[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2181-S2182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Orrin G. Hatch

  Mr. ROMNEY. Mr. President, I rise today to honor and celebrate the 
life and legacy of an extraordinary man, a giant among Senators, and a 
dear friend: Senator Orrin Hatch. He was a man of vision and 
unparalleled legislative accomplishment.
  As the longest serving Senator in Utah's history, his unwavering 
dedication to our State and country during four decades of public 
service will be remembered for generations to come. Few individuals 
have left such an indelible mark on the U.S. Senate. He did this 
through his legislation. He did it through the relationships he had 
with other Senators. He did it through bipartisanship. He did it 
through his relationship with Presidents of both parties.
  Like his good friend Ted Kennedy, he was the lion of the Senate. Now, 
I know that there have been a number of Senators who take 
responsibility for accomplishing many things, but I don't think there 
has ever been a legislator who has gotten more done legislatively than 
Orrin Hatch. Our judiciary, the fundamentals of our economy, even our 
national character are more elevated and more secure thanks to his 
leadership, thanks to his undaunted capacity to plow ahead. Sponsoring 
and cosponsoring more legislation than any other Member at the time of 
his retirement, he used his time in this Chamber to work tirelessly to 
help people who sometimes were overlooked. He reached across the aisle 
to forge strong bipartisan relationships that allowed him to pass 
landmark legislation.
  Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy were once signing a bill together, 
celebrating the same bill, and President Reagan turned to Orrin Hatch 
and said, ``How is it that you and Ted Kennedy are celebrating the same 
piece of legislation?'' Orrin turned back and looked at him and said, 
``Well, it's very simple, Mr. President. It's very clear that one thing 
is obvious: One of us didn't read it.''
  His sense of humor was well known in this Chamber and throughout our 
State. His friends often remarked that Orrin could have been a standup 
comic if he wanted to, but he had too many important things to do to 
take that job seriously.
  He put friendship above politics. He called me in 1994. I was then 
running for a Senate seat against Ted Kennedy. It was kind of a tall 
task for a guy from Massachusetts to go up against Ted Kennedy, but I 
figured someone needed to do it and wanted to see if I couldn't get Ted 
Kennedy on the right track. But, at that time, Orrin Hatch and I hardly 
knew each other. We were just distant acquaintances. But he was a close 
friend of Ted Kennedy's, and he called me and said, ``Mitt, you know I 
am a Republican too. I am responsible for helping get a lot of 
Republicans elected, but I am not going to come campaign for you,'' and 
he said, ``because Ted Kennedy is just that good of a friend.'' Orrin 
put friendship above politics.
  Now, in addition to his legislative accomplishments, Orrin Hatch 
played a pivotal role in several landmark confirmations while serving 
as one of the longest chairs of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His 
positive impact on the State of Utah and the Nation's Federal judiciary 
cannot be overstated.
  When I was asked to run the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake 
City, I met with Orrin Hatch and said, ``I am going to need your 
help.'' He made it very clear that the success of the Olympics, coming, 
as they were going to do, to our State, would be a high priority for 
him and that he would do whatever was necessary to support our effort.
  Then came the crisis of 9/11 in 2001. I knew that I couldn't invite 
the people of the world to come to Salt Lake City unless I was 100 
percent confident that everything that could be done would be done to 
keep them safe. Without the

[[Page S2182]]

help of the Federal Government, there could be no secure provision for 
the Games and no certainty that we could be protected.
  The morning after the attacks of 9/11, I happened to be in 
Washington, and I called Senator Hatch on the phone. He at the time was 
in his Senate office. I asked if we could get together at some point to 
talk about how we could move forward and provide the security funding 
that might be necessary to protect our Games. Without hesitation, he 
said, ``Come over to the office right now.''
  I did so. When we got there, we sat down, and he said, ``What do you 
think you need?'' And I described the need for fencing and personnel to 
evaluate the security threats that might exist, a military air capacity 
to secure the skies over Salt Lake City during the Games.
  He said: Well, what is the biggest challenge you will face?
  I said: Well, Senator John McCain of Arizona has not been a fan of 
providing support for Olympic Games. He thinks that money has been 
misused in the past.
  He said: Well, it wouldn't be misused now, given what has happened 
with
9/11. Let's go see John McCain right now.
  He picked up the phone and called Senator McCain. Senator McCain said 
he would be happy to see me and his friend Orrin Hatch. We went over to 
Senator McCain's office and sat down. Orrin Hatch proceeded to describe 
how important it was that we host the games and that Senator Hatch get 
the support that he needed. And, in fact, Senator McCain made it very 
clear he would not stand in the way of doing anything we needed to 
secure the games in Salt Lake City.
  I owe Orrin Hatch a great deal of credit for helping us to be able to 
host games in Salt Lake City successfully and to do so without security 
incident.
  I think everyone knows that Orrin Hatch was a man of tremendous 
faith. He was an advocate to protect religious freedom, and legislation 
that he authored in this regard still stands in protecting the rights 
of people of faith in our country today. He dedicated his life to a 
commitment to Jesus Christ and to the principles of Christianity. He 
did so in my own faith by accepting callings in the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as both a missionary as a young 
man and later as a bishop of a congregation.
  Orrin Hatch enjoyed life and appreciated all that it had to offer. 
You may know that he was a composer and has a number of songs and 
musical performances to his credit. He wrote poetry. He wrote jokes. 
When I was running for President, he sent me a whole page of jokes he 
wanted me to use. I must admit, I looked at them one by one. I didn't 
think they were that funny, but I read them to the people on the bus 
and they listened to them one by one and the more they listened, the 
funnier they got. By the time I was finished with the page, they were 
howling with laughter.
  The man had an extraordinary capacity with music, with humor, with 
legislation, with friendships--really one of a kind.
  He also was pretty good at self-deprecating jokes. He told me to 
lighten up a little bit and be a little more free with my language, so 
I decided to let ``heck'' and ``dang'' drop into my words from time to 
time.
  His affinity for buffets and bacon were not to be forgotten as well. 
In his words, we should choose ``to live every day like [it was] Bacon 
Lovers Day.'' And I hope we will savor life as he did.
  Orrin Hatch believed that the people you love and the friends you 
have are the real currency in life. I believe that deeply. He had a lot 
of friends, not just in this room but friends throughout these 
buildings, friends throughout our State.
  I remember walking through the Capitol with Orrin Hatch and from time 
to time someone would come up to him and want to ask him a question or 
ask for help on some issue of theirs. And instead of doing what most of 
us do--which is putting our head down and rushing on and pointing out 
that we have important things to get to--he would stop and bend his 
very tall physique down to listen to what the person had to say and 
listen attentively and say he would do what he could to help. I have 
seen that time and time again with Orrin Hatch.
  He always had time for the people he served, and he believed he 
served all the people of the United States of America. Not 
surprisingly, he had and still has a lot of friends.
  Of course, when you think of people he loves, first on that list 
would be his wife Elaine and their family. They together raised 6 
children and 23 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren. He and Elaine 
were married for more than six decades. She has been by him every step 
of his career and his political involvement in our country.
  Ann and I send our deepest condolences to Elaine and the entire Hatch 
family. God be with you until we meet again, Orrin. I hope you feel I 
haven't let you down taking your place in this great Chamber.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hassan). The Senator from Oklahoma.