page_title: Orrin Hatch
section_title: U.S. Senate tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Orrin Hatch / U.S. Senate tenure
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald J. Trump visited the Utah Air National Guard's Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City accompanied by Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee on Dec. 4, 2017. After arriving in Air Force One, Trump traveled via motorcade to the Utah State Capital where he signed two Presidential Proclamations before departing the state. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Annie Edwards)
context_page_description: Orrin Grant Hatch is an American attorney, retired politician, and composer who served as a United States Senator from Utah for 42 years. He is the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in history and the longest-serving U.S. Senator from Utah.
  Hatch chaired the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from 1981 to 1987. He also served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and 2003 to 2005. On January 3, 2015, after the 114th United States Congress was sworn in, Hatch became President pro tempore of the Senate. He served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 2015 to 2019. Hatch led the efforts to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He retired in January 2019 and was succeeded by the former 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
context_section_description: 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 Robert Dole to negotiate a dispute with Democrats over the financing of President 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 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 chosen 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 (having eclipsed previous record-holder Reed Smoot in 2007) and the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in the history of the United States.
caption: Hatch with President Donald Trump and Senator Mike Lee in 2017
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