[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 75 (Thursday, May 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2356-S2357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Orrin G. Hatch

  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I come to the Senate floor today to speak 
about Senator Orrin Hatch, and I think it is very fitting that the 
distinguished Senator from Nevada be in the chair because she has been 
doing very good work on the Senate Finance Committee. And as she knows, 
Senator Hatch was my partner in leading the Senate Finance Committee 
for 5 years.
  The Senate greatly mourns his passing, and I am going to take a few 
minutes to reflect on the important work he did serving the people of 
Utah and all Americans, particularly with respect to the Finance 
Committee.
  It is no secret that Senator Hatch and I did not always agree 100 
percent of the time. We had differences on taxes. We had differences on 
asylum and immigration. We had differences on the environment. One 
thing that the two of us did agree on was the value of showing up every 
day and searching for bipartisanship and for common ground.
  And we were able to do that, sometimes defying the odds on the Senate 
Finance Committee, and I am going to briefly recount some of those 
accomplishments in honor of his memory. First, the landmark 
reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, for a 
decade, the longest ever commitment to children's health since the 
program was created.
  And by the way, Senator Hatch was the coauthor of the original bill 
with his Democratic partner, the late Ted Kennedy. What a success CHIP 
has been shown to be. A wonderful State-Federal partnership. More than 
9 million kids have affordable, quality healthcare thanks to CHIP. 
Within 2 years of becoming law, 47 States have set up a CHIP program, 
and today every State participates in CHIP.
  As my friend from Nevada knows, sometimes it is hard to get the 
States to agree on whether you might buy a 7Up, all the States, but the 
CHIP program is a huge effort, and what a remarkable accomplishment, 
led by Senator Hatch, in keeping kids covered and healthy. In fact, 
just 5 years after the program was enacted, CHIP reduced the 
uninsurance rate for children by half.
  Now, the road to a 10-year reauthorization was not exactly smooth. In 
fact, the authorization actually expired for nearly 4 months, but 
despite the setbacks and, as I say, taking on long odds, Chairman Hatch 
and I just kept at it, focusing on the impact that this historic 
legislation would have on the reason we all do public service, which is 
to make people's lives better. And it was clear that this was a real 
opportunity to make a lasting investment in the well-being of kids, and 
we were committed to doing that together.
  So, now, thanks to the leadership of Chairman Hatch, the healthcare 
for millions of America's kids is secure until 2027. And I know because 
I remember looking over just a few desks away to Chairman Hatch and 
wondering if we were going to be able to keep this effort bipartisan, 
if we were going to actually get it done. He would smile, and he would 
look over at me in that kind of way, just sort of ``Stick with me, 
colleague,'' because he so often treated me almost like a son. And it 
always made me feel that there was a chance, as I said, to show people 
that even in a very polarized and divisive time, we could get something 
really important accomplished like standing up for kids.
  Now, the next item that I want to mention involves transforming the 
Medicare Program. As my friend from Nevada knows, my roots are with the 
Grey Panthers, a senior citizens group. When I was coming up, Medicare 
was a program for acute illness--if you broke your ankle, if you had a 
horrible case of the flu, you went to a hospital, you saw your doctor--
not Medicare today in Nevada and Oregon.
  Today, Medicare is about chronic illness: cancer, diabetes, heart 
disease, strokes, COPD. That is overwhelmingly the Medicare Program 
today.
  And when I briefly was chairman of the Finance Committee, I held the 
first hearing on updating Medicare to place the focus squarely on 
updating what we always have called the Medicare guarantee. Medicare 
isn't a slip of paper; it is a guarantee. And Chairman Hatch graciously 
agreed to continue that effort.
  It began when I was the chair. And it took the better part of 2 years 
and a lot of guts for Chairman Hatch to take that on because the rule--
the rule at that time--was you didn't even bring up fundamental 
Medicare reform because everybody went to opposite sides, and that was 
the end of the discussion. Chairman Hatch said: Not on my watch. We are 
going to do something very different.
  And there were groundbreaking developments in that chronic care bill 
that make a difference today for Americans. Throughout the pandemic, it 
was clear that we needed to make bold reforms to increase the role and 
opportunity for telehealth to serve our people.

  All our colleagues would come back from a visit home, do something 
about telehealth. Well, what happened was that the Center for Medicare 
and Medicaid Services was trying to move quickly, and they were looking 
for a model. And I remember then-Secretary of Medicare and Medicaid 
Services Seema Verma called me up and said essentially: Would you mind 
if we used the model for expanding telehealth which Chairman Hatch and 
you led in the Finance Committee?
  And we said: We are thrilled, all in, let's go.
  And today that model continues to expand. As my colleague from Nevada 
knows, in the recent major budget bill, we expanded it to audio only 
because we had so many rural communities where they didn't have 
broadband, where there was a big senior population, and they wanted to 
expand telehealth. None of that was possible unless Chairman Hatch was 
willing to take on a big Medicare reform undertaking, updating the 
guarantee, recognizing that in the 21st century it wasn't like Medicare 
when it began, and it really is going to make a big, big difference.
  And as I say, we are going to keep expanding telehealth. My colleague 
knows we are looking to have a major mental health reform effort in 
this session. A big part of it will be expanding telehealth in covering 
mental health services. Chairman Hatch did so much to make that debate 
possible.
  Finally, a third area--and this was all in one Congress, three major 
bills--and I could take kind of another prism and talk about the 
chairman, but we

[[Page S2357]]

passed the Family First Prevention Services Act. What an incredibly 
important task that was.
  We saw with foster care families, there was a challenge in getting 
the care that people needed in those facilities, and we saw that many 
families who weren't in the foster care system were trying to make 
decisions about how to do what was best for their family. Maybe a loved 
one, a parent of a child had had some drug challenges, an alcohol 
challenge, and the choice at that time--Madam President, I think you 
will recall this--was essentially two options: One, keep the child in a 
family situation that was far from desirable or, two, send the child 
off to a foster care facility that left something to be desired, some 
good foster care, some not so good.
  Chairman Hatch led the effort to a third path, Family First, so that 
now when you have families, there might be an older relative, a 
grandparent, it is called Kinship Care. The grandparent can step in and 
help the family as a parent might be dealing with that alcohol 
challenge.
  And States all over this country now are moving to use Family First. 
They are moving to make it possible for a grandparent to step in as a 
caretaker for grandkids.
  Building flexibility into the system, as my friend from Nevada and I 
have often talked about, that is not a Democratic or a Republican 
issue, that is just common sense. And often--often--Chairman Hatch 
would say: What is just a commonsense approach here?
  I am going to talk for the remainder of my time about what a pleasure 
it was to be with Senator Hatch, personally.
  We met almost every week, alternating between our offices. He would 
tell stories. He wore a mezuzah with great pride because he so valued 
his friendship with the Jewish people.
  He told wonderful stories about his childhood in Pittsburgh, saving 
up money to take the trolley to the symphony, and fascinating stories 
about his friendship with Muhammad Ali, which almost invariably led to 
putting his fists in the air and showing me a little bit about the 
shadowboxing that he did with his wonderful friend, Muhammad Ali.
  And then, of course, you would always hear about his side career as a 
platinum-record-selling musician and composer. And, finally, he was so 
good to his friends; he almost invariably inflated their 
accomplishments to those he was with, such as he did for years with me 
about basketball.
  He loved talking about books, especially history books. I gave him 
books that my father had written; he read them closely. He would often 
bring big books to the floor of the Senate on a late night. And I see 
so many of our wonderful staff who can probably picture Chairman Hatch 
sitting right there--and I see the nods--with a big book, reading, and 
that was a special moment as he made his way through a thick history 
volume and then told us a little bit about it.
  What an accomplished Senator. What a good man. Nancy and I send our 
condolences to Elaine, to their children, to the many staffers who 
worked with Chairman Hatch over the years. And I want to close this way 
because this is how Chairman Hatch often closed a meeting. We would 
meet in each other's offices every week.
  And I remember, often he would stand up at the end of the meeting, 
giving me one of those inimitable Orrin Hatch smiles, and he would look 
at me and he would go: ``So long, friend.'' That was Orrin Hatch today.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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