 Today we stand at a crossroad. The path we choose will have a profound impact on our Commonwealth's future. My proposed budget provides a clear vision for a promising future for our state. It assumes the bipartisan budget agreement that proved elusive in December is ultimately enacted this year. It provides a plan for 2016-17 that meets our needs and continues to restore the cuts to our schools. We must, however, acknowledge that a failure to act has severe consequences that will be felt across the Commonwealth. If we do nothing and continue the status quo, our schools will face impacts that cut deeper than anything we have faced in recent memory. In fact, it would result in another $1 billion cut from education, doubling down on the deep cuts of the past. Funding for home and community-based services for seniors, veterans, and child care would be reduced by hundreds of millions. Bond ratings would be lowered again, while debt costs and local property taxes would soar upward. And our deficit would balloon to over $2 billion. We must take action to avoid this from happening to our state and to our future. We still need schools that teach, jobs that pay, and a government that works.