Pence tells Iowa conservatives focus shouldn’t just be on fiscal issues

The Hill By Bridget Johnson House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence told a gathering of conservatives on Saturday night that “these times demand unrelenting conservative vision” and said “we will not restore this nation with public policy alone.” Pence, the presidential pick in the recent straw poll at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, gave the keynote address at the Friends of the Family Banquet in Iowa, an early battleground state, for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. Pence took at social centrists and liberals within the Republican Party. “To those who say we should focus on fiscal issues, instead of the right to life, I say ‘what is more fiscally responsible than rolling back this administration’s effort to expand funding for abortion at home and abroad?'” Pence said. “What is more fiscally responsible than denying any and all funding to Planned Parenthood of America? “To those who say that marriage doesn’t matter, I say, ‘you would not be able to print enough money in 1,000 years to pay for the government you would need if the traditional family continues to collapse,'” he said, adding, “We are at our strongest when fiscal and social conservatives are united.” Pence said that the GOP had strayed from its principles against big government, but “Republicans in Congress are back in the fight, and they’re back in the fight on the right.” He used a football analogy to stress the urgency of November midterm elections. “It is 4th and goal, and we’re going for it and they know it,” Pence said. “Now it comes down to who wants it more and the strength and character of our candidates.” Pence also assailed President Obama’s foreign policy and the “unconscionable” act of House Democrats breaking for the campaign recess without taking a vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts. He vowed that if Republicans won back the majority repeal of Obama’s biggest agenda items would follow. “House Republicans will not rest until we have repealed their government takeover of health care lock, stock and barrel,” Pence said.