Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator in history, overtaking Ted Stevens, until Chuck Grassley surpassed him in 2023.
Hatch chaired the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from 1981 to 1987. He served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2005. On January 3, 2015, after the 114th United States Congress was sworn in, he became president pro tempore of the Senate. He was chair of the Senate Finance Committee from 2015 to 2019, and led efforts to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Early life and education
Orrin Grant Hatch was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. He was the son of Jesse Hatch, a metal lather, and his wife Helen Frances Hatch. Hatch had eight brothers and sisters, two of whom died during infancy. Hatch was profoundly affected by the loss of his older brother Jesse, a U.S. Army Air Forces nose turret gunner with the 725th Bombardment Squadron who was killed on February 7, 1945, when the B-24 he was aboard was shot down over German Austria.Hatch, who grew up in poverty, was the first in his family to attend college; he attended Brigham Young University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1959. He also fought 11 bouts as an amateur boxer. In 1962, Hatch received a Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Hatch has stated that during law school, he and his young family resided in a refurbished chicken coop behind his parents' house. Hatch worked as an attorney in Pittsburgh and moved to Utah in 1969, where he continued to practice law.
Elections
In 1976, in his first run for public office, Hatch was elected to the United States Senate, defeating Democrat Frank Moss, a three-term incumbent. Hatch criticized Moss's 18-year tenure in the Senate, saying, "What do you call a Senator who's served in office for 18 years? You call him home." Hatch ran on the promise of term limits and argued that many senators, including Moss, had lost touch with their constituents.In 1982, Hatch won re-election, defeating Ted Wilson, the mayor of Salt Lake City, by 17 points. He defeated Brian Moss by 35 points in 1988 and was re-elected in 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2012.
In 2000, Hatch campaigned for the Republican Party nomination for president. After finishing last in the Iowa caucuses, Hatch withdrew his candidacy on January 27, 2000, and endorsed the eventual winner George W. Bush.
2012 Senate election
After the defeat of Utah's Senator Bob Bennett in 2010, conjecture began as to whether six-term Senator Hatch would retire in 2012. It was also speculated that Congressman Jason Chaffetz would run against Hatch, though Chaffetz would later decline. In January 2011, Hatch announced his campaign for re-election. Later, nine other Republicans, including former State Senator Dan Liljenquist and then-State Legislator Chris Herrod, declared campaigns for U.S. Senator.Having elected state delegates in mid-March, both the Democratic and Republican parties held conventions on April 21, with the possibilities to determine their nominees for the November general election. At the Republican convention, Hatch failed to get the 60% vote needed to clinch the Republican nomination, so he faced Liljenquist in the June 26 primary. Hatch won the primary easily. It was Hatch's first primary competition since his election in 1976. The Democratic convention chose former state senator and IBM executive Scott Howell as the Democratic Party candidate. Hatch defeated Howell, receiving 65.2% of the vote to Howell's 30.2%.
2016 presidential endorsements
In the 2016 presidential election, Hatch originally supported former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and later endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio once Bush ended his campaign. On May 12, 2016, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Hatch endorsed him. On May 27, 2016, after Trump suggested that a federal judge Gonzalo P. Curiel was biased against Trump because of his Mexican heritage, Hatch said: "From what I know about Trump, he's not a racist but he does make a lot of outrageous statements ... I think you can criticize a judge but it ought to be done in a formal way" and said that Trump's statements were not so inappropriate that he would rescind his support. On October 7, 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Hatch described Trump's comments as "offensive and disgusting" and said that " is no excuse for such degrading behavior. All women deserve to be treated with respect." Hatch maintained his endorsement of Trump's candidacy.U.S. Senate tenure
Hatch took office as a U.S. senator on January 3, 1977. He chaired the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from 1981 to 1987. He also served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.In September 1989, Hatch was one of nine Republican senators appointed by Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole to negotiate a dispute with Democrats over the financing of President George HW
Bush's anti-drug plan that called for spending $7.8 billion by the following year as part of the president's efforts to address narcotics nationwide and abroad.
Hatch long expressed interest in serving on the United States Supreme Court. It was reported that he was on Ronald Reagan's short list of candidates to succeed Lewis F. Powell Jr. on the Supreme Court, but was passed over at least in part because of the Ineligibility Clause. Despite that, he vocally supported Robert Bork, who was nominated for the vacancy instead.
Hatch "worked across the aisle to pass landmark legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Children's Health Insurance Program". During the 1991 confirmation hearings regarding the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas, Hatch "famously defended Thomas... by reading aloud from The Exorcist to suggest Anita Hill lifted details of her sexual harassment allegations from the horror book".
On January 3, 2015, after the 114th United States Congress was sworn in, Hatch became President pro tempore of the Senate.
Hatch was absent from the 2017 Inauguration Day festivities. At the request of President-elect Donald Trump, he agreed to serve as designated survivor during the inauguration and was kept at a secure, undisclosed location.
On December 25, 2017, The Salt Lake Tribune published an editorial entitled "Why Orrin Hatch is Utahn of the Year". The newspaper described its criteria for the designation as "Utahn of the Year" as "the Utahn who, over the past 12 months, has done the most. Has made the most news. Has had the biggest impact. For good or for ill." The editorial criticized Hatch for his role in the size reduction of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and accused him of lacking integrity.
Hatch announced on January 2, 2018, that he would retire from the Senate instead of seeking re-election that November. Hatch retired from the Senate on January 3, 2019, having served there for 42 years. At the time of his retirement announcement, he was the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Utah history, the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in the history of Congress, and also one of the longest-serving Republican members of Congress in the history of the United States. In the latter distinction, Hatch was surpassed in length of service by fellow senators Ted Stevens and Strom Thurmond, who joined the Republican Party in 1964, and was later surpassed by Chuck Grassley and Don Young.
Political positions and votes
Abortion
Hatch was strongly opposed to abortion and is the author of the Hatch Amendment proposed to the U.S. Constitution, which states that there is no constitutional right to abortion and would empower the states to restrict abortion as they see fit.Anti-terrorism
In 1995, Hatch was the leading figure behind the Senate's anti-terrorism bill, to a large extent a response to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Elements of the bill were criticised by the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee on civil liberties grounds, especially the new limits imposed on habeas corpus in capital cases.As a senior member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hatch was also instrumental in the 2008 extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He said, "This bipartisan bill will help defeat terrorism and keep America safe. No, the legislation is not perfect, but it ensures that the increased expansion of the judiciary into foreign intelligence gathering doesn't unnecessarily hamper our intelligence community."
Bailouts
Hatch voted in favor of the 2008 legislation that established the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In 2011, Hatch said that he "probably made a mistake voting for it", and also claimed "at the time, we were in real trouble and it looked like we were ready for a depression. I believe we would have gone into a depression."He voted against the renewal of TARP in 2009, and the renewal was voted down by 10 votes in the Senate.
Hatch voted in favor of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The bill authorized $300 billion to guarantee mortgages and restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Balanced budget amendment
Hatch was a longtime advocate of amending the United States Constitution to require that total spending of the federal government for any fiscal year not exceed total receipts.During his time in the Senate, Hatch sponsored a balanced budget amendment 17 times—4 times as lead sponsor and 13 times as a co-sponsor. He also voted in favor of passing a Balanced Budget Amendment on at least nine occasions. Hatch's proposed amendment passed the House of Representatives in 1997, but failed to pass the Senate by the required two-thirds majority by one vote to move on the states for ratification.