[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 202 (Friday, December 21, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S8014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO ORRIN HATCH

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I pay tribute to my friend, the 
Senator from Utah, President pro tempore of the Senate, who is retiring 
after 41 years of service. Senator Hatch is known as a Senator's 
Senator. He has had more legislation signed into law than any other 
living Member of this body, and he has chaired the Finance, Judiciary, 
and Labor and Human Resources Committees with great distinction. Today 
we call that Labor and Human Resources Committee the HELP Committee.
  We all recall the friendship Mr. Hatch had with the late Senator from 
Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy. This relationship was responsible for some 
of the most impactful legislation of our time. The State Children's 
Health Insurance Program, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the 
Ryan White Act, to name a few, and when Senator Kennedy suffered from 
life's difficulties, Senator Hatch was there to support him as a 
friend.
  On June 28, 2017, Senator Hatch published a very important column in 
TIME Magazine, entitled, ``I am recommitting myself to civility.'' 
Written in the wake of the attempted massacre of colleagues who were 
practicing for the annual congressional softball game, a racially 
motivated stabbing in Portland, and dueling political rallies in 
Berkeley that turned violent, Senator Hatch observed, ``Civility is the 
indispensable political norm.''
  I would like to quote a few sentences from Mr. Hatch's column because 
they bear repeating, now more than ever.

     ``Civility--it is the public virtue that has greased the 
     wheels of our democracy since its inception. Without it, 
     little separates us from the cruelty and chaos of rule by 
     force. For decades, civility has acted as the levee 
     protecting our society from its own worst impulses. But that 
     levee now shows signs of strain as political passions spill 
     over into open violence.''

If our Nation paid greater heed to Mr. Hatch's wisdom, horrors like the 
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting might well have been avoided.
  Orrin, you have been a steady hand in troubled times. While you may 
have chosen to retire from this body, your work is hardly done, and I 
hope that your retirement does not mark a retreat from your commitment 
to keep our Nation and your colleagues on a steady course.
  You are indeed a Senator's Senator and a true patriot.

                          ____________________