Former Senator Rick Santorum, (R-PA) addressed a packed house at the 2012 National Conservative Student Conference, and left no stone unturned, hammering Obama on everything from the economy to same-sex marriage. But the former presidential candidate and staunch conservative reserved his harshest words for the president's welfare policy.

Clearly disappointed with the president's rewriting of the welfare laws that repealed some work requirements for welfare recipients, Santorum told the Young America's Foundation crowd, “We know what will happen. They will be poor, they will be dependent, and they will vote for the people who gave them the money.”

In addition to welfare, Santorum addressed several key issues facing young people in this election, including the President’s flip-flop on same-sex marriage and the economy. He also spoke of a favored Brookings Institution study, one that he referenced many times on the campaign trail, regarding ways to avoid poverty.

“If you do three things in America, you will be guaranteed never to be in poverty,” said Santorum. “One of the three things: work. Two: graduate from high school. Three: get married before you have children. In America, people who have done those three things end up in poverty two percent of the time.”

The YAF crowd responded well to the Senator's rousing speech, giving him several standing ovations for his support of smaller government

“The more the government does for us, the smaller we become,” he said.