McConnell Pays Tribute to Senator Orrin Hatch
Statement
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Senator Orrin Hatch:
"As the Senate convenes today, we are mourning the loss of our dear friend and legendary former colleague Orrin Hatch.
"When Senator Hatch retired three years ago, this body lost its longest-serving Republican and its president pro tem. We also lost one of the kindest and best-humored colleagues any of us had ever served with. And, for that matter, the Senate's only former band manager of a Mormon folk music group.
"Orrin Hatch led an incredibly full, interesting, and accomplished life. By the end of his tenure, our very funny colleague liked to poke fun at his own longevity. I remember when Orrin, a former Judiciary Committee chairman, would pretend to wistfully recall his work on Justice Joseph Story's confirmation in 1811.
"Humor aside, the reality was impressive enough. Orrin's dogged service for Utah and our nation was a constant in this chamber for 42 years.
"He was an accomplished, influential chairman of three major committees: HELP, Judiciary, and Finance.
"He was an essential legislator behind a long list of landmark laws --
"From the Hatch-Waxman law on generic drugs in the 1980s
"To the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, all in the 1990s
"All the way through to the historic 2017 tax reform that Orrin shepherded as Finance chairman. That helped engineer the best economic moment for American workers and families in modern history.
"There were also countless specific achievements for the great state of Utah that Orrin loved so much.
"And amid all that legislative heavy lifting, Orrin was also a pivotal player concerning the Senate's part in the personnel business.
"Amazingly, at the time of Orrin's retirement, he had personally participated in the confirmations for more than half of all the Article III judges who had ever served in American history.
"Orrin came into the Senate as a young conservative firebrand. His first campaign for any public office of any kind was the 1976 campaign that landed him here. He left the Senate as a widely admired and universally liked elder statesman. His legacy is peppered with both big principled victories, bipartisan collaborations, and a roster of friends that spanned the entire political spectrum and sometimes transcended politics altogether.
"But there was never any confusing what Orrin viewed as his proudest accomplishment of all. That would be his remarkable marriage to Elaine and their loving family.
"Alphabetical order has perhaps never served any man better than when "Hatch, comma, Orrin' was assigned the chair next to "Hansen, comma, Elaine' in a Brigham Young University classroom. Decades later, Orrin said "I can't remember a doggone thing from that astronomy class.' But the two of them got 65 inspiring years of marriage and a big, happy brood of kids and grandkids out of the bargain.
"Today, the entire Senate stands with Elaine, the Hatch family, and the huge network of friends, former staffers, and admirers that Orrin leaves behind -- across Utah and across the country.
"We mourn this great loss and we honor this great life."
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