a government worthy of their trust. [applause] that is what it is expected of us. we must demand it of ourselves and each other. i believe we are all here for the same reasons, which that brings me back to the values instilled in me as a scout. to do our duty, to guide our country, and to help other people at all times, and to leave things better than we found them. working together, we will build a stronger missouri for

everyone and leave our great state a better place than we found it. our time is short. let's make the most of it. thank you, and god bless. >> earlier this afternoon harry reid held a news conference reporters. he gave an update on his injuries, saying he hopes to return full-time to the senate after his eye surgery on monday. there is more. >> will you talk about your [indiscernible] and the surgery you are going to have on monday? >> are a lot of rumors as to what happened, but it is civil. my wife and i were in our new home. i was doing exercises i had been

doing for many years with large rubber bands, and one of them broke and spun me around. i crashed into these cabinets and injured my eyes. i did -- it did not knock me out, but it sure hurt, and i was taken to the hospital and came back here after a couple of days. i have some bones broken around my eye and on monday, as i understand it, they are going to fix that. they're going to reconstruct the bones here. the phone that is broken is this one right here. it has been pushed in and gets my eye, and they are going to move that bone out because of the injury. it is blood in the front and

back part of my eye, and they are going to do the reconstruction of that loanbone the they're going to drain the blood ofre. the front part of the eye, the back part of the eye and the prognosis is quite good after that. >> are you worried about the surgery? any situation related to this that would cause you not to seek reelection? >> not at this stage. doctors have been supportive of my plans. nothing has changed from the time when i was first recovering. my staff continues to be previewed for my new campaign, everything is online. we have quite an operation in nevada that has not lost a step. we are off and running. >> are you fearful about your e

ye i am looking forward? >> to monday. you can watch all of his comments tonight at 10:25 eastern on his band2 c-span2, or anytime online at www.c-span.org. >> the former ambassador of morocco talks about the recent attacks in paris and the resignation of the government in yemen. after that, an author on a book k "we are better than this." all at "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> there are some of our featured programs for this weekend. on c-span2, saturday night mike

huckabee on america's current political landscape. sunday night at 11:00, a princeton historian examines initiatives of lyndon johnson as part of his great society. on c-span3 saturday, a professor on the role of the british royal air force and allied strategy during world war two. sunday evening at 6:00, and archivist at the per duty university special -- at purdue university special collections papers related to the american aviation pioneer. let us that what you think about programs you are watching. call us, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. joined the c-span conversation.

like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. >> michigan republican governor rick snyder delivered his state of the state address from lansing. he talked about government operations education, and his state's economy. this is 50 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> thank you very much, well thank you very much. please be seated. thank you for that warm welcome. good evening. it is great to be with you tonight. let me start by recognizing lt. governor brian calley, speaker cotter, senate majority leader meekhof, senate

minority leader ananich, house minority leader greimel, members of the legislature, members of the supreme court, members of the court of appeals, secretary of state ruth johnson, attorney general bill schuette cabinet members. ladies and gentlemen of the legislature, i also want to recognize we have consulate generals from canada, iraq japan, and mexico here, and i also want to recognize we have representative from china with us fellow public servants, and in particular i am going to ask all member so the michigan national guard and all of our members of the military to stand so we can give you a special recognition.

thank you for your distinguished service in keeping us safe. citizens of michigan, and last but not least i want to recognize my family, thank you for all your support. what i would ask now is for a moment of silence. over the course of the last year we lost one of our michigan service members, sergeant first class michael carthcart of bay city, and in addition, we actually lost several law enforcement individuals, first responders and public safety officers in the state of michigan, so i ask if you would

bow your head for a moment of silence, out of respect for their service keeping us safe. thank you. let me begin by saying we have taken on many challenges that people thought were unbelievable. we have made the old unbelievable achievable, and we have taken on many difficult issues. michigan is a much better place today than it was several years ago. we're better, but to be open with you, better is not good enough. we need to do more, we need to do more and that is what tonight is about, talking about how we go to the top. to build on the foundation we built, but go farther and better, to keep up on the path of success. in terms of the talk of tonight, i am going to follow my traditional format. i want to share several things from the dashboard because it's important that we're measured on the success that we achieve. i am going to talk about 2014. i am going to talk about 2015.

i am going to give you a roadmap of activities during the course of the year for key events, and then i'll close. in terms of the dashboard, we should be so proud. in terms of the big industries in michigan, what a great achievement. the auto industry, what a great comeback. again, i hope you have the opportunity to make the detroit auto show, the north american international auto show. you can see how tremendously exciting the industry is. but to give you one number that stands out, since 2010 we had a 48% increase in automotive production in the state of michigan, nearly 50% increase in four years. for our food and agriculture industry, food and agriculture is critically important. you have been a shining star for us during the difficult years and their only continually to shine brighter. we set a new hallmark, a new benchmark that many people didn't think we would achieve in terms of the size of the industry.

so just this last year was announced that the food industry in the state of michigan has now exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity. in terms of tourism we continue to do very well. tour michigan works folks, we love it. to give you a benchmark over the last few years in terms of out of state tourism for michigan, michigan, compared to just 2010 or so, we are now seeing on an annual basis more than $2 million more tourists a year from out of state coming to michigan than just four years ago. that's tremendous. in terms of our citizens though, we are all seeing great things. if you look at job creation in our state, we have created over 300,000 private sector jobs in the last four years. tremendous success. our unemployment rate has dropped significantly.

in 2010, in december it was 11.3%. in november of this last year it was 6.7%, a 40% decrease in unemployment in 4 years. and december is coming out tomorrow. we will see if we are going to have more progress in moving michigan forward. in terms of housing values, if you compared us across the united state and you looked over the last four years, how have we done? the rest of the country averaged a 16% increase, and the state of michigan a 25% increase. so we are seeing those home values come back for our citizens, and thank you very much. well, let me jump right into 2014. one thing i would ask, and again, you never hear this out of most politicians, i am not a career politician, is that i would actually ask you to hold your applause except for recognitions of individuals, because i want to get to 2015. i am excited to get there, but i do want to give you an update on

what transpired this last year in terms of major accomplishments. first of all on more and better jobs, the skilled trades. one of the things i am focused in on and i know we are all excited about is to make michigan number one in the skilled trades in the united states. we started that path last year. we created the skilled trade training fund for our community colleges, $50 million to invest in needed equipment for our community colleges to do that training. we created the skilled trades training fund to help companies be successful, and we have seen over 10,000 michiganders get additional training, job opportunities and such because of the skilled trade training fund. one thing in particular i am proud of that is not just about what we are doing today, but how we are preparing for the future, is first robotics, a tremendous program we have been supporting. if you look at kids who do first robotics, the likelihood of them going into engineering or the skilled trades goes up dramatically. we were number two in the country several years ago, but over the last few years we have added teams. this least year 77 teams that is more than the other 49 states combined.

we are up to 349 teams, 110 more than california now. and we are moving to be a leader in that, and i want to give a shout out to kettering university that did the first of a kind community center for first robotics teams. they have been a new leader. we have the president of kettering here tonight, and i want to recognize him, but i also want to recognize a student named harrison ford, not the actor, the student harrison ford. the reason i want to mention harrison in particular as he is a junior now at kettering in their co-op program. he is doing tremendously well. when he was on a first robotics team, and it had meant so much to him, he is now a mentor for another first robotics team in flint, the flint fire. so this is a case of someone having success giving back, so let's give a big shoutout in the balcony to dr. robert mcmahan, president of kettering, and harrison ford, a student at kettering.

thank you so much. keep building those robots. major things accomplished -- personal property tax reform the vote in august. it was fundamental in terms of making us more competitive. that ballot proposal passed with resounding supports. what does it mean to michiganders? hardworking michiganders will now have opportunities to work in small businesses because they are more competitive and local government has a more consistent source of revenue. that was an outstanding reform. if you look at how we have done in michigan in terms of our rankings, in terms of our business tax climate over the last four years, we have gone from 27th to 13th. even more importantly in terms of entrepreneurial climate in the state of michigan, we have gone from 44th to 6th. that is the kind of environment that is going to create jobs in our state. let me talk about education.

we should be absolutely proud. we have been a leader in the nation with early childhood and pre-school education. for the last two years we made major budget commitments, $65 million a year for a total of $130 million in an on-going basis. we created over 29,000 new opportunities for people in need, young people in need, to get pre-school. that is outstanding and we should be proud. another thing in education i want to mention is a partnership with the attorney general. he came out with a hotline, a confidential hotline called ok2say. and has it been successful? we'll we have gotten the first semester results back. we had over 400 tips come in and they addressed important issues such as bullying, helping suicide prevention, child abuse, and it is there to also deal with potential cases of school violence. ok2say is working, and we should be proud. so i want to thank the attorney general for his partnership in that effort. in terms of big things going on.

in terms of michigan with people, a huge success is healthy michigan. it launched last april. it's our version of medicaid expansion done right, involving wellness and personal responsibility. we now have over 500,000 michiganders participating in the program in just that number of months. in terms of what it means to their lives, we have seen over 350,000 primary care visits now taking place. those are big numbers, but the important part is, is now we are helping real-life people move from being uninsured in the er and now move to a preventative care environment where they have a medical home and it is something that will improve the quality of their life and save us all money. and i want to give a shoutout to someone, a key mover in making it happen, he was in the house at the time, but i want to give a shoutout to senator mike shirkey for his great work on that. another area of achievement i am

very proud of is the disability employment directive towards the end of the year. about how the state of michigan can do better about hiring people with disabilities and then training our people to better understand the challenges people with disabilities face. i am very proud to say i did that before i became a person that can now have greater appreciation for people with disabilities. this particular circumstance i have now is only temporary, but it really has given me a much greater perspective on the challenges that someone with a disability faces. you might find it intriguing in terms of support. i actually had recommendations about how to come in tonight. one was by jet-pack through the ceiling. [laughter] my personal favorite, i like the idea of a zip-line from the balcony. but, realistically, when you have a disability you have to be thoughtful and i want to thank the work that was done to put that directive in place and now we are going to go statewide. we have a summit coming up in february.

i want to give a shoutout to two people who have been leaders in that, lieutenant governor brian calley and justice richard bernstein. our military and veterans are critically important and i'm really proud of what we have done there. one program for our national guard members is we came up with a tuition assistance program that has gotten a tremendously positive response. these people put their lives on the line for us and they deserved it, and it was about time we go it. another thing that is tremendously exciting is we are leading the nation in some of our activities with our veterans. we did a partnership with the united way and came up with a 24 by 7, 365 day hotline, one stop shopping for our veterans, that's 1-800-mich- vet. and we are leading in the nation with that, we should be proud. with respect to our seniors. we did some tremendously positive legislation there, thanks to the silver key coalition and all the great

legislators here. we're making michigan a no-wait state for in-home services. and we passed legislation to deal with senior abuse in terms of being more proactive. good work again by the legislature. public safety. two or three years ago i made the point that we have four of the most violent cities in the united states in the top ten. that is unacceptable. have we fully gotten off that list? no, but have we made tremendous progress? over the last few years since we had that program going, to give you idea of results, the four cities -- detroit, violent crime is down 20%, saginaw violent crime is down 26%, pontiac violent crime down 28%, flint violent crime down 28%. we are going to keep it up. we are going to stay committed. we're going to get them off that top 10 list, and that is important. in terms of the environment, we set a big goal in recycling. we have fallen behind in recycling.

we think the deposit bill makes us a leader. we actually have gotten behind in regular recycling in this state. we were lagging. so i appreciate the direction to say let's double our goal. let's go from 15 to 30% and we set the goal to say we would get there in two years. we are on a path to get there in two years and we should be proud of that. the other thing in the environment i want to recognize is we did a really important package with our hunters and fishermen in the state. and it wasn't about getting more resources they want to invest. but it's about doing world class management based on sound science to really keep our natural resources thriving and have more hunters out there in the woods doing good work, having more fisherman catch big fish. we are making progress in michigan on that front. the last topic i want to cover on 2014 was efficient effective and accountable government. a couple things is, first of all we had a very challenging year. this was a year of disasters in our state, and many of you personally had to go through those experiences. we had huge floods in southeastern michigan, floods in

mid-michigan, and the upper peninsula we had a huge freeze problem. we had a propane crisis in the upper peninsula. we had the ebola issue. what i would say though that we should be proud, both in terms of preparedness and working on these issues ahead of time, but also in terms of our response, we saw a tremendous response not just at the state level, but at all levels of government and the private sector coming together to deal with it. and so i want to give a shoutout in particular to our first responders and in particular the michigan state police, with colonel etue, our local emergency management people, the first responders in all of our local jurisdictions, fema, and the sba. thank you for your great work. in terms of local government one thing i have to mentioned in terms of opportunity and

great outcomes is the city of detroit. we emerged from bankruptcy from the city of detroit, a tremendously hard, difficult process that many people came together to do special things that stand out. and i do want to recognize the people that really made that happen. i want to recognize the retirees who made a sacrifice, who went through very difficult times and they were with us, though, to support the grand bargain. i want to recognize the hard work of the people at the dia in terms of raising resources. the foundation community for raising resources, all the great work that took place through this process to make detroit a stronger, better place. in particular, i want to thank mayor duggan. mayor, thank you and the city council for your strong effort. a tremendously hard, difficult process that many people came together to do special things that stand out. and i do want to recognize the a gentleman, a fellow u of m alumni, who did tremendous work. we want to get him back in the

state of michigan, kevyn orr. some of the individuals who could not join us, but judge rosen and judge rhodes did tremendous work in this effort. and i want to thank each and every legislator for your conference, your courage to come together to stand up as michiganders to say, we are all one state. we're strongest when we recognize it's detroit, michigan. and the thing i am proudest to say, after how many decades can each one of us say now that we all have common goal of not dwelling on detroit's past, but saying let's grow the city of detroit, in particular put emphasis on neighborhoods to bring them back to be a great place to live in our state. let's see detroit continue going up and mayor, you have my support and partnership in helping make that happen. thank you.

thank you. now, for 2015, i am excited, and i hope you are too when i am done. first of all, i want to recognize great bipartisan work done at the end of last year. it was about doing a bipartisan solution to deal with something we knew we had to do, and that is a transportation proposal, to deal with the fact that we have rotten roads and bridges in our state. no one in michigan likes our roads and bridges. we got that work done, but our work isn't done. now we need to ask our citizens to support that effort in may on the ballot. what is this all about? the key issue is public safety. if you look at it and you look at our bridges, one out of nine is structurally deficient. you might have read about cincinnati today in terms of bridge challenges there.

one out of nine being structurally deficient. so when you drive michigan and you see plywood underneath the bridge, why is it there? it's keeping crumbling concrete from falling on your vehicle. that's unacceptable. when you talk about our roads and you see those potholes, just think about the issues and concerns. you've done this personally. when you swerve to miss a pothole, you are a distracted driver. you are putting yourself at risk and other drivers and other people. if you hit that pothole and you blow a tire, you're at risk of a major accident. that is unacceptable. we need to do something folks. it's time to get it done. when you look at the cost structures, we actually looked at the state of indiana and saw that on average we spend $132 more than the state of indiana for damage to vehicles in terms of road damage. that is a lot of money folks to offset the cost of this proposal. in the end, what i need you to do is vote yes. vote yes so we can have safer

roads. vote yes so we can get rid of the crumbling bridges and crumbling roads. vote yes so we can have stronger schools and local government. vote yes so we can have tax relief for lower-income people. there are only good reasons to vote yes. let's get it done, let's get it done in may and do it right. thank you. now let me come to the most significant part of the talk tonight. this is about revolutionizing how government operates. this is time for the big vision. there is a better way to do things in government, and that is what i want to share with you now. i call it the river of opportunity, and let me set the stage for you. before our country was even founded, why did people come to america? and after it was founded, why do people continue to come and why do they come today?

we are the land of opportunity. that's what makes us who we are. now, the issue is to have a fair chance to have that opportunity in our country. if you happen to be in the main stream of the river of opportunity and you grow up in a great family with wonderful parents supporting you, you went to a good school, you got advice when you were looking for a career, you found a first good job, you built a career, you are on that path to great opportunity. if you look at it, what is government's role in that situation? government is actually in the background. it's still there it's doing things like public safety, important things, but it is in the background of your life. in fact, you are a contributor to helping others, and you do that through multiple mechanisms. paying taxes is helping, i now you may not feel that way, but that is the point. you are helping to contribute to a charities, to

churches to non-profits to help people. your volunteering your time to help people. everyone in america, fundamentally wants to help other people, and you are one of those people doing that. i am proud to say i was fortunate enough to be in that mainstream, personally. i grew up in a 900-square-foot house in battle creek. my father owned a small window cleaning business and my mother was a homemaker. we never had a lot, but i never wanted for anything. i accepted that and they were wonderful and i was fortunate enough to be in that mainstream of that river of opportunity that now i can stand here as governor of the state of michigan. how do we create opportunities for those people who are not in the mainstream of the river of opportunity? is the question. and why do people fall out of the mainstream or are not in it? in some cases, they don't have parents or they don't have parents at home. they have severe poverty in their family. they maybe in a situation where either to get to school or get to work they need transportation and it is not there, creating a barrier to success. they may have an illness, they may have a disability, they need government support and

non-profit support. government moves to the forefront then, and how do we help them succeed? now, how have we done this in the country? if you go back to the 1930's, we built a system that was about adding programs, and these are good well-intentioned people but if you look back over the last 80 years, what have we done? we have added prescriptive program after prescriptive program. where do we stand today? we've counted 145 plus programs already and still counting, 35 in health care, 40 in work force, 70 in child services. the system is failing, folks. that's not how you solve the problem of helping people have opportunity. what we have done is sliced and diced people into programs. we have moved away from treating them as real people. in fact, in some cases we have taken some of their dignity away as a person by putting them through so many programs. the other problem with all these programs is what we have done? quite often we are

addressing symptoms, we are not addressing real causes, we are actually facilitating dependency on government. that's not right. we have also built a lot of bureaucracy and inefficiency in the system and that's not right. in fact if you look at it, where our society is today, and you look at people who are in the main stream of the river and the people -- that gap of differences only increasing. that is unacceptable and we should not take it. we need to stand up and say there is a better way to do things and how is that? it is time to set back and say let us restructure government to create the river of opportunity by understanding that we are talking about people, not programs, and there are five guiding principles we need to stay up and say, we should be following to help create opportunities for success for people. the first one is, again, it's about people not programs. the second point is it is about

root causes, not symptoms. third is about maiming results not spending money in government programs. fourth is about recognizing that it's not just about government, this is about community, this is about friends and neighbors. we need to engage the entire community. we need to be that village of support together. and, fifth, we need to measure outcomes and results and what's the measurement of success? it's not how many people who we're facilitating or maintaining their dependency. it's how many people that were outside of that mainstream of opportunity that we have now moved into the mainstream so they can be successful. that is what this is about. the question in your mind is to say that's great talk, governor but it is doable? it is absolutely doable. we have been doing it in the state of michigan on a pilot basis for several years now. now is the time to expand and roll it out, to bring it in a bigger fashion to everyone in our state. let me mention two of those programs. one is pathways to potential, a

program we started several years ago where we asked caseworkers to leave the government office. they were happy to and we put them in the local schools. we have caseworkers in 219 schools and 22 counties in our state. they are now there with the kids that they're there to help, with their families seeing what their lives are like, not in some government office. is it making a difference? there are many metrics and measures of success, but i will give you just one. chronic absenteeism, one of the key constraints to success is down by 1/3 in the schools where we have pathway people versus where we do not. that is success. another case is helping the structurally unemployed. the people that have not been successful getting in the workforce, having that opportunity to be on that path of the mainstream again.

so several years ago, we created this program with solely state dollars because the federal programs were simply not good enough to be flexible enough. so how is that program done? we now placed over 3,000 individuals in over 100 companies with a retention rate of nearly 70%. it is making a huge difference in people's lives and i can give you an illustration. the number one reason we found for the people we have been servicing is that they couldn't get training or work to be successful was a lack of transportation. and by having the ability to have these wrapped services to look at the big picture, we have been able to work on that. this is the story of amy, in terms of her life. in 1988, she was a single mother

with three kids. he was she was living with her sister looking about getting assistance. she had the opportunity to go to human services. she ended up with a job with case said engineering, an outstanding company. they went out of their way for a caseworker to be in their company and to give her support and other people support that were in a similar circumstance. 16 years later where is amy today? she's top-tier operator in the company. she's training other people to be successful. she owns a home. i asked her about her three kids. one is in college doing well. the others are in the path of success. that's the kind of problem solving we need toe bring. we have fred keller, the founder of the company. joyce gutierrez marsh from the

michigan department of human services and we have amy from cascade engineering. let's give them a big shoutout. [applause] thank you for being a great role model for all of us. let's do this all across michigan. now the next steps, where do we go with the river of opportunity? as i said, let's ramp up these programs. community ventures. but let's also restructure government. step back and look at how we're doing things in the big picture. we've started already. one of our goals is to be number one in skilled training. to help do that i did an executive order late last year to put together our work

operations with others. we created the department of talent and economic development. a stem in the right direction in that part of the world. i'm working on an executive order that will issue the community of human health and the department of health and human services and combine them as one so we can be much more one-stop shopping, people focused, human focused. and i would appreciate your support in those outstanding efforts. other things we need to do. we need to go to the federal government, say 145-plus programs is not the answer. let's ask how can we consolidate these programs to a few to help people, real people. and coming back to my comment about community. let's go do outreach and figure out how we do private-public partnerships to engage all of us

in how to help une one another to make sure this happens in a positive and supporting way. what is the river of opportunity? the vision is, it's about creating opportunities for success, not facilitating dependency and the mission help people to succeed. not build government programs that spend. that's the kind of attitude we need and now i'm going to transition right into education because that river of opportunity applies to education and wealth. two huge areas i want to mention in particular on education. first of all, we need to put a much stronger focus on what i described as prenatal through third grade. p-3. one of the important metrics in someone's life is the ability to be proficient reading by third grade. we were at 60% in 2010. we're at 70% today. we can't be proud of that,

folks. 70% doesn't cut it. we've done some great things they know whether improve that number such as our investments in early childhood. but we cannot stop there. i'm going to ask for additional resources to invest -- invest more in that area and help to create a sector outside of government. let's work on third-grade reading and i do want to give a shoutout -- [applause] i want to give a shoutout to two representatives. amanda price and senator bill pablo for your great work in these fields. so thank you for your efforts. it helps things a lot. i've never seen shy representatives and senators like this we need you guys to stand up for a good applause.

the next area is something else that's important. the intersection between high school and higher education. we built artificial boundaries that create inefficiencies and failure points for our young people and what do i mean by that? first of all, think about your own situation and think back. how good did we do career counseling for you? back in high school and career college? most of you smile because you didn't get any help and for -- few are getting the assistance they need in career counseling. we need to improve that. we need career tech education but the problem is it in the i. is. d. or is it in the community college and do you know where to look and how to get those programs work together? again, not threatening organizations but creating partnerships. and then you look at the

question of accelerating, getting people through faster and helping reduce college cost spence. that's duel enrollment, all these other opportunities that falls into that sweet spot of intersection. we need to build a seamless system to the users of that system don't need to figure out where they fit in, what separate place they need to go to understanding of that career counseling how to do it faster, better, and less expensively. that's the path to success and i want to give a shoutout to a group that's starting to do that and they came together to make this happen. and they're with us tonight. a technical middle college. it was a company coming together with northern million university and in the zphricts both marquette and eldridge county to

create a middle college. it's an opportunity to get your high school diploma or a technical certificate or credit twords an associate's degree or a associate's degree in five years. we have cody, a junior in the program. fritz erickson, path of northern michigan. sean for eagle mind and stu bradley, the chairman of the education committee at the institution. thank you so much for your innovative work. [applause] last the kind of creativity that makes michigan great and thank you for coming to the u.p. to visit us tonight. the final thing i want to mention on the education front

continues something we didn't finish in the last session and that's teacher effectiveness. our teachers deserve the best tools and we should be working on that. in terms of more and better jobs, a couple of things. we'll create regional prosperity teams. we have the 10 regions across the state but as michigan has come back and been strong, doing well in so many different ways, certain geographies are being left behind and i'm talking about urban and rural areas that have not been participating and i want our 10 regions to identify the places of greatest need within their region where they're willing to devote resources and we'll bring our resources to the table and help them be successful and make sure they're participating in the comeback of michigan. the other thing i call for is a continuation of the dialogue and discussion on elliott larsen.

i appreciate the prior discussions but let's keep up that dialogue and show that we can deal with issues of discrimination in our state. [applause] thank you. on the people front. we have a problem that we need to address. we worked on it, but not good enough and that is the case of drug abuse in our state. the numbers show we probably have 650,000 plus people with a substance abuse disorder. if you looked at it in terms of death from drug overdose and drug poisoning, that number has gone up four- fold since 1999. last year we had a summit on heroin to help address the issue, but that's not good enough, so i am making a call now to say let's develop a comprehensive plan by october where we can do more to prevent drug abuse

within our state and help these people. [applause] energy and the environment. we need a long-term policy and so in march i am going to do a special message on energy the main pillars are affordability, reliability and environmental protection. it needs to be an adaptable policy because of the lack of federal policy and the challenges of a global market place. we need to focus in on important things, such as, eliminating energy waste and the conversion from coal to natural gas assets of the state of michigan and renewables. and the other part of that is, we can do better to organize ourselves so i am calling for the creation of an agency on energy that would combine the mpsc people with energy office people with people from experts, lara and the medc on how we can all work together to come up with better policies. one area in particular, i would mention that we should be proud of is that we made tremendous progress in solving a huge crisis and threat to the upper peninsula that we've announced agreements now

that can make a fundamental difference for the u.p. we need to make sure those agreements get executed and completed, but we can show that we can do great things on energy in our state. [applause] i am going to go fast on the next two or three because i don't want to run out of time on some cool stuff, again. on invasives, we are doing great work and this is the year to really step forward on invasive species in terms of identifying priority areas, early detection sites being put into place and education of our citizens. and, so, that is a big investment we will be making that will make a difference. in terms of effective, efficient and accountable government, i am asking our legislature to work on doing fiscal notes with legislation, so we can see the budgetary impact and how to be more efficient. [applause] now, i am watching who clapped to see if can make sure those turn into votes.

we did legislation at the end of last year on an early warning system for municipalities. we didn't finish the work on schools and we need to go ahead and finish that work on schools. to give you an update something that is of interest to many people, on the whole situation of emergency managers. since i have been governor, we have had 11 different cities or school districts that have had an e.m. i'm pleased to report, six of semihave left emergency manager status and we have a seventh on the way. this system is generally working well, but the point is let's avoid emergency managers, let's do early warning. and, the other thing i am calling is we need to do a score card for all local jurisdictions in state jurisdictions about financial performance and performance in terms of objectives that is easier for our citizens to use and to see. let's create this easy to use scorecard that our citizens deserve so that we can be more accountable and transparent in how we are operating and what our challenges are within government

and important opportunities. one subset of that, in particular, i would like to mention that we're working on is a case of detroit, for example, and a few other communities, we have an uncorted educational environment where we have a school district, we have the case of detroit, the eaa, we have charter schools, an environment that is not creating success for our students. they deserve it. they deserve to have a great education. so, they have a bright chance at college, career and life and we need to do more on that. and, i appreciate the work going on with the coalition now lead by the skillman foundation, but before the first half of the year, i hope to call for legislation to bring more structure and more thoughtfulness to deal with these challenged situations. to say the answer in my view, needs to begin by saying we need to raise the bar and standard on every educational institution, whether it be a public school, a charter school, the eaa and we need a common bar, that's a high bar, that's an increasing bar that make sure these kids get the best education possible. [applause]

thank you. and i want to give a quick shoutout -- i have a fellow c.p.a. that's been a great help in this and that is rep. earl poleski. so, earl, thank you for your work on that. and one thing is important when i talk about detroit or challenged educational environments. we have some awesome schools in detroit and i want to recognize that and we have a great illustration here tonight. davidson elementary middle school, they have something called the techno dragons and it's an awesome program where the middle school students are essentially the tech support for the institution. they're one of the most outstanding schools in detroit and the point here is

even in the environment we have today some of the best schools you can find are right in detroit and we should be proud of that. but, i ask our techno dragons and their teacher to stand up and let's give them a big round of applause. [applause] now for the roadmap for the year ahead, february we are going to do the budget, in particular we have challenges because of tax credits from the last decade. it is going to require a special work extra effort, but we are not going to be beaten by some legacy of the past. we are doing smart things today and we will work through those issues, but in particular i am looking towards, chairman pscholka and chairman hildenbrand for your leadership on the budget, about getting a budget done, 5 years in a row on time, done well and balanced. [applause]

in terms of other things though, in march we are going to do statewide summits with the regions on both jobs and education and i invited you to -- invite you to participate. in march, we will do the energy message and in may i am going to do a special message on criminal justice and in october we have to work on the drug abuse plan to get that in place, so we have a busy year. now, in terms of closing, what i would like to say is first of all, the last four years were a special honor to be your governor and the teamwork that we showed in the bipartisanship on how to take on tough problems and solve them together. act above politics. we took on problems that had been their for decades, whether it be the grand bargain, healthy michigan, so many different things, transportation. we should be proud of that. we still have some to clean up. we need to finish transportation, we have this tax credit issue, but the second four years, in

particular, is an opportunity to set that big vision for the future. to fundamentally step back and say there is a better way for government to operate and that is the river of opportunity. this is truly an opportunity to revolutionize how we operate and recognize we work for real people. we work for them. they deserve results. they don't deserve to be a number of 15 different programs. let's do something about that. the other thing i would mention to you in particular is kind of interesting, the timing of this event. in a couple of hours you get to hear another speech and what i would say on that is i think it's a great opportunity to watch both speeches and not just watch the speeches, but watch the outcome and results. while we solve problems in michigan, we have gridlock in washington and this is not a partisan comment, folks. both sides have huge issues. gridlock is not a good answer for any of us. and, if you look at the

positioning, they're already figuring out how they can take shots at one another. we don't do that here. does it make a difference? it absolutely does. we use relentless, positive action. [applause] thank you. for the historical archives, i would have it noted that is the latest of my five speeches that phrase has been used. we use relentless positive action to solve the tough problems, where they spend most of their time on fighting and blame and leaving those problems for future generations. we balance budgets we pay our

debts. we reformed our tax system to be simple, fair and efficient. we have worked above politics to do great things, as i mentioned the grand bargain, healthy michigan. we're leading the nation in creating manufacturing jobs. we're leading the nation in early childhood education. we're going to lead the nation in career tech education and the skilled trades. we're going to lead the nation in treating our citizens as real people, not programs. with your partnership, we're going to continue moving michigan to the top to say we can be the best, to do the right thing by our citizens, and it's something we should be proud of. it is going to require hard work. it is going to require cooperation, understanding, but as relentless, positive action works, let's not talk about how we differ; let's embrace diversity as a positive power. let's find the common ground and take on those tough issues and solve them together

because that is what our citizens want; that's what they deserve. so, thank you for the opportunity to share tonight with you. thank you, good night, and god bless the state of michigan, the united states of america and each and every one of you. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> on the next washington journal, former ambassador to morocco talks about the recent terrorist neaks paris. after that author edward

kleinbard. plus, we'll look for your phone calls, comments and tweets. this saturday, live coverage of the iowa freedom summit from des moines begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. speakers include potential 2016 presidential candidates. governors rick perry, scott walker, and chris christie. former governor mike huckabee, businessman donald trump and dr. ben carson. as well as sarah palin. the iowa freedom summit this saturday on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. earlier this week house speaker john boehner invited israeli president netanyahu to greet members of congress in march. nancy pelosi remarked on the speaker's actions.

here's more. >> out of the ordinary that the speaker would decide that he would be inviting people to a joint session without any bipartisan consultation and of course we always -- our friendship with israel is a very strong one. in fact, prime minister netanyahu has spoken to the joint session two times already and there are concerns about the fact that this -- as i understand it from this morning that this presentation will take place within two weeks of the election in israel and i don't think that's appropriate for my country that the head of state would come here within two weeks of his own election in his own country. >> and just a reminder, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu scheduled to talk at the joint meeting of congress on

tuesday, march 3. you can watch those remarks on c-span. next, democratic governor-elect tom wolf sponsor in as pennsylvania's 47th governor. he was the only democrat nationally to unseat a republican governor in the november election. from harrisburg, this is 20 minutes. [applause] >> and now to administer the oath of office, from york, pennsylvania, the honorable judge penney blackwell. >> please raise your right hand and speak after me. i, toms weberman wolf.

do solemnly swear. that i will support obey and defend the constitution of the united states -- >> the constitution of the united states -- >> and the constitution of this commonwealth. >> and the constitution of this common welt -- >> and that i will discharge the duties. >> and i will discharge the duties. >> of my office. >> of my office. >> with fidelity. >> with fidelity. >> congratulations, governor. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the 47th governor of pennsylvania, tom wolf. [applause] >> thank you.

thank you so much. chief justice salor, governor corbett, governor rendell lieutenant governor stay, governors ridge, governor swiker, everyone who's here. president scarnati, leader dermani leaders of the judiciary. leaders and members of the general assembly, family and friends and above all, my fellow pennsylvanians. i am so thankful to so many people here today they want to start by thanking governor tom corbett for his many years of service to the commonwealth of pennsylvania. please, join me. [applause] next, i want to thank my best friend and wife of nearly 40

years, francis wolf -- frances wolf, the love of my life and my best friend. frances? [applause] without her incredible love and support, i would not be standing before you today. i'd also like to thank my two daughters, sarah and katie. [applause] yeah. for so many things. i'd like to say a special thanks to speaker mike turzide for reminding us that we cannot take lightly -- and this is a quote, we cannot take lightly the great history of democracy of which we are a part and he encouraged all people to have legislature to meet with people across the aisle. that's important. and i also wants to thank the

chief justice for his observation when he was sworn in, that hex any disagreements we may have are "-- of our aspirations to value liberty and fairness and equality as well as liberty." more than anything, i want to thank all pennsylvanians who worked so hard to get me here. thank you very much. [applause] what you did -- what you did was took a chance to vote for a different kind of leader and to those of you out there who didn't vote for me, i hope i'm able to give you a chance over the next four years to believe. [applause] i am in a dimensional leader. i may be the first governor in the history of pennsylvania love

are operated a forklift, lever managed a hardware store. i volunteered and served in the peace corps, written a business will stop i'm not a product of our political system. during my campaign, i pledged to be a different kind of governor and i will keep that promise. [applause] what we need today is leaders who are willing to listen to each other and learn from each other and work together to give all pennsylvanians a shot at a great life. this age and time demands nothing less. we are told we are living through a transformational era. it is true, the role has not seen this much change happen this fast since we moved from farms to factories over 100 years ago. for those of us a part of that change and ready for that change, this new era is creating opportunity our ancestors could have never dreamt of. if you travel across our state you realize many of our citizens

have not found their place in this new role. travel to bethlehem or yorke or redding. from rural counties dinner cities, the story is the same -- to inner cities, the story is the same. we used to know what schooling we needed to get good jobs, we used to know what skill they took to start a business and be part of the economy. now we are not so sure. we need new skills for this new era. we need to compete in a whole new way. because of that, pennsylvania, our state, stands at a crossroads. the industries we used to rely on to create good jobs are struggling to survive. paychecks are not keeping up with the cost of living. an ordinary family cannot afford college. too often, when we have looked to our