Orrin Hatch

Orrin Hatch (1934–) was the senior United States senator for Utah, the longest-serving Republican senator (42 years as of 2019) and president pro temporeFile:Wikipedia's W.svg of the US Senate after 2015.[1] That meant that, he would've become POTUS if Trump and Pence and Ryan were simultaneously given the boot.

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Utahn of the Year

In 2017, Hatch was given the dishonor of being the "Utahn of the Year" by the Salt Lake Tribune. He earned the dishonor for:[2]

“”
  • Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
  • His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code.
  • His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.

Hatch was dimwitted enough to say that he was grateful for the "honor".[3] Apparently he hadn't read the editorial that explained the "honor", just like he hadn't read the tax bill that he supported.

Positions

2016 election

In the 2016 presidential election, he first endorsed Jeb! for president. Unfortunately, Jeb! dropped out and Hatch changed his endorsement to Marco Rubio. He also dropped out. Finally Hatch settled on Donald Trump[4] and appears to have maintained his support through part of the Unite the Right controversy,[5] though he later criticized Trump for his comment about violence on "both sides."[6]

Counter-terrorism
See the main article on this topic: War on Terror

Hatch is somewhat hawkish on intelligence issues, having been instrumental in the passage of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.File:Wikipedia's W.svg Additionally, he supported the 2008 FISA amendmentsFile:Wikipedia's W.svg that increased the reach of the government's ability to conduct surveillance measures that would otherwise have been considered illegal.[7]

LGBT rights
See the main article on this topic: LGBT rights

In 1977, Hatch made the egregious comment that he "wouldn't want to see homosexuals teaching school any more than [he'd] want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school." He did, however, rescind this statement, at the very least.[8] He also supported a judge who later ended up overturning the Utah law against same-sex marriage.[9] In 2013, he said that gay marriage undermined the "very basis of marital law," but would support civil unions for gay couples.[10] He also voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination ActFile:Wikipedia's W.svg that gave additional workplace protections to LGBT people.[11] Overall, he's not amazingly supportive of LGBT rights, but he's not the absolute worst you could do in terms of Republican politicians. He may be getting a bit better, though, as can be seen in his statements in July 2017 regarding the Trump administration's attempted ban on trans people serving in the military.

Environment

Hatch was one of the senators who urged President Trump to withdraw from the Paris AgreementFile:Wikipedia's W.svg on climate change.[12]

Immigration
See the main article on this topic: Illegal immigration

His record is somewhat mixed on immigration. On one hand, he supports tighter controls on the southern border of the US and has pushed some more conservative immigration bills,[13] but he is also a proponent of the DREAM Act,File:Wikipedia's W.svg[14] which tries to help the children of illegal immigrants obtain a good education. He also criticized President Trump's ban on Muslims.[15]

In June 2018, he and other Utah politicians made statements opposing the Trump administration's practice of separating children from their families.[16]

Dietary supplements
See the main articles on this topic: Herbal supplement and Vitamin and mineral supplements

Hatch is in large part responsible for the current state of affairs in the US dietary supplement industry. In response to a lobbying and PR onslaught, Senators Hatch and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) cosponsored the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994. At the time, Utah was a major producer of nutritional supplements, eventually reportedly becoming the number 1 industry in Utah by 2012.[17]

Term limits

In 1976, when Hatch first ran for Senate, he criticized his Democratic opponent Frank Moss, the incumbent three-term senator: "What do you call a Senator who's served in office for 18 years? You call him home." However, he himself would serve seven terms, and was even considering an eighth term, but in the end decided not to.[18]

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gollark: So now I'm making a slow JS version.

References
  1. http://www.sltrib.com/news/1787743-155/hatch-senate-presidency-president-sen-chamber
  2. Tribune Editorial: Why Orrin Hatch is Utahn of the Year (December 26, 2017) Salt Lake Tribune.
  3. Grateful for this great Christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune. For the record, I voted for @SpencerJCox and @rudygobert27. #utpol by Orrin Hatch (11:25 AM - 25 Dec 2017) Twitter (archived from 27 Dec 2017 08:09:24 UTC).
  4. http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/279726-gop-sen-hatch-endorses-trump
  5. https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/orrin-hatch-donald-trump-not-racist-charlottesville/2017/08/17/id/808158/
  6. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/13/republicans-stand-up-to-trump-over-charlottesville-comments-241593
  7. http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.View&PressRelease_id=0d432a46-1b78-be3e-e0e4-97855ddb539b
  8. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53392378-78/hatch-office-1977-orrin.html.csp
  9. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/us/utah-ruling-on-marriage-puts-judge-in-spotlight.html?_r=0
  10. https://www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2013/04/08/utah-sen-orrin-hatch-comes-out-civil-unions
  11. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57610788/employment-non-discrimination-act-enda-makes-progress-in-the-senate/
  12. https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/download/?id=E1E34574-5655-42AA-92E8-0D23DC8C33BA&download=1
  13. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/01/06/orrin-hatch-put-a-conservative-immigration-bill-on-the-the-agenda/
  14. https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/senate-bill/01291
  15. http://fortune.com/2017/01/29/donald-trump-immigration-ban-republicans/
  16. http://kuer.org/post/utah-politicians-decry-trumps-horrible-family-separation-policy
  17. Dietary supplements become Utah’s #1 industry, topping $7.2 billion by Stephen Daniells (23-May-2012 Last updated on 23-May-2012 at 17:18 GMT) Nutra ingredients-USA (Archive.org, 2015)
  18. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/utah-republican-sen-orrin-hatch-retire-romney-could-run-n834091
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