TOPEKA (KSNT) — Governor Sam Brownback is firing back to critical comments presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made at a rally in Kansas City Wednesday.

The comment insinuated Brownback ‘likes to beat up on the poor’ referring to recent changes to the state’s welfare requirements.

The Governor continues praising the success of a program meant to get Kansans off welfare and into the workforce.

He says work requirements have helped thousands of Kansans find better paying jobs, and that’s not the only thing Brownback defended during a Thursday afternoon press conference.

“Now yesterday, and this shouldn’t be surprising, a socialist from Vermont, was challenging the Kansas programs of common sense welfare to work,” said Brownback.

What started out as a response to criticism on those recent welfare reforms, quickly turned into a Q&A about a number of other controversial moves by the Brownback Administration.

“In this administration, we’ve been working on solving problems and not kicking the can down the road,” said Brownback.

Problems like the docking building, which he says has been an issue for decades.

However some lawmakers took issue with his administration’s plan to demolish this building and create a $20 million power plant.

Something they knew nothing of.

“You can disagree with our policies if you want to, but we have followed the law, and we do what’s do what’s best for Kansans in everything we do,” said Brownback.

He says plans were presented to the legislature in 2013 and there was a consensus then.

Then there’s the issue of star bonds.

He says a proposal to issue more of those bonds and lure the American Royal across state lines is economically sound.

“I would hope everyone would agree in this state, that the star bonds and the speedway has been an outstanding example of a successful project,” said Brownback.

He doesn’t think any single county should be barred from issuing the bonds, but says he’s willing to work with the legislature on a compromise moving forward.

We’re making progress and we’ll continue to make progress as we work together to solve some of these long term problems that have either been ignored or just deemed too hard to deal with,” said Brownback.