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Orrin G. Hatch, the longest-serving Senate Republican, will announce that he will retire at the end of the year, clearing a path for Mitt Romney to run....

Video at link. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the longest-serving GOP senator in U.S. history, announced Tuesday that he'll retire at the end of his term. Hatch made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter. The announcement is a blow to President Trump, who has publicly encouraged him to run for reelection. The 83-year-old senator appeared to be signaling in recent weeks that he’d run for an eighth term in 2018, even though he previously said he’d retire when his term is up in January 2019. The powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman played a significant role in helping Republicans pass...

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,”host Joe Scarborough criticized Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) for “fawning” over President Donald Trump in public while in private they “mock” him and say he “is a horrific president.” After playing video of McConnell, Ryan and Hatch praising the president after lawmakers passed the tax bill,  Scarborough said, “Most autocrats around the world would be embarrassed to have so many people fawning over them in public like that. You looked at what Mike Pence said in the Cabinet room also, I’m really serious here, you wonder, of course,...

Back in November, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, the 83-year-old Republican from Utah, was at the helm when the Senate's massive tax bill came through the Finance Committee. But Hatch also deputized four younger Republicans on the panel to serve as de facto co-chairmen over various parts of the legislation. This week, with a compromise bill marching toward final passage in both chambers, the House will take the unusual step of voting first - because a pair of senators, Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are recuperating from, respectively, non-melanoma skin surgery and the side effects of cancer treatments. Hatch's...

President Trump’s trip to Utah Monday was ostensibly about eliminating national monument status for two Utah landmarks. But most speculate that the real reason for the trip was a subtle effort to block Mitt Romney from reentering politics. Romney has made noise about a potential run for Senator Orrin Hatch’s seat, should the longtime Utah senator choose not to seek reelection next year. Monday’s presidential visit seemed to turn into a full-on lobbying effort to get Hatch to stay put. Or perhaps more to the point, to get Romney to stay far away from Washington. And Romney was all too...

TRUMP MOVES TO BLOCK ROMNEY FROM SENATE President going all out to persuade 83-year-old Orrin Hatch to seek re-election in Utah Published: 24 mins ago (POLITICO) Donald Trump is going all out to persuade seven-term Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection — a push aimed in no small part at keeping the president’s longtime nemesis, Mitt Romney, out of the Senate. Romney has been preparing to run for Hatch’s seat on the long-held assumption that the 83-year-old would retire. Yet Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is now refusing to rule out another campaign — a circumstance Romney’s...

The GOP tax plan was passed through the Senate Friday night in a 51-49 vote. There are a number of things included in the last-minute text, including a provision by Sen. Gardner of Colorado that exempts Kombucha, a fermented tea drink, from alcoholic taxes and regulations. Why it matters: These are small examples of what got slipped in the bill last-minute as the Senate vote neared, and reveals some of the senators' pet projects back in their home states. Odd amendments included in the tax plan: Sen. Orrin Hatch Prohibit things like cash and gift cards to be given as...

RUSH: I got in today and my email was blowing up with people, “You gotta see it. You’ve gotta see it. Oh, my God, it’s the best. It’s the greatest ever. And it’s about time.” I said, “What’s this?” So I read what this is about, and apparently Senator Orrin Hatch let Senator what’s-his-name, Sherrod Brown of Ohio have it for demagoguing tax cuts. I haven’t heard it. I’ve only read it, and I’ve had people say, “I’m sure it will be in your sound bite roster, and if it isn’t, you’ve got to make sure it’s there. It’s just...

With Video ----------------------- Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) admonished Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) for accusing Republicans of writing the tax bill "for the rich" at a late night hearing on amendments and markups. "With all due respect, I get sick and tired of the rich getting richer," Brown said in a diatribe against Republicans. "I come from the poor people, and I have been here working my whole stinkin' career for people who don't have a chance, and I really resent anybody that says I'm doing it for the rich. Give me a break. I...

Eight years ago, Sen. Orrin Hatch argued in a Senate Finance Committee then controlled by Democrats that Congress does not have the constitutional power to order people to buy things. The committee was discussing the incipient Obamacare bill. It's most outrageous element: The so-called "individual mandate," which would force Americans to purchase health insurance. Hatch did not believe the Constitution's Commerce Clause -- which gives Congress the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the states" -- could be stretched to give the federal government the power to compel individuals to do this. "Rather than regulate what people...

Conservatives have always advocated the idea of keeping the safety net intact, while reforming the big three entitlement programs: Medicare; Medicaid; and, Social Security. Reform is different from cutting programs. The left constantly accuses the right of advocating deep cuts to entitlement programs that benefit low income Americans. The correct position for conservatives is to advocate strong reform to attack waste, fraud and abuse without cutting essential services that people rely upon – especially the elderly. One plan that falls into the category of a “cut” and not a “reform” is a current plan to cut home health benefits provided...

Alternate headline: “Orrin Hatch must retire.” And there’s a fair chance that he will! He’s 83 and said in March that he’d be more inclined to step down if he could get a “really outstanding person” to run for his seat. When asked if he had anyone in mind, he said “Mitt Romney would be perfect.” That lit the fuse on RomneyWatch 2018, leading to reports that Romney was thinking about it and had even spoken to Mitch McConnell about running. But then in May the speculation seemed to fizzle: Hatch himself claimed that Romney told him he wouldn’t...

SALT LAKE CITY — Former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin would beat Sen. Orrin Hatch in a head-to-head matchup for the U.S. Senate, a new poll shows. The Centrist Project, which is recruiting candidates to run for Senate and state legislatures in 2018, commissioned the survey to gauge Utahns' opinions on several issues and the viability of an independent candidate in the upcoming Senate race. The poll by JMC Analytics found 33 percent of residents would vote for McMullin, 29 percent for Hatch and 11 percent for an unnamed Democrat if the election were held today. Another 10 percent favored...

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) says he would consider retiring if Mitt Romney ran to replace him. Hatch told National Journal in a Wednesday interview that he hasn't made a decision yet on whether he will run for reelection in 2018. "I know I made a comment that I'll likely run for reelection. I haven't made that final determination," he said. "There are a bunch of reasons to do it, a bunch of reasons not to do it."

In an interview with National Journal, the Republican senator who has been in office since 1976 said he "might very well consider" not campaigning for another term if an "outstanding person" were to run for his position. . . . Asked if he had any people in mind, Hatch replied: "Well, Mitt Romney would be perfect." He added that he has reached out to Romney about the idea.

John Huber will continue to serve as the U.S. attorney for Utah, at least for the time being. Huber was given a reprieve by the U.S. Justice Department and will stay on as an interim U.S. attorney for the state for the next four months. Huber was one of 46 U.S. attorneys who were asked by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions last Friday to resign. ... Huber joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2002 and was appointed to become Utah’s U.S. Attorney in February 2015 with the support of Sen. Orrin Hatch. Huber was confirmed by the Senate in June...

SALT LAKE CITY — Former presidential hopeful Evan McMullin stated Friday he may run for public office again and is considering the possibility of challenging either Rep. Jason Chaffetz or Senator Orrin Hatch. McMullin made the comments Friday during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Reddit in the “EnoughTrumpSpam subreddit. One user asked McMullin if he is considering running against Jason Chaffetz in 2018, and McMullin responded from a verified Reddit account to say he is considering such a move but must consider the desires of Utah constituents.

Any news story involving Romney running for any office is postworthy by definition for a veteran Romney trollblogger like me. But let’s be real: A freshman senator at age … 71, which is what he’d be on election day 2018? As good as he looks and as healthy as he seems, it’s rare — maybe even unprecedented — for a senator to be popularly elected to a first full term in his 70s. This list notes 12 who were 75 or older when they were first seated, but nine were appointed to fill vacancies and two more were chosen...

(KUTV) “Utah's six electoral college votes matter and Republicans are finally ready to unite.” Congressman Rob Bishop worked today to unite his party. After weeks of on again, off again support for Trump -- many of Utah’s elected officials say their nominee is not as bad as they thought “Donald Trump is no choir boy,” said Utah Senior Senator Orrin Hatch, but he knows Hillary Clinton and believes she cannot be President. “We are not voting for the pope,” reminded another at a rally at Utah’s State Capitol. “We are voting for a President.” Utah republicans who were bashing Trump...

They’re coming for your home. Right now. I suggest you save it. I can guide you, but you must do exactly as I say. Except, this isn’t The Matrix. You’re no actor, like Keanu Reeves, playing a distraught programmer-hacker named “Neo.” Nor am I an actor, like Laurence Fishburne, playing your guide “Morpheus.” This is real life, baby. Your home or apartment—and the neighborhood in which you live—is under siege. “Agents”—sans black glasses and black business suits—who work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have written a new regulation called “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) that...