appreciate you sticking with us. we're going to have to cut our time a little short with the governor because she has places to be, but we're going to get down to a number of really good questions and we'll have a good discussion about policies in the time that we have. i'm kaitlin, federal and budget reportering on capitol hill for politico. just a quick reminder to you guys here in the audience and those tuning in on the live stream, please tweet your questions with the hash tag, state solutions. i'll be tracking those and hopefully get to at least one or two at the end of our time here today. so, i'm here with rhode island governor romando. she's serving in the second term as the state's democratic governor and recently delivered her sixth state of the state address. we have a lot to get to. definitely want to talk a lot-- dig in on state policy in the short time that we have, but i kind of wanted to start with some news that you made earlier this week regarding 2020. i saw that you endorsed michael bloomberg for president. you're the former chair of the democratic governor's association, we have a number of candidates to choose from here. i know that mayor bloomberg has previously backed your gubernatorial ambitions, but vice-president joe biden previously endorsed you as well. i'm wondering why bloomberg, who is still seen as a long shot candidate although he's gaining momentum or why not from the candidates who stood out from iowa and even though the results are what they are. but clearly, why have you decided to back mayor bloomberg and serve as national campaign co-chair. >> thank you for having me and i apologize for the delay. i came off the flight and came right here, but we were delayed out of providence and they had a lot of weather in the area so i'm sorry for that. i have decided to endorse bloomberg for an a few reasons, one, i believe he is the one who could beat president trump. that ought to be clear if not, anyone who watched the sham impeachment hearing and the partisan state of the union knows it's time for a change and i think that bloomberg has the best chance of beating him. secondly you mentioned i was chair of the governors. you know, like governors, mike bloomberg has run things successfully, run a huge company that he started in a one-room office and he ran city of new york, new york city, the biggest, most complicated city in america, he ran it successfully for 12 years and you know, frankly, like a lot of governors, you just have to deliver. you can't offer pie in the sky promises that are unaffordable that are never going to come to be that sound good on the stump. you have to fix the roads, provide health care, respond to people, make sure the trains are running on time quite literally, you know, subways in new york city and he did that, he created half a million jobs in his tenure, took over after 9/11 when the city was on its knees and led a great resurgence. so, apart from the fact that i like his chances in november, i think he's a great leader and the president's job is an executive job and so i favor somebody who has a track record of running things. you mentioned that vice-president biden supported me in the past and i am an admirer of vice-president biden and his service and you know, you mentioned pete buttigieg who is soaring. i think he is a fantastic public servant, too, but we have to be very real and very practical in 2020. we have to be focused on winning and i-- for me, it was not that difficult to endorse mike. >> okay. well, let's dig into some state policy. so, i know rhode island is facing a projected 180 million dollar budget deficit and as a federal budget reporter, i definitely know a little about deficits. the federal government is facing a $1 trillion-- >> that must seem small to you. >> actually it was. in researching the state in preparation for this, that's just a drop in the bucket, isn't this? i know this plays out differently on the state level in a state environment and you know, you have said that you have a lot of tough choices to make when it comes to tackling this budget gap and addressing how much rohode island is spending versus taking in revenue. at the same time you don't want to cut health care or medicaid or backtrack on any of the ambitious policy proposals which you pushed through so far. so, what are these tough choices that you have to make? how are you going to address this gap? >> you know, it calls for difficult choices and also calls for innovation. we can't keep doing things the same way. we have to do services in an efficiently and effective way, partner with businesses, partner with nonprofits because, yes, we have to make cuts, yes, we have to balance the budget. i presented a budget to my legislature a few weeks ago, that's a balanced budget with no broad-based tax increases. i think that's very important, but there's a lot of innovation in it, different ways of doing things. and a lot of investments, right? so at the same time, we have a deficit and i'm committed to not raising taxes, we also need to investigate so that rhode islanders have opportunity. so the budget i've presented calls for a 50% increase in public pre-k classrooms. i believe every four-year-old from rhode island ought to be able to go to pre-k for free. it calls again for two years tuition free community college for every high school graduate. something i started a few years ago that, you know, is massively successful. it calls for big investments in housing. housing is near crisis in rhode island and in many places. prices are housing are going up twice as fast as wages. so, how you do it, where do you find the money? one of our innovations in this budget is around medicaid. medicaid is about a third of rhode island's budget, which is quite similar to most states that took medicaid expansion, as you will know. we have to figure out how to keep a lid on costs without hurting folks by cutting them off of health care, reducing eligibility. so one innovative idea i have in this year's budget is to say that, if you're a full-time employee and so you work for a company in rhode island, but you make so little, that you're medicaid eligible, and by the way, with tens of thousands of people who fall into that category. full-time employees on medicaid and off on food stamps. we're going to say that the employer has to provide you with health insurance coverage. you have to take it. but if medicaid is more generous than what your company provides, then we'll make up the gap. so let's say you work for, i don't know, walmart. you work for walmart, you live in rhode island, you're currently on medicaid, going forward you have to-- walmart has to give you health insurance, you have to take it. but let's say walmart's health insurance requires large co-pays, large premiums, out of pocket costs. we, the state of rhode island through an initiative through right share, we'll pay that for you. we'll pay a co-pay, a premium, so the employee is no worse off, but the employer doesn't get a free ride anymore on medicaid, they're going 0 to provide you with health insurance. it will make rhode island healthier and it's many millions in savings and frankly, i think it's the right thing to do. >> well, as a solution for tackling this deficit in addition to capping health care costs, you have talked about wanting to pursue marijuana legalization, but i know that there seems to be a lot of resistance in the state legislature there when it comes to doing that. why do you think this is a realistic solution to increasing the state's revenue and, i mean, really how can you get this done? >> yeah, yeah. so let me say, it's not that i want to, per se. in fact, for the first four years of my term, you know, as governor, i resisted it. i didn't support it myself. and the reason to do it isn't revenue. the fact is that we've been to rhode island, a fantastic state, the ocean state, but it's a tiny state, it's small, nestled between connecticut, massachusetts, and a couple of hour ride from new york. well, massachusetts has legalized adult use marijuana. connecticut's about to. you know, like i said, new york, new jersey, a stone throw away. so if you talk to the state troopers that police are at highways or you talk to teachers in schools, they will tell you, governor, it's here. whether you like it or not, it is here. from my office in the state house in providence to the closest marijuana shop in massachusetts is about a 10 minute drive. so to pretend -- they're laughing, it's a small state. so, to pretend that we don't have adult use marijuana in rhode island is silly. so what i've said is, okay, fine, in light of that, let's do the right thing to keep rhode islanders safe. this is about public health, public safety, safety. and let's have a, you know, responsible way to regulate adult use marijuana. by the way, there isn't that much revenue in it because the way that i propose is, we're making, you know, increased investments in public awareness, increased investments in public health. increased investments in public safety. increased investments in social equity to try to make up for, frankly, many of the injustices and the way that we've done -- this country had as done drug policing. at the end of the day, it's not the money. for me, it's a realistic proposal to deal with what's there. >> and i think, i've learned something as governor, legislators change their mind and sometimes it takes more than a year to get a good idea done. >> right. >> so i would-- i'm asking to look at it get smarter, see what they like and don't like and see maybe this year or next year, to my mind it's inevitable and we should just be smart about it. >> okay, well, you touched on your proposal for universal pre-k a moment ago. you've done some interesting things, and innovations when it comes to higher ed. i know that you promised to provide two-year tuition-free community college and you have the proposal at the college community of rhode island. you want to make it a permanent program after i believe it sunsets this year. so i guess a quick two-part question. i mean, one, how do you plan to do that? but, two, this is obviously, you know, as former chair of the democratic governor's association, you know that this is a popular proposal that democrats have been briefed, including on the national stage. so, is this idea of two-year tuition-free community college or free college in general, is that scaleable, realistic? >> absolutely. look, they're embracing it because it works. so the -- at the end of the day, this is what this is about, in my case, for rhode island. every rhode islander ought to have the job training and education that they need to get a good job period. that's not necessarily a four-year college degree, but i'll tell you this, it is some degree or credential past high school. period. the days of getting a decent family supporting middle class job with just a high school degree are essentially gone, if they're not gone now, they will be gone soon. so it's just an issue of basic equity and fairness. how do you say to people, you need a degree past high school to get a job, but, oh, by the way, you have to go bankrupt and go into debt to get that degree. it's completely un-american and unfair and bad policy. so if you-- and that's why i've invested in apprenticeship programs, career and technical education and two years tuition-free community college. in the time that we have done this, two years tuition-free community college, we've seen a trippling of our on-line graduation rate at our community college. it's amazing, a few million a year, nothing in the context of a $10 million budget. we've seen a nine-fold graduation rates of students of color at our community college. so, for me, it's fairness, it's equity, it's good for the economy, it's eminently affordable and i hope -- you know, the proposal i have before the legislature now won't cost any more money, you know, that the program's happening, it's working, so my contention is, just make it permanent because if they don't make it permanent, it's set to expire this year and it would be a crime to pull the rug out from so many young people given it's such a successful program. >> so we want to keep you on he quell, but i want to make sure we squeeze in questions for the audience or people on twitter. does anybody have a question they'd like to ask? yes? >> you mentioned education and i think your motive is good, but why don't you swing the other way around. very good education from k to 12 and every time everybody from that, then they get a job, rather than up to four years even with the degree and they don't understand education and so they don't understand how to manage the government, so now they have that ppp, private public partnership and -- the abuse and [inaudible] and the education that we need and spend more government eventually corrupt in the government and in society. why don't you-- achievable and significant, education providence and everybody know how to solve basic problems rather than everybody corrupt all the families. >> well, actually i think you're touching on an interesting issue when it comes to improving education and i wanted to ask, actually, about the district of providence. i know that that district, school district is currently in the midst of a state takeover. i was actually a former education reporter before i covered the federal budget. i'm familiar with this model and how often painful it can be. you talk about improving the education in the state and really what your marching orders are for the school district of providence at the moment. >> yes, so in november of last year, a few months ago, i decided to take really unprecedented action to do a state takeover of our cities providence public school systems and the simple answer is because the system's broken in providence. we, for years and years and years, the school system in providence has been overly bureaucratic, and just letting down students, teachers, and the community. you have schools in providence and i'm not exaggerating this, where the facilities are so deteriorated that you hear stories of bats in classrooms, brown drinking water, no heat in the winter, you know, it's -- it's just been decades of neglect in a dysfunctional system. so i decided to go ahead and take this action. by the way, it isn't necessarily money. in other words, we will need more investment, but we spend about 17, 18,000 a year per pupil in providence. the problem is we're not using that money wisely. so the marching orders are, number one, get rid of a culture -- the culture, there needs to be a culture that says every student can learn, hold all students to high expectations. black, white, poor, boys, girls, hold them all to high expectations. secondly, standardized curriculum across the district. right now if you're in third grade in one school, you're learning something different than third grade in another school. it's not necessarily aligned to the assessment. it's kind of unbelievable. more autonomy for principals so they can make decisions within their school and then a whole lot more teacher, high quality teacher professional development. so that, you know, it's high standards, standardized high quality curriculum, different culture, a culture of accountability and success, big improvement of facilities and a lot more supportive teachers. >> well, we want to be respectful of your schedule. >> yes, thank you, guys, thank you. >> thank you so much for your time today. i think we really learned a lot in the time we spent her from your view that you feel like mayor bloomberg can best beat trump or marijuana legalization may be the where the future of things are headed or to the efforts that you're take to go cap health care costs in the state. i want to thank you guys for sticking with us and for everyone tuning in via the live stream and a big thanks to microsoft for partnering for this event. >> can i give a two second shoutout to microsoft. >> somebody was talking about partnering with companies and doing things innovatively. so the year i took office or the year i ran, 2014, 42 students in public schools in rhode island took the ap computer science test. that's a serious problem, 42 students. zero kids of color and 12 girls. like just think about that. every job pretty much requires computer skills and it wasn't happening. so i said, okay. come on, team, let's make a solution. and we partnered with microsoft. they came to town and teached teachers how to provide a computer curriculum and partner with the university of rhode island and you should check it out. cs for ri. we became the first state in america to teach computer science in every grade starting in kindergarten. last year, over a thousand rhode islanders took computer science in high school for college credit. yeah. so, thank you, microsoft and thank you to all the teachers to upped their game and learned how to teach it. from 42 to 1,000 in a few years, that's what we can do when we think outside of the box. >> a shut out to cs of ri. and stick around for a cup of coffee and lunch. and the second half of the program should be starting at 1:15. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. [applaus [applause]. >> article two is adopted. >> do you solemnly swear that in al things apertaining to the trial of impeachment of donald john trump, president of the united states, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the constitution and laws, so help you god? . the state will convene as a court of impeachment. what we've seen over the last couple of days is a dissent into constitutional madness. >> again, we think the basis upon which this has moved forward is irregular to say the least. >> donald john trump, president of the united states, is not guilty as charged in the second article of impeachment. >> for the third time in u.s. history, a president has been impeached and acquitted. from the house hearings to the senate trial, c-span has provided live comprehensive coverage of the impeachment of president trump. you can find all of our video and related resources at c-span.org/impeachment. c-span, your place for unfiltered coverage of congre congress. >> this weekend we're live from the savannah book festival, beginning saturday at 9 a.m. eastern, our coverage includes editor of the american solar robert wilson. on the life of 19th century showman p.t. barnum. women in space. environmental lawyer on his 20-year legal battle against dupont. at 12:45, kent garrett and gene elsworth recounts the journey of black men admitted into harvard. and he hed larson on the partnership between benjamin franklin and george washington. identity and race and here experiences growing up in puerto rico. at 4:30 p.m., michelle sullivan on leadership and philanthropy. the savannah book festival live starting saturday at 9 a.m. eastern. and be sure to watch our live coverage of the tucson festival of books next month on book tv on c-span2. >> sunday, at 9 p.m. eastern on after words, sally pipes makes the argument against medicare for all in her latest book "false premise, false promise", just in december there were over 4 million brits on a waiting list to get treatment and the cancer treatment is not supposed to be delayed from seeing a general practitioner to general treatment more than 62 days. they haven't met the u.k. that standard for over five years and more important, under the world health organization study, brits are the bottom of the rung in most industrialized countries. >> watch after words sunday night on book tv on c-span2. >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. lawmakers will begin with about an hour or so of debate on judicial nominations until 10:30 eastern, when they plan to take four confirmation votes. those nominees include josh