Sen. Orrin Hatch (Benjamin Myers/Reuters)
Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch in
2001, on pushing the Bush tax cuts via reconciliation:
"I think we can do a reconciliation bill that'll have an overwhelming number of senators and congresspeople voting for this $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion tax cut," he said.
Orrin Hatch in
2010 on using reconciliation to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA):
To impose the will of some Democrats and to circumvent bipartisan opposition,President Obama seems to be encouraging Congress to use the "reconciliation" process, an arcane budget procedure, to ram through the Senate a multitrillion-dollar health-care bill that raises taxes, increases costs and cuts Medicare to fund a new entitlement we can't afford. [...]
This use of reconciliation to jam through this legislation, against the will of the American people, would be unprecedented in scope. And the havoc wrought would threaten our system of checks and balances, corrode the legislative process, degrade our system of government and damage the prospects of bipartisanship.
Orrin Hatch on
Monday, on using reconciliation to repeal the ACA:
"We will repeal it," Hatch said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute on Monday. "And the Democrats know that we can. After their abuse of the budget reconciliation process in 2010 to get this law passed, it should come as no surprise when Republican majorities legitimately and appropriately use the same process to repeal this unpopular law next year."
Right. It's all about the system of checks and balances, the legislative process, system of government and prospects of bipartisanship. Unless it's something Republicans want. For such a sanctimonious SOB, he sure is a hypocrite.