janet mills talked about covid testing and vaccine distribution. >> good evening. there's never been a better time than a maine winter night to look up at the stars. it was my grandfather, a man from ashland who looked like gary cooper, who showed me how to find orion in the night sky and the big dipper. i couldn't rely on google or a television series on the discovery channel or a netflix special on astronomy. i rely on the memory of my grandfather's loving voice. his outstretched arms pointing my eyes to the deep sky. it's not google alone that will show us how to live today, facebook, instagram or twitter. it is experience. resilience and importantly perseverance. like the perseverance of a farmer. we've been through a lot these past 12 months, you and i, and perseverance will see us through these times no matter who we are or where we live. our entire state has been through so much this year, our whole country. we've been tested a deadly terror invaded our nation, indeed the globe. our border with canada, the world's longest, closed for the first time ever. cruise ships canceled, graduations celebrated in large opening parking lots and drive-in theaters, weddings postponed. loggers and hoggers were in a paperless economy. threatening the lives and livelihoods of thousands. lunchrooms and restaurants were limited to takeout and curbside pickup, hotels and stores operated at unheralded losses, agricultural fairs, auto races, church services, baseball games, football contests, all drastically modified, transformed or canceled. at the same time a man named george floyd was killed at the hands of law enforcement officers in minneapolis lighting a firestorm of protests across the country including many here in maine proclaiming loudly that black lives matter. a general election challenged our ability to adapt and brought out the largest turnout in maine history with more than 62% voting absentee or in advance, including 100-year-old phyllis who has seen her 26th presidential election. and on the national level, a presidential contest seemed to test our sanity. even during the -- even the durability of our democratic institutions. everything we've known, everything that was familiar, so much was canceled, modified, restricted. our world changed and we had new words to define it. we learned words like quarantine, ppe, bubble, cohort, flatten the curve, superspreader, throughput, surge, social distancing, positivity rate. other words have taken on new meanings like pivot, variant, you're on mute, and, of course, zoom. more importantly, however, now a half a million americans have died with covid-19. nationally, those lives include herman cain, charlie pride, annie glen, larry king and the speaker of the house in new hampshire. in maine, we lost more than 650 people. friends, loved ones, neighbors. each with a life that had meaning and purpose. people like ron johnson, father of five, a former major league baseball player, coach, manager of the portland sea dogs and people like kirk kelsey. dozens of maine veterans, sailors, gunmen, mechanics died without family members at their bedside, without color guards or taps played at their memorial services. heroes like rob flurry, 94 years old, who served in the navy in world war ii and dr. jim paris, world war ii veteran who dropped out of high school to join the war effort and later enjoyed the big dance bands on the pier. another great hero died this year. hammering hank aaron. the right fielder who broke babe ruth's home run record. a year later, he broke another equally important record. surpassing babe ruth in rbis, ending his career with 2,297 runs batted in. that baseball great who grew up in a family too poor to buy a baseball bat did not just reveal in the solo performance of home run hitting alone in the limelight, no, his greater accomplishment, i think, was the reward of bringing his teammates home, one after the other, a home run, you know, may win a ball game once in a while, but more often it's the steady work of base hit after base hit and effort driven by many rather than just one that wins the games. we too are a team of multitalented players. some known for their home run hitting power or timely base hits. others for tracking down the deep fly ball or pinch running the bases. but all in their own ways contribute to the success of the team. this is the story of maine, as well. one team of many, a team that includes unsung heroes, some of whom face adversity day after day but all of whom contribute to our success, nurses, bus drivers, cnas, teachers, volunteers, working parents stretched to the nines, delivery drivers, grocery clerks, fishermen, haulers and farmers and so, so many more. you know who you are. during this pandemic, despite the risk to yourselves and the adversity of our time and through courage, compassion and perseverance, you've helped our state succeed. you've saved lives and secured the future of so many children. you, the people of maine, are our most valuable players. for that true team effort, we need look no further than innovative maine companies like jackson labs, abbott. they're meeting the challenges of our times. idex shifted to produce innovative testing materials for covid-19 at a time when testing was very scarce. they helped us more than triple our capacity to test maine people for covid, a huge lifesaver in those early dark days of the pandemic. other companies like maine source machining, which makes barbecues, switched to manufacturing ballot drop boxes to help us conduct a safe election. breweries and distillers shifted to producing hand sanitizers. others produced face masks and face shields. lee auto produced public service ads on public health precautions. the maine coast fishermen's association started the fishing mainers program to buy fish directly to fishermen, handing it off to local processors to feed hungry maine people and the state was happy to help with that effort. i applaud the more than 3,000 hospitality workers who participated in covid-19 safety training that was offered by the maine community college system to protect maine people and visitors alike. this is innovation making our state safe, this is ingenuity, this is perseverance. this is maine people working together. my administration has sought to do its part to protect the lives and livelihoods of maine people, with help from the maine legislature last spring. we rallied the forces necessary to help people who were suffering job losses, getting food to school children and building our team of health professionals to protect maine families from this dangerous virus. my administration implemented safety measures, dialing them up and scaling them down when we believed the circumstances demanded it. we directed people to wear masks in public, much the same as they would wear a hard hat at a construction site or safety glasses in a paper mill. we asked you to watch your distance and avoid large gatherings, and you did. we went to work distributing federal fund to support the maine economy. we distributed more than 255 million in economic recovery grants to small businesses and 294 million to bolster the unemployment trust fund and avoid large tax hikes on small businesses. we gave out more than $25 million for one-time $600 payments to 40,000 unemployed people who were about to lose their benefits. we provided $28 million for rental assistance to prevent eviction and we bought $9.3 million worth of at-home learning devices, tablets and wi-fi hot spots for more than 21,000 students trying to learn remotely but they didn't have internet access. we partnered with local broadband providers dedicating $5.6 million to build out broadband infrastructure and deliver high-speed internet to students in rural maine. we distributed $20 million in federal relief funds to maine fishermen and 18 million to farmers in food banks. we allocated $13 million for the keep maine healthy program that promoted public health and educational initiatives during the busy tourist season, including beach ambassadors who kept maine people safe. the collective efforts of our people and their government, for now, are working. according to the maine department of health and human services, adjusted for population, maine ranks second lowest in the nation in total hospitalizations. third lowest in total number of cases, fourth lowest in number of deaths from covid-19. our testing volume is seventh best in the nation and our positivity rate over the last 14 days is second lowest in the country. and right now maine is in the top tier of states in the distribution of the vaccine. i'm pleased that we're beginning to see an increase in the supply of these vaccines. though demand everywhere continues to far outpace supply and that has compelled us to make some hard choices. like nearly every state, we started with frontline health care professionals, nurses and doctors who were working day in and day out to keep us alive and healthy. we vaccinated police, firefighters, emts and other first responders to make sure our emergency response system remains strong. we know that even if we experience another surge, our life-saving professionals will be there for us. in designating other categories eligible for the limited supply of vaccine, each state must consider its unique circumstances. maine has the oldest population of any state in the country. and while younger people are often exposed to the public to a large extent, it is our older people who are much more likely to get sick and die if they do contract the virus. it's also easy to verify their status, which makes vaccination clinics move swiftly and efficiently. our fundamental goal is to protect our most vulnerable. and that's why we'ring to it by vaccinating those who are 70 and older right now. today thanks to the department of health and human services, the maine cdc, northern light, hospitals and health care providers across the state, more than 200,000 people have received their first dose of vaccine. more than 15% of our population. many of them like the people i met at the bangor clinic are folks who literally have not been out of the house in 10 or 11 months, not hugged a grandchild, not had coffee with their best friend, not taking walks with the neighbor. but they have persevered, and the sense of relief they have is palpable. now maine is among the top 20 states in the nation for getting shots in arms. it hasn't been easy undertaking the greatest mass vaccination effort in modern day history, especially in a rural state such as ours. there have been some bumps and the road ahead is still difficult, but we are now in a race between vaccinations and the emergence of more contagious variants. we hope in the foreseeable future with your help we can win this race and we'll be able to welcome all children back to the classroom and the fully reopened gyms, stores, churches, stadiums, auditoriums, museums and plane fields. we start with fact and science and how we can accomplish the most good for the most people. and as for all things covid, we owe a great deal of thanks to two of the hardest working, smartest and most ethical professionals i've ever worked with. dhhs commissioner and the cdc director. meanwhile this pandemic has hit our economy pretty hard, but the economy is recovering. building supplies, consumer sales, auto and business operating sales, retail sales are up. home sales reached record highs in 2020 as many people realized -- other people realize, too, maine is one of the safest states in the nation. they know we have a strong public health focus with some of the best covid-19 statistics in the nation as well as the low end violent crime rate, low prison rates, unmatched natural resources and a quality of life that is the envy of many. in december alone housing sales rose 31.5% and the median sales price jumped by more than 15% since december 2019. one out of three home sales went to out-of-state buyers. maine has had a 4.6% growth in construction jobs during the pandemic according to the associated general contractors of america. maine's increase in construction jobs was the fifth highest in the nation. maine ranks highest of all the new england states in returning to pre-pandemic economic activity according to the cnn business back to normal index. there's much more to be done. that budget carries forward the work we began two years ago on health care, education and the economy. and it responds to public health needs that are exacerbated by the pandemic. from the beginning my administration has worked to make health care more affordable so that every person can see a doctor, obtain lifesaving medications, stay healthy and support their families. from the beginning we focused on improving public education, too, so that every child no matter their zip code has the same chance of success. from the beginning we've focused on expanding economic opportunity for people across the state. those priorities were strongly reflected in our first budget which began to rebuild our public health infrastructure, protecting public safety, funding voter approved medicaid expansion that now provides health care to more than 70,000 people and investing in public schools that raise the minimum teacher salary. we increase our ability to protectchildren from abuse and neglect. we budgeted service for our most vulnerable citizens this pandemic has not changed those priorities but rather only underscored their importance and the importance of our investing in them. now is the time to maintain those investments. like many states last spring maine faced a significant budget shortfall caused by the pandemic that made crafting the budget pretty challenging. so to fill a potential hole in the budget we curbed spending without sacrificing general purpose aid to education, without laying off hardworking state employees, without diminishing our basic social safety net or hampering or covid-19 response. it worked. as a result of those cost saving options we took early on and with the help of funds we closed the gap and we have presented comprehensive budget proposals. they have basic goals, to beat back the pandemic, to fund education and to maintain a stable economy and get people back to work. these continue the cost saving measures while protecting the vital services on which many people rely. these budgets include $3 million for the health environmental testing lab, the health inspection program and the public health emergency response program. $5 million for covid-19 testing, for vaccine and support services for people in quarantine $45 million in additional funds for k-12 education making progress toward a minimum teacher salary of 45,000 and helping school districts manage in person, remote and hybrid learning options during the pandemic. if approved, this increase will result in the highest level of state funding for education ever. $6 million in the budget to fund section 29 services for adults with developmental disabilities in their communities. $25 million for the medicaid stabilize fund to protect health care during this challenging time. $45 million for maine care rate increases for nursing facilities, residential facilities for children and older mainers, services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other providers. $7.5 million for mental health and substances abuse disorder including community mental health and including $2 million for our options initiative, so we can dispatch mobile response teams to communities that have high rates of drug overdoses, something that's more important than ever before given the crease in overdose deaths in maine and the rest of the nation during this pandemic. and $82 million in tax relief for all maine small businesses who receive the paycheck protection program, ppp. including complete relief for 99.1% of them and significant though partial relief for the less than 1% of larger businesses that got more than a million dollars of ppp. in all my budget proposals do their best to hold spending steady and preserve public health and education during the pandemic. together they maintain the state's important relationship with county and school administrative units, all whom receive a third of all general fund appropriations. now, i'm heard the calls of those who say we should enact sweeping budget cuts, and i agree the state government cannot be all things to all people all the time, and it cannot solve all our problems or address the needs of all people. but history has shown we cannot cut our way to prosperity. during emergencies such as this people depend on us to protect children, secure health care, safeguard career and educational opportunities and protect the most vulnerable of citizens. i'm not going to walk away from or abandon maine families especially those out of work through no fault of their own. i've heard also the calls of those who say we should spend a lot more even if means we should dip into our savings. this too i believe we should not do. you know when you've had a fever or your state has had a fever you don't say get up and run laps and do 100 push-ups. recovery, getting back into shape is not immediate. its course is not always predictable. this budget, though, provides basic continuity, consistenty and stability. something our state needs at this time. it is focused on recovery. there's more to do. during the pandemic as before our focus is on health care, education and the economy. i want to diversify or economy, an opportunity for all maine families. i want a future in this state for every maine child. i want people to see maine not simply as vacation land though it is, but as a great place to live year round, to live and raise a family. and i want our young people to know they don't have to leave the state to get a first class education or find work that is gratifying, useful or financially rewarding. we will build that maine, and we will build a better, brighter future for all. so where do we start? my administration's ten year economic plan point the way. we need a strong, vibrant and skilled work force here in maine. there are good paying jobs in the trades in health care and life sciences and clean energy that are going unfilled. we have to connect the work force with those jobs and milwaukee an investment in new jobs at the same time. that's why my administration in the coming weeks will lay out a back to work bond that asks for $25 million to partner with maine's career and technical education centers and our community colleges to provide equipment and train skilled workers to fill jobs in high growth industries including manufacturing and clean energy. to that same end, i have set a goal of doubling maine's clean energy jobs in the next ten years. and in the coming weeks my administration will stand up a recommendation of the state's key economic plan. backed by funding secured through the new england clean energy connect project we're launching a program in franklin and sommerset counties to provide internships that will provide training in health care and other fields putting them on the path to good paying jobs here in maine. ultimately our goal is to expand this program statewide to ensure that 100% of maine students have the option for six-month paid internship between their junior year of high school and one year after high school graduation. the time for innovation is also now. maine was built by farmers, foresters and fisherman. and we have carved our lives and livelihoods out of the bold rocky coasts, the tall pines and the rolling fields. these industries and all whom they employ are the foundation of our economy, and they are central to our future. we must help them through this time of hardship and transition, and we must fight against ineffective federal regulations like the proposed right whale rule that threatened their success. in our back to work proposal will ask to increase infrastructure, improve access to markets and modernize and add value to products that are grown, caught, cultured, made here in maine. we know what the future looks like. just last week lp building solutions, a tennessee based wood products manufacturing announced that it's investing about $150 million to convert part of its new limerick to manufacture advanced engineer and wood sidingch they chose to expand here in maine because of our work ethic and because of our wood supply. they expect to increase local wood consumption by 30% and utilize local suppliers and small businesses. the result, good paying jobs and a stronger economy. then in western maine golabs is repurposing the shuttered madison paper mill, and it is on track to become the first north american producer of home and building insulation made from wood fiber. these are not things merely of the past. they are also the economic engines of our future. there are also challenges common to all economic sectors. broadband and child care in particular. the stories are all around us. a father of four who has to bring his daughters to a restaurant to connect to connect to wi-fi to get their homework done. a blue hill doctor struggling to view his patients charts during remote telehealth session. a high school student in maine who missed 16 days of schools because of dropped connections. and yes even a governor of maine who couldn't connect to a public health media briefing in the state's capitol. it seems like everyone has a story about slow or no internet in maine. sometimes it can seem like oh, that's just the way things are and that's the way it'll always be, but i don't believe that and neither do you. roads and bridges continue to demand our attention and are a major focus of bonding especially during times of historically low interest rates. but high-speed internet is as fundamental as electricity, heat and water. it's the primary way of kicking with others in the 21st century. we need to have high-speed internet throughout our state. and with will power and perseverance, we will get there. with the build out of the transmission line, we will have the advantage of new fiber infrastructure from jackman and from windsor to -- last year my administration asked for $15 million in bond moneys to expand broadband. the first new investment in internet expansion in more than a decade, and you approved. this year i'll be asking for an additional $30 million for infrastructure and for internet that is affordable for maine families, students, seniors, businesses and workers across the state. i'm asking this on behalf of every child who could not learn remotely this year because they could not zoom into a classroom. i'm asking for every entrepreneur who could not open the door of their new business because they could not get online. i'm asking for every person considering moving to maine but wondering if they'll be able to work remotely. one software engineer named ryan told a newspaper recently he and his wife moved from boston to maine in july because in part they found a place where they can work remotely. we know if we build it, they will come. reliable high-speed internet is one thing families desperately need. affordable, accessible child care is another. one mother named savannah in cherryfield told us she was on a waist list for a year and a half for child care for one of her kids. another mother started looking for child care when she was five months pregnant and called more than 40 facilities after having her baby and right after she was scheduled to return to work, she was able to finally find a slot in a home based child care place 30 minutes away. before close to 5,000 working families did not live close to a child care provider. millions of working women have been forced to leave the work force during the pandemic because they didn't have reliable child care. my back to work proposal will seek $6 million for low or no interest loans to renovate, expand or construct child care facilities and increase the availability and quality of child care slots with half that money going to underserved communities in rural maine. knowing your child is being taken care of is key to staying in the work force and providing for your family. as someone who raised five daughters and is the grandmother of two little girls i know how precious that peace of mind is. we'll have more to say in the coming weeks on the back to work proposal. it's also include investments in roads and bridges, working lands and waterfronts, research in land and development and energy efficiency. all these proposals will create jobs and will strengthen our economy particularly in rural maine. we'll use every tool we have to build a healthy, strong and safe state. from the supplemental and biannual budgets to a back to work bond proposal to other legislation with the help of the legislature and partnerships with the private sector. just as we rose to meet the challenge of had coronavirus pandemic, we will rise to meet the challenge of restoring our economy, never resting until we are stronger than ever before. you know, i received hups, maybe thousands of hand written notes from maine people this past year. i read about their stories, their hopes, their heartaches. some messages i've read have stayed with me long afterwards. one young mother writes every week she's busy teaching her children at home, keeping a small business going with her husband and training the new family dog. recently she watched the movie "the fellowship of the ring" with her kids and she wrote me about that. she told me about the scene in which froedo says, quote, i wish the ring had never come to me, i wish none of this had happened, end quote. and gandolf responds, quote, so do all who see such times. all we have to decide is what we do with the time that is given to us. she felt there was a lesson in there for her children and maybe for the people of the state of maine. none of us wished to see the times we've seen these last 12 months, but that is not for us to decide. all that we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us. and that's what maine people have done. we like the rest of the nation were dealt a bad hand last year, but we're pushing through, we will get to the other side. we will not only survive, we will rise a better, greater state for all that we have endured and we have learned and all whom we have saved. we are a country and we are a state that knows compassion, that acts with courage, that laws community. we are a people who persevere. that's us. now it's time to get our state back on track, focus on the future and aim for the stars. last friday an american made rover named perseverance operated remotely from nasa headquarters, landed on mars. we rooted with pride for this little vehicle just as we did 50 years ago when american heroes first set foot on the moon. that rover's fiery entry through the martian atmosphere was actually made possible by heat shield materials produced by a company in maine. the next rover, a human mission we expect will be aided by a deceleration system invented by engineers at the university of maine's advance structures and composite center. and one day commercial rockets made at brunswick landing may take to the skies from limestone, maine. for now perseverance has put maine on the map. and for now perseverance is also a prerequisite for the future, our passport for getting our state back on track. as we look up at the stars tonight wrael tell our children about american ingenuity, about the beauty of our world and state and the perseverance of our people. without perseverance our state. please keep the tagt and stay safe. today at 2:30 eastern president biden and president harris will take part in an event commemorating the 50 millionth covid-19 vaccine sho'' watch live coverage right here h on c-span 3. $1.9 democrat of arizona and also cochair of a blue dog coalition here to talk about this

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