President Joe Biden gave a statement Sunday following the news that former Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) had passed away at the age of 88. Biden, as Vice President, presided over Hatch in 2013 as he swore in for his final term in the Senate.
Hatch, whose tenure as the longest-serving Republican senator in history (1977-2019) overlapped with Biden’s time serving in the deliberative body, died on Saturday. A statement from the Hatch Foundation read, in part, “Upon his retirement, Senator Hatch held the distinction of having passed more legislation into law than any other Senator alive. Through his relentless work ethic, Hatch earned a reputation as one of the most effective and bipartisan lawmakers of all time. In total, he sponsored or cosponsored more than 750 bills that became law.”
“Biden on the passing of his friend, late GOP UT Sen Orrin Hatch. Biden says Hatch “never humored a bully, or shied from a challenge … saw that energetic, sharp-elbowed Orrin in the many battles we had over tax policy, the right of workers to join a union, and many others,” Fox News Congressional reporter Chad Pergram tweeted.
“Biden: Senator Hatch was also a man of deep faith; a gentle soul who wrote songs and poems. This was the Orrin who looked out for the people who often didn’t have a voice in our laws and our country … He was, quite simply, an American original,” Pergram’s second tweet added.
