Rick Santorum on Friday will kick off a
new push to win over social conservatives in Iowa, The
Washington Post reported.
Tonight's speech will be the first of
three to focus on moral and cultural issues.
Santorum will outline 16 policy
initiatives he would back if elected president, including undoing the
repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the recently ended law that
for 18 years banned gay and bisexual troops from serving openly, and
instructing the Department of Justice to defend in court the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that bars federal agencies and
the military from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian
couples.
President Barack Obama in December
signed legislation that led to the end of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,”
and his administration stopped defending DOMA earlier this year. The
president said he believes the law is unconstitutional.
Santorum will also repeat his call to
Congress to abolish the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, considered by
conservatives to be an “activist court” which regularly decides
in favor of gay rights.
“After three years of Barack Obama,
America is now looking for a president who will help restore America
that believes in her people rather than big government intrusion,”
Santorum said in a statement teasing the speech. “If Barack Obama
has taught us anything, it's that experience matters.”