About the Chairman
Orrin Hatch was re-elected in 2012 to a seventh term representing Utah in the United States Senate. As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the Committee with the largest jurisdiction in either House of Congress, overseeing more than 50 percent of the federal budget, Hatch is working to grow America’s economy, create much-needed jobs, tackle the nation’s unsustainable debt and reform government to ensure prosperity for future generations.
Hatch believes the U.S. tax code has become a weight around America’s ability to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy and that comprehensive tax reform based on fairness, growth, and simplicity must be a national priority. He has consistently fought for lower taxes and supported measures to encourage household savings, cut the capital gains rate, eliminate the death tax, and put an end to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). To help spur innovation and give American businesses more certainty, Hatch has introduced legislation to improve and make the Research and Development tax credit permanent as well as supported initiatives to reward capital investment.
Recognizing the fiscal challenges facing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, Hatch is committed to fixing the nation’s broken entitlement programs to guarantee their long-term solvency for generations to come. He continues to lead the fight to repeal the $2.6 trillion health spending law and has pushed for a step-by-step, common-sense approach that will lower skyrocketing health care costs while ensuring quality and dependable care for the American people.
A longtime advocate of breaking down trade barriers, Hatch wants to enhance America’s global competitiveness and increase American access to international markets. He has long fought to preserve intellectual property (IP) standards within international trade negotiations and most recently, spearheaded congressional efforts to enact bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to help open more markets for U.S. exports and ensure American businesses can successfully compete in the 21st century global economy.
In addition to serving on the Senate Finance Committee, Hatch is a current member and former Chairman of both the Senate Judiciary and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees. He also serves on the Joint Committee on Taxation as well as the Senate Aging Committee.
Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 1976, Hatch was a practicing attorney in both Pennsylvania and Utah. Hatch received a B.A. in History from Brigham Young University and a J.D., with honors, from the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Hatch resides in Utah with his wife, Elaine. They are the proud parents of six children, twenty-three grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Senate Finance Committee Accomplishments
Tax Relief for Families and Job Creators: Hatch has been a leading proponent of tax relief for individuals, job creators, families, farmers, ranchers and investors.
Opening Markets to American Products: Hatch led the fight to tear down international trade barriers for American workers, businesses and farmers by working to enact job-creating trade agreements, including those with South Korea, Colombia, Panama, Central America and the Dominican Republic (CAFTA), among others.
Prescription Drug Coverage for Seniors: Hatch helped develop legislation to provide a prescription drug benefit to seniors under Medicare, which was signed into law in 2003 and has provided millions of American seniors with solid prescription drug coverage.
Welfare Reform: Hatch was one of the lead architects of the landmark 1996 bipartisan welfare reform law. More than a decade and a half later, Hatch continues to fight for a robust reexamination of the program to help ensure less government dependence and more economic independence for Americans.
Fiscal Responsibility: Hatch played a key role in making the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 a reality. This legislation cut federal spending by nearly $40 billion and reformed government programs to make them more efficient.
Repealed Burdensome 1099 Health Care Mandate: Hatch worked to repeal the 1099 tax reporting requirement in the 2010 health care law that would have been unmanageable to small businesses. He continues to lead the fight to repeal the $2.6 trillion health care spending law in its entirety.
