Kicking off his fourth two-year term as Vermont’s top official, Republican Gov. Phil Scott in his inaugural address on Thursday echoed familiar calls for statewide economic recovery in the face of unprecedented opportunity.

But from Scott’s shoes, this legislative biennium looks quite different from the past two years and presents the state’s chief executive with new challenges.

For two years, Vermont’s state government had a historic amount of federal pandemic aid to throw at long-standing challenges. Now, those funds have run dry.

And after November’s election, Scott has to contend with a historic Democratic majority in the Legislature — one that, if united, could routinely override Scott’s vetoes, should he try to block Democrats’ priority legislation. The supermajority is a powerful new check on Scott, who has issued a record number of gubernatorial vetoes in his six years in office.

Scott was inaugurated to his fourth two-year term in a packed House chamber on Thursday, in the first large-scale event of its kind under the golden dome since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. He was met with raucous applause as he strode down the House’s center aisle toward the chamber’s dais, beaming and shaking hands with top officials in attendance.

After taking the oath of office, Scott opened his fourth term with an inaugural address in which he imagined a Vermont flush with affordable housing, accessible child care, “mom-and-pop” small businesses and “wicked-fast” broadband access.

For many Vermonters, these are not currently reality — but Scott said on Thursday that they are “within reach.”

“Before the pandemic, we shored up our foundation by passing responsible budgets and focused on longstanding challenges, like workforce and housing,” Scott told a packed House chamber on Thursday. “This work — and the course we have set — has put us in an incredible position to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity offered by historic federal aid and record state surpluses.”

The inaugural address typically provides the governor with an opportunity to sketch out broad priorities, while more detailed proposals are expected in the annual budget address, which Scott is scheduled to deliver on Jan. 20. Scott signaled Thursday that he would be proposing investments in local infrastructure and workforce development, as well as expansions of substance abuse treatment and prevention programs, vehicle electrification infrastructure, child care and pre-K programs and more.

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