As Mike Pence addressed the Pray Vote Stand Summit on Friday in the nation’s capital, the former vice president appeared to be a long-shot candidate for president, according to the latest Fox News primary poll, which found him tied for fifth place with the support of 3% of respondents.

In a speech that zeroed in on painting Joe Biden’s presidency as a failure, Pence outlined “a national pro-family strategy” that focused heavily on hot button issues, including gender transition procedures for minors, girls’ sports, and abortion.

“Every crisis we face is manmade, and that man’s name is Joe Biden,” Pence declared at the outset.

He went on to point out a litany of economic issues, including a “gusher of spending [that] launched the worst inflation in 40 years.” He also noted falling wages, rising grocery prices, interest rates “rising so fast mortgage rates are now at a 22-year high,” gas prices “up 60% after their war on energy,” and “overall inflation [at] 16%.”

Pence stated that the greatest threat to America’s future is “the collapse of the traditional family.” He pointed to a sharp rise in the number of never-married adults, the phenomenon of “people … getting married later, having children later in life,” and declining birthrates.

“These are not the signs of a thriving civilization,” Pence argued. “They are the hallmarks of decline.”

The former governor of Indiana then summarized a plan to “rebuild the American family” in four parts: to institute national policies “to encourage marriage, childbirth, and adoption,” to “reject the transgender ideology that’s taken hold in our schools,” to “give parents in every state the right to choose where their children go to school—public, private, parochial, or home school,” and, finally, to “restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land.”

A centerpiece of Pence’s plan appears ro be providing Americans with government aid to adopt a child.

“The truth is, the high cost associated with adoptions often discourage prospective families from even thinking about it,” Pence emphasized, noting that the average cost of an adoption roughly equals the average American’s yearly income.

“That’s got to end,” he said. “Under our plan, as your president, I will direct [the Department of Health and Human Services] to consolidate the current web of grants, incentives, [and] direct benefits to a mission-focused goal of making adoption zero cost for every American family. And it won’t cost taxpayers a penny.”

The former vice president also promised to “leverage the power” of the executive branch to “protect our kids from the radical transgender ideology taking hold in our schools.”

Pence elaborated by stating that on his first day in office, he would block federal funds from going to any health care provider that performs gender reassignment procedures on minors.

“We’ve got to protect our kids, instead of encouraging the tragedy of this broken ideology,” he said.

Pence went on to pledge that his administration would “shut down the federal Department of Education” and “send all the money back to the states so they can expand educational choice to every parent in America.”

Pence ended his policy promises by focusing on abortion. He stated that he would “end taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad” and appoint pro-life judges and justices. He also declared his support for embattled Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who has held up military promotions from being confirmed in the Senate over the DOD’s abortion travel policy.

“On Day One,” Pence said, “I’ll direct the Department of Defense to stop using taxpayer dollars to undermine pro-life laws in states around the country.”

Pence, also a former congressman who represented Indiana’s 2nd and 6th congressional districts, stressed his support for a federal ban on abortion.

“We need a 15-week national standard to protect unborn children in California, in Illinois, in New York, and in Democrat-led states,” he underscored.

In his concluding remarks, Pence encouraged the Pray Vote Stand Summit audience to pray in the days ahead.

“[I]n these anxious times … present your request to God—a request to restore this country, to restore the family, to restore the foundation that seems to be crumbling underfoot every day,” Pence urged. “And if you’ll do that, I know that the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds, and you’ll be able to carry from here a determination and a resolve to pray and to stand and to vote over the next year and a half in such a way that will bring about that change.”

This report was published originally in The Washington Stand

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