Presidential hopeful and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani made a stop at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Des Moines on Wednesday to discuss his vision for America.

State Sen. Jeff Angelo introduced the candidate as the next President of the United States.

Giuliani recently released his “12 Commitments” – things he thinks need to be done for America, such as ending illegal immigration and having fiscal discipline.

The commitment Giuliani focused on in his speech Wednesday was “restoring fiscal discipline and cutting wasteful Washington spending.”

Giuliani said there are two main reasons people are Republicans: because of the party’s strong commitment to national defense, and the “connection between fiscal discipline, accountable government and growing economy.”

“And when we undermine that, we undermine one of the main reasons that people are Republicans,” he said.

In order to recapture the presidency, Congress and the majority, Giuliani said the party has to “reclaim who we are.”

“There’s no doubt that Republicans lost their way,” he said.

Giuliani also said he noticed in the Democratic debates that all of the candidates wanted to increase spending.

“They were falling all over each other to increase your taxes,” he said.

Giuliani also said there is a problem in Washington, D.C., and there was a “culture of unaccountability, and out-of-control spending.”

Giuliani said he was the most fiscally conservative candidate out of the Republicans hopefuls, as well as the one with the most executive experience, referring to his time as mayor of New York City.

“We have to end the culture of spending in Washington, D.C., and I can do that,” he said.

Giuliani said he ended this “culture of spending” in New York City during his time as mayor.

To prove his point, Giuliani talked about his accomplishments as mayor in dealing with welfare.

Giuliani said when he came into office, there were 1.1 million people on welfare, and when he left there were 640,000 fewer people who were on welfare – reducing the number by more than half.

“We had changed it completely,” he said.

He also attributed the decrease in the number of people on welfare to the drop in the crime rate.

Giuliani said while he was in office, he “controlled spending” better than the federal government or almost any other city or state in the country.

However, Giuliani said the goal is not just to decrease spending itself.

“The goal is, this stimulates the private sector,” he said.

Possible solutions that Giuliani proposed to reduce spending and create accountability is to stop anonymous earmarking by putting the name of the congressman or senator proposing the spending as well as putting an estimate of the cost.

Giuliani said there should be mandatory sunset clauses for all federal programs. This means programs would be reviewed and voted on whether to extend the programs.

“You’ve got to run the federal government like a business,” he said.