From Roll Call: Former Utah Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, who helped shape health and tax policy, dead at 88

- Click here for the article. 

Once in the Senate, Hatch championed a variety of issues including a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, which he sponsored 17 times; immigration and border security; religious freedom; and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he also played leading roles in passing landmark laws related to national security and health care, including teaming with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts to create the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for children living in or near poverty as part of a larger 1997 budget law.

. . . Then-Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa was his ally in preparing a 1994 law that limited the Food and Drug Administration’s ability to withdraw dietary supplements from stores (supplements are a huge industry in Utah). A 1984 law credited with making generic medicines more widely available is named for its champions, Hatch and Democratic California Rep. Henry A. Waxman.

He was reelected in 2012 after a difficult challenge from the tea party, which charged Hatch with being out of touch. After seeing three-term Utah Sen. Robert F. Bennett denied the GOP Senate nomination in 2010 when conservatives at the party’s nominating convention lined up behind two challengers, Hatch had two years to prepare for a similar battle. He tacked to the right on most issues, established ties to the tea party movement and engaged in aggressive fundraising.

Legislation he was involved in

- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

- Children's Health Insurance Plan.

- Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.