Orrin Hatch

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is an honorary co-chair of ITIF.

In 1976, Senator Hatch ignored a mountain of conventional wisdom when he decided to run against Senator Frank Moss—a powerful incumbent Democrat in a time when Utah was a very blue state. The novice Republican underdog campaigned tirelessly across Utah, won an endorsement from then-California Governor Ronald Reagan, and eventually beat Moss with 54 percent of the vote.

As a statesman, Senator Hatch is perhaps best known for his chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee, a position in which he served from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005. Still the senior Republican on the committee, Senator Hatch has participated in the confirmation hearings of eight of the nine current Supreme Court justices and countless federal judges.

Senator Hatch has also been chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee (now called the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee), serving from 1981 to 1987. Among his many accomplishments on this committee, Senator Hatch has helped create the modern industries of generic drugs and nutritional supplements.

Senator Hatch’s priorities as Senator are to:

• Give taxpayers back more of what they earn
• Work for a country in which children can be safe, healthy, and well-educated
• Defend Constitutional rights
• Cut down the size of a bloated government bureaucracy
• Empower the military with the tools to fight terror and tyranny
• Embody the time-honored principles of integrity, honesty, and candor

Senator Hatch is the fifth-most senior member of the U.S. Senate and the most senior Republican.