Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator, dies at 88
Orrin Hatch, the gentlemanly long-serving Republican U.S. senator from Utah who championed deep tax cuts, an anti-terrorism law and a children's health program while fighting for conservative judicial nominees, died on Saturday at age 88.
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Orrin Hatch, the gentlemanly long-serving Republican U.S. senator from Utah who championed deep tax cuts, an anti-terrorism law and a children's health program while fighting for conservative judicial nominees, died on Saturday at age 88.
His death was announced by the nonprofit Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, which said he died surrounded by family in Salt Lake City.
"This breaks my heart," Utah Governor Spencer Cox wrote on twitter. "Utah mourns with the Hatch family."
Longtime friend and fellow senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said on Twitter, "Orrin was the one who I would go to for wisdom and we had the same love for Jesus and everything we hold dear."
RIP to Hatch.