Political Quotes

“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.…”