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 led the charge in Washington to enact the largest tax overhaul in over thirty years and create an updated tax system that is more efficient and competitive for both job creators and hard-working middle class families. The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, which was enacted into law in 2017, puts the nation back on track to be the leader of the global economy by putting America’s corporate tax rate on par with other developed countries, transitioning to a global territorial tax system, and making a number of other much-needed business reforms. These pro-growth policy changes will lead to increased investment, higher wages and more jobs. The new law also overhauled the individual side of the tax code, lowering rates across the board, doubling the child tax credit, nearly doubling the standard deduction and seriously mitigating the effects of the death tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT).
In 2015, Hatch spearheaded efforts to put in place permanent and responsible tax relief that helped lay the groundwork for a broader tax overhaul. In addition, in that year, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was enacted, which contained the biggest changes to Social Security in over 30 years. Spearheaded by legislative proposals by Hatch in the Senate and efforts in the Finance committee, that Act put in place reforms to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, and protected beneficiaries from benefit cuts.
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 future generations. Under his leadership as chairman of the Finance Committee, Congress put in place meaningful and bipartisan Medicare reforms by repealing and replacing the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) with an improved payment system so America’s seniors can continue to see their doctors year after year without worrying that providers will stop accepting Medicare. He continues to lead the fight to repeal Obamacare 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. He made great strides in advancing this goal with the repeal of Obamacare’s regressive and punitive individual mandate tax in 2017.
A longtime advocate of expanding opportunity through trade, Hatch is working to enhance America’s competitiveness and increase U.S. trade with other countries. He has long fought to protect American intellectual property (IP) rights abroad, and most recently led congressional efforts to enact high standard Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to help open more markets to American products and services across the globe and ensure American workers can successfully compete in the global marketplace.
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 (HELP) Committees. He also serves on the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) as well as the Senate Aging Committee.
Hatch is currently the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, the second-highest ranking official in the Senate.
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, 23 grandchildren and 19 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. He co-authored H.R. 1, the largest tax overhaul in over three decades, that dramatically improves the United States international, businesses and individual sides of the tax code. These reforms will provide middle-class tax relief, make America more globally competitive, and lead to significant increased economic growth, meaning more jobs, higher wages and increased investment in the United States. In 2015, he co-authored the law that put in place permanent and responsible tax relief for more Americans, which helped pave the way for the broader, comprehensive overhaul.
Opening Markets to American Products: Hatch has long fought to increase opportunity through trade. He authored the law to put in place bipartisan, high standard Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to help tear down international trade barriers for American workers, businesses and farmers. He continues to protect American intellectual property (IP) rights and ensure American workers and job creators have access to the tools they need to compete in the 21st century global market.
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. In 2015, Hatch fought to empower disabled workers by providing improvements to the administration of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program – including preventing benefit cuts and shoring up the SSDI trust fund. This marked the biggest changes to the program in over 30 years.
Repealed & Delayed Obamacare’s Burdensome Taxes & Mandates: Hatch fought to repeal the 1099 tax reporting requirement in the 2010 health care law that would have been unmanageable to small businesses. As Chairman of Finance, he successfully spearheaded efforts in Congress to: fully repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate tax; suspend the law’s medical device and health insurance (HIT) taxes and delay the Cadillac tax. He continues to lead the fight to repeal the health care spending law in its entirety and replace it with patient-centered reforms that will lower costs and increase choice
