Transcripts For CSPAN Vice President Pence Addresses Faith

From air force one. [laughter] tonight, our keynote speaker is one of our closest friends. Our champion. Community,he faith Vice President mike pence. [applause] he is no stranger to this organization or this stage. He first addressed the faith and freedom audience in 2012. This is the third year in a net in a wrote that he has keynoted. He earned a welldeserved principledas a commonsense conservative who was respected by his colleagues and was viewed as a rising star in was headed forho bigger and greater things. I will never forget where i was on the day in july of 2016 when donald trump announced that he had selected mike pence to be his running mate. For millions of members of the Faith Community, it was a moment of joy, genuine gratitude, and celebration. We knew mike pence. He was our friend. He was a champion of the family and a defender of innocent human life and we trusted him. We were thrilled the donald trump saw in him what we had seen for years. A great leader. Since then, he has only risen higher in our eyes and in the eyes of this president. He is decent, humble, principled, courageous, discrete , and loyal. Loyal not just to the president but to his principles. To the American People who elected him and to the lord he serves. We have had more policy victories and more personnel advances in this administration than all previous combined and this man is one of the reasons why. [applause] we are truly fortunate and blessed to have a man shares our values and shares our faith in jesus christ not only trusted but his advice and counsel relied upon by the president of the United States. We thank god that he has raised this man up so please welcome the Vice President of the United States, mike pence. [applause] [applause] vice pres. Pence thank you all. [applause] thank you allce for that very warm welcome. [applause] [no audio] [applause] [applause] vice pres. Pence thank you all. It is wonderful to be back. Wonderful to be back with the men and women of the faith and Freedom Coalition. By thepecially honored words that just preceded me. His onlyincoln said ambition in life was to be esteemed by people he esteemed. Would you join me in thanking ralph reed for his extraordinary leadership of this Great Coalition and this Movement Across america. [applause] vice pres. Pence ralph and i have known each other a long time. All the way back when we both had dark hair. [laughter] ralph knows me well enough to know that i am humbled by his words and the introduction i prefer is a little shorter. I am a christian, a conservative, and a republican in that order. It is my great honor to be with you. [applause] vice pres. Pence to be among so many people who make such a difference in pulpits around the land and in public service. I am also honored to be joined tonight by some of my real heroes. Lankfordtor james [applause] and to Eugene Scalia who was with us and the hundreds of members of faith who have come from near and far and to those looking on it is a joy for me to be with you tonight. I understand that later tonight the faith and Freedom Coalition is going to recognize another american who i have admired throughout my adult life. He is someone who has carried forth the conservative message as an educator, historian, a voice on the public airwaves like very few americans. He was secretary of education and he has been educating americans about the strength of our values and our foundation and liberty. Allow me to offer an early congratulations tonight to the recipient of this years Winston Churchill Lifetime Achievement award, bill bennett. [applause] vice pres. Pence congratulations. Speaking of friends of mine, let me begin tonight by bringing greetings from another friend of mine. [laughter] he is on the other side of the world that i know his heart is here with all of you and i know he kicked off your week of gathering for the faith and Freedom Coalition. Greetings fromng the 45th president of the United States america, President Donald Trump. [applause] vice pres. Pence starting you off this week, the president in godericans believe has forged a character of our country. And it our nation a light unto the world. He added our administration is fighting for all americans and we are embracing the Faith Community as never before. Thanks to your support, and thanks to the leadership of this president , i am pleased to report to you that faith and freedom are on the rise. All across america. [laughter] [applause] [laughter] [applause] the greatest honor is my life is to serve Vice President to a president who gets up every day to keep the masses he made to the American People. He stands without apology for faith and freedom everyday. I have seen it when the cameras are off. He is a man of action. President donald trump is a man of his word. He has kept his word in the community of faith all across america. [applause] i thinks. Pence theres only one way you can describe the last two years. It has been two years of action. Two and a half years of results. Twoandahalf years of promises made and promises kept. We are just getting started. [applause] president pence trump promised to revive the american economy. Bypassing largest tax cuts and tax reform in American History and that is exactly what we have done. The results are remarkable. [applause] dont need me to tell you but i will tell you anyway. [laughter] vice pres. Pence 5. 8 million new jobs since election day 2016 and the Unemployment Rate is at a 50 year low. [applause] vice pres. Pence wages are rising at the fastest pace in more than a decade and most meaningful to the president and me, wages are rising at their fastest pace for working and bluecollar americans area that the forgotten men and women of america are forgotten no more. The American Dream is working again. For every american. Womenemployment rate for is at a 60 year low and it is the lowest Unemployment Rate ever recorded for African Americans and hispanic americans. [applause] i can tell youe in this room, confidence is back. Jobs are back. America is back. [applause] as we all pence the president has been busy with security as well. After years where we saw a reckless cutbacks in our military at a time when we took office, there were American Military aircraft grounded so they could be used as spare parts or other aircraft to keep them in the air. Thanks to this president s leadership and our strong allies in the congress, President Trump signed the largest increase in our National Defense since the days of ronald reagan. [applause] vice pres. Pence we are rebuilding our military. Democracy andng once again giving our soldiers sailors and airmen marines and coast guard the resources and training they deserve. [applause] with that pence renewed american strength, we have a president who once again is embracing his role as leader of the free world. We are standing strong with our allies. We are having our allies do more than they have ever done before. As i stand before you today, our nato allies arc exhibiting more to our common defense than they have been for decades. This president has stood. He stood with our allies especially our most child cherished ally like when he kept the promise that had been made by four previous administrations only to be set aside but this president cap it when he moved the United States embassy to jerusalem. The capital of the state of israel. [applause] thats what wee call promises made and promises kept. With that renewed american strength, we have also stood up to our adversaries. Those that would challenge americas interests around the world. This president iran on notice. We will no longer tolerate their spread of terrorism in the world. We brought north korea to the negotiating table. The president is on the Korean Peninsula as we speak and will dmz maybeto the before this dinner is out. We have taken the fight to radical islamic terrorists on our terms on their soil and thanks to the courage of our men and women of the United States armed forces and this commander in chief, the last inch of territory controlled by isis has been captured. Caliphateflag of the flies no more over the territory they once controlled. [applause] vice pres. Pence i am proud to thatt in the wake of military victory, the United States has also under this president s readership helping to rebuild communities across the plane that were devastated when did brutality of isis. I am proud to report with the strong support of our partners in congress, the United States has already committed more than 300 million in aid to rebuild Christian Communities torn asunder by war. The United States is also standing strong in calling out religious persecution wherever it takes place. Whether it be in nicaragua, russia, iran, or the peoples republic of china. I want to promise you this illustration is going to continue to speak out and stand up for the freedom of conscience and of the freedom of religion for people all over the world. We will hold of that deal. [applause] vice pres. Pence men and women and persecuted christians around the world deserve our prayers and i promise you they will always have the support of the United States of america. This administration has worked tirelessly to secure the release of americans facing persecution and captivity. From egypt to venezuela, to wherekorea and to turkey after two years of captivity, thanks to the tenacious demand of this president pastor Andrew Branson is home. [applause] vice pres. Pence we have stood up for people of faith but our most cherished values on the world stage. We have also been standing for those values here at home since the first day of this administration. This president has reaffirmed our commitment to the rule of law. The foundation of constitutional principles upon which our nation was built. This president has appointed more judges to our federal court of appeals in the last two years than any president in American History. They are all principled conservatives. [applause] will uphold the godgiven liberties enshrined in our constitution. [applause] religion,reedom of the freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. [applause] vice pres. Pence i have met many of these judges on the bench. They are incredible. 114 federal judges confirmed so far. How about a round of applause for senator langford and leader mcconnell and the great republicans in the United States senate have confirmed these including Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett kavanaugh. [applause] vice pres. Pence our administration has also taken action to promote our first freedom. The religious liberty of every american. I probably dont need to tell of you that we live in a time when it has become fashionable to mock religious belief. We see it among the media elites. Andvision commentators liberal politicians. Usk in 2016 they called deplorable. [laughter] recently, our former Vice President actually said that americans who stand for traditional moral values are in his words forces of intolerance. Dregs of society. One senator has National Aspirations that our administrations budget director who happens to be a bible believing christian is not as he said someone this country is supposed to be about. Simply because he was a christian. You, the American People cherish the religious freedom and the freedom of conscience of every one of our citizens and these attacks on people of the Christian Faith must stop. [applause] vice pres. Pence its not what we are about as americans area americans cherish the faith and freedom of every person to believe or not believe it. According to the dictates of their conscience and traditions. Commend you for upholding that principle. I will make you a promise under this president , we will always stand with people of faith. We will always defend the freedom of religion of every american of every faith so help us god. [applause] vice pres. Pence in 2016 the president promised he would defend your religious liberties and youre right to practice their religion as individuals, is as owners and institutions and that is what he has done. We have taken actions to protect the conscience rights of doctors and health care providers. We have restored enteral enforcement of our nations conscience laws and we ended the last administrations assault on the Little Sisters of the core. As the president said a few days ago, we believe the freedom of speech should not end at the front door of our churches and places of worship. That is why we ended enforcement of the Johnson Amendment and we will continue to work to repeal the Johnson Amendment once and for all. [applause] vice pres. Pence you think about the freedom of speech in the pulpits of this nation. Maybe when bill bennett takes to this podium having written some of the most important histories of the founding of this country he can tell you how important those pulpits were. When i first claimed our freedom in 1776. We have gone to court to protect the right of religious expect expression in the public square. Decades ago a 40 foot cross was built in maryland to commemorate men who died fighting for our freedom in world war i and or stood as a cross symbol of our nations gratitude to those heroes. Recently leftwing activists threatened to tear it down. Administration, we stood for the peace cross in maryland. 72 vote, the Supreme Court said the cross of maryland can stay. [applause] vice pres. Pence we have stood for liberty. For the rule of law, the foundation of our constitutional liberties. From the bottom of my heart, i could not be more proud to serve as Vice President to a president who stands without apology for the sanctity of human life. [applause] President Donald Trump is the most prolife president in American History. [applause] vice pres. Pence one of his very first act, he reinstated the mexico city policy to make sure that taxpayer dollars would not be used to promote abortion overseas. Promote or provide abortion overseas or around the world. I was honored to cast the tiebreaking vote and to watch the president signed legislation that allowed the states across the country to defund planned parenthood. [applause] vice pres. Pence speaking of the nations largest abortion provider, we all remember back in 2015 when those chilling undercover videos were on the airwaves of the nation. They showed horrific conversations about the sale and transfer of parts of aborted babies. Know, juste sure you a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump ended Fetal Tissue Research at the National Institute [indiscernible] [applause] vice pres. Pence it is remarkable to think that at a time when more and more americans especially younger americans are embracing the sanctity of life, the party that once said abortion should be now and legal and rare supports abortion on demand. Even lateterm abortion. In state legislatures across the country, democrats are endorsing lateterm abortion. They also were the governor of virginia supported infanticide. You should also know that democrats in the senate including every democrat running for president voted against the bill that would prevent newborn babies who survived failed abortions from being killed. Aliveknown as the born infants protection act. There is even a litmus test in the Democratic Campaign for president that taxpayer funding must be provided for abortion throughout pregnancy. Long ago that we had a bipartisan consensus in congress and across the country that we shouldnt take the taxpayer dollars of millions of prolife americans and use it to fund a procedure that they find morally objectionable. It was the genius that was enshrined decades ago in the after thement named prolife congressman from illinois. Today, things are different. Even some leading democrats who supported the Hyde Amendment for decades are now embracing taxpayer funding of abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions. I have long believed that a society can be judged with how it deals with its most most vulnerable. And youngest. Firm i promise you, this president this party and this movement will always stand for the inalienable right to life. [applause] vice pres. Pence we have been growing our economy, fighting for National Defense, we have been standing up for our values and home and abroad. Men and women of faith and freedom, we know there are still challenges that we face as a nation. And most poignantly in the hearts and minds of americans today, there is now a Broad National realization