In 2021. But i know that you will be able to thoughtfully carry out your work even despite these challenges. I am grateful for your service and im even more grateful for your friendship. I am very proud to be joined today by my beautiful wife who has been the steady hand that i have needed during this tumultuous year. Thank you for being a friend, thank you for being a great mom to our daughters and a true partner in this work. [applause] ladies and gentlemen i am here to say that our state is unconquerable. We have taken every hit that can be from. We have been tested by every force of nature, disease and human frailty. It is already a miracle that our state is Still Standing but we are not simply standing, we are marching forward. In this year of confusion there has been a solid foundation. It is the mississippi spirit that binds all of us together. This is not a state of people who have cowered in the face of adversity. We have got grit and pride and faith. We know how to overcome our differences and work together. We know how to do hard things. We know how to treat one another. As we saw on Easter Sunday this is a state of people who wont let a tornado leave the ground before arriving with chainsaws to clear their neighbors land. As we saw it as a state of people who wont let the waters rushed back to the sea before ensuring their neighbor has food and warmth. It is the state of people who step up time and time again and have exceeded all expectations this year. Tennessee williams was a worldrenowned playwright, the son of brown county mississippi once wrote the violence in the mountains have roped in the rocks. What he meant was simply the decency, kindness, empathy and goodness always win even when facing hardened opposition. That is happened here in our state, in our time. We have seen courage and compassion beat the forces of chaos and destruction here at home. The victory isnt final but we can see it every single day. That victory is visible in the long hours of nurses, teachers and first responders. It is visible by ordinary heroes administering care, physical, emotional and spiritual on a daily basis and our state. It is because of those people that mississippi was able to move forward when the rest of the world came to a hault. In mississippi, we never stop working. We never shut down farms and they never shut down factories. When we did slow down we opened up as quickly and as widely as we possibly could. Weve been cautious and never panicked. We have been safe but not stubborn. Life cannot be lived in perpetual idleness and we realize that and we have got did responding swiftly when the spread of fear and pulling back whenever possible. That has made a tremendous difference. Despite the once in a century pandemic mississippis economy actually grew yearoveryear. Think about that. We were the third estate in the country for job recovery. Thats not just because of an open economy. Its because mississippians dont want welfare, they want to work. They recognized the pride and dignity that comes with it and theyve been eager to return whenever given the opportunity. It is also why as we look forward we cannot be content with where we are. We can never say simply thats good enough. I dont want to compete with the mississippi at of the last 50 years. I dont want to compete for the city of the last decade. I dont even want to compete with the mississippi of last year. I want to compete with the best of the best, florida, georgia, tennessee and texas because i know not only can we compete, i know we can win. We can get in the ring with anybody and we can leave with more jobs and higher wages. Mississippi can bring more skills and dedication to any project then anyone else anywhere in the world. Why . Because we work harder than anyone anywhere in the world. Why shouldnt we get the best jobs, the best expansion in the best headquarters . I believe we can and does mississippis own the great antidean once said if you can do it, it aint bragging. Now this is a time of global upheaval and chaos and it is in those times that fortunes are made. We need to make mississippis fortune two days. This is the moment in our history to do it. We have chosen a new banner. We have improved our educational outcomes and we have shown to the world that we are open for business. Now we need to go out and win highpaying jobs for the people of our state. I believe in order to capture the potential of this historic moment we must think big. We need a bold move. This is time for action that will turn heads all across the country and get money and people flowing in and i believe that move is the elimination of the income tax. It is a reward for our hard workers and an incentive for others to invest here, to grow here and an incentive for them to live here. We can transform our economy. We can do it in a smart way recognizing that it will take a few years to phase it out but they can change the generation of lives here by attracting the jobs and the wages we deserve. I am ready and committed to work with the legislators on this and i know there is an appetite for this type of baldness. I also know that there are many who say we cant lower taxes because it puts new Government Spending at risk. I understand that its often good politics to act like something from the government is a gift. In fact the far left has been playing that tune for generations. But we have to be clear. The government doesnt have anything that does not first take from the taxpayer and the people of our state understand that. We have to respect the workers of mississippi enough to recognize when we can show restraint and stop taking from them and allow them to use their money that they make and i believe it will grow our economy beyond belief. I also believe we need to sharpen one particular tool to get our economy rolling, our state workforce development. We dont need mississippians to be stuck in lowpaying jobs. We want them to embark on careers with good pay and freedom. The best way to accomplish that is to help lift Young Mississippians up and give them access to training that puts them in a position to succeed. Last year the legislature made great progress in this effort and im thankful for you having done so. Now im calling on the legislature to continue their Wise Investments in this mission. It is essential. It is how we will succeed. It is how we will lift people out of poverty and into proud work. I know they share that goal. That mission really begins of course year sooner with a solid educational foundation. Mississippi has made incredible strides. In fact number one in the nation in improvements. Now we need to once again set our sights even higher. We have made great prosit progress but its not been enough because i believe he can do even better. This year in spite of tremendous pressure we recognize that education is essential. It cannot he accomplished at a scale without the incredible endeavor of in person educators. It seems obvious in hindsight that there are tremendous headwinds. I know we made the right decision to open our schools and allow our children and parents access to which your education. We need to keep working. We need to keep fighting for every child to have access to the education that they deserve. We need to ensure that parents have the choice to save their child from a district that lets them down and we need to reward our teachers for the exceptional work that they do. I support teacher pay raise. I know the senate has passed the governors plan and i know speaker gunn and the house of always been supportive of raises for teachers but i will be eager to sign any race at the legislature can send me. Our teachers have earned it. Its the right way to invest. There is a lot more policy and politics to be hashed out in the coming years. Some of it is even important but i know the people of mississippi have heard a lot for me over the last year so i want to keep this address on point. I want the people of mississippi to know my focus for the weeks and months and years ahead. First, we need to crush this virus and get back to our way of life. The virus is still here and it cannot be solved by ignoring it. We have to defeat it because mississippians are done. We are done burying loved ones who were lost to this virus. We are done with overwhelmed hospitals. We are done with the talk of lockdowns and shutdowns. We are ready for community again. We want our schools to flourish with children learning and playing carefree. We want businesses thriving with crowds of customers growing together. We want to let down our constant guard and be joyful together. We want to be unafraid of fellowship with our friends and our neighbors. It is one thing to eliminate government restrictions read most of those went away back in the summer. It is another to be truly free from fear and to have no more anxiety when we come together. It will be a great day when we can gather in stadiums, churches, restaurants and bars shouldertoshoulder without the quiet fear of covid. When you can celebrate with strangers after a touchdown saying loudly at a concert not muffled by a mask and just live life, just live life without fear. Unadulterated comradery. That day is coming. Its coming sooner than we think. But there is one more hurdle to that and it is the rapid distribution of the coronavirus vaccine. I want you to know i reject the false narrative being pushed by some who say this is our new normal and even after vaccination we continue to hide away and live in perpetual isolation. That is just wrong. This is it. This is our moment. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and mississippi is sprinting towards it. I promise that we will smash every road lock. We will get this done as quickly as we possibly can and allow people to protect themselves from this virus. It is my most immediate priority and i assure you it has my full attention. I also have a personal goal. Its one that i know i will fall short of from time to time but im still aiming at it daily. It is to cultivate empathy. Its been in short supply in this world for some time now. Or thats been on display across our nation too. Too often it leads us to see one another as and it leads to corrosion and trust. We as a people cannot allow cruelty to win. We must rise above. We will always have fierce debates and disagreements but i firmly believe if you can fight for what you believe in while honoring the man or woman on the other side. Above all, we have to understand that every mississippians, every american is on the same team. We all want to be treated with grace and we are all created in the image of the perfect god. So my goal is to act like it. For me, that means looking out for those who need extra help. It means being honest with people, admitting what i dont know and working to be better. It means diligently working to make mississippi and even more welcoming prosperous state. I am incredibly lucky that im not in this alone. None of us are. We are surrounded by air legion of fellow mississippians, people who care about you, people who want you to succeed because they know that we will all rise together. If we can just hard harness that, we can accomplish anything. I know that our state has what it takes to be exceptional and i know that with gods continued province and our incomparable spirit together we can get there. May god bless you and may god bless the state of mississippi. Thank you. [applause] Donald John Trump impeachment trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor trust or profit under the united states, so help you god. They are for amec a point of order that this proceeding which would try a private citizen and not a president , a Vice President or civil officer violates the constitution and is not in order. The motion was tabled in a 5545 senate vote. Hello everyone. We join