{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=BDD2DE15-FBF1-4E84-84CC-32C9B2846059", "Hatch Urges Confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General on Senate Floor", "2016-12-12", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Orrin Hatch", "H000338", "www.hatch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u201cSenator Sessions will bring more hands-on experience to the leadership of the Justice Department than any of the 83 men and women who have occupied the post of Attorney General.\u201d\r\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Senator Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, urged Senate colleagues to join him in supporting the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama to serve the next Attorney General of the United States during a speech on the Senate Floor on Thursday. Senator Hatch, a former chairman and current member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with Senator Sessions early in the week to discuss the nomination.\r\n[Video Available via YouTube]\r\nThe speech focused on Senator Sessions\u2019s long record of serious policymaking, strengthening law enforcement, and keeping American communities safe.\r\nOn the need to reform the Department of Justice:\r\n\u2026The Justice Department has lost its way.\u00a0 It has gone off course.\u00a0 The Justice Department has become partial rather than impartial, unfair rather than fair.\u00a0 It has become political rather than independent, partisan rather than objective.\u00a0 The Justice Department has enabled the executive branch\u2019s campaign to exceed its constitutional powers, while ignoring Congress\u2019 proper and legitimate role of oversight.\r\nOn Senator Sessions\u2019s strong qualifications for the role of Attorney General:\r\nSenator Sessions will bring more hands-on experience to the leadership of the Justice Department than any of the 83 men and women who have occupied the post of Attorney General.\u00a0 He was a federal prosecutor for 18 years, 12 of them as United States Attorney.\u00a0 He has also served on the Judiciary Committee since he was first elected two decades ago.\u00a0 In other words, he has been directly involved in both the development and implementation of criminal justice policy \u2013 a combination unmatched by any Attorney General since the office was created in 1789.\u00a0 His service in this body, and on the committee of jurisdiction over the Department, is especially important because a respectful and productive working relationship with Congress has never been more important.\r\nOn Democrats\u2019 campaign to attack Senator Sessions:\r\nThe critics do not challenge Senator Sessions\u2019s qualifications.\u00a0 They do not question the conclusions, like I have mentioned here today, of those who know more about Senator Sessions\u2019s fitness to be Attorney General than anyone in this chamber.\u00a0 Instead, they traffic in rumor, innuendo, and smear.\u00a0 They take a comment here, a decision there, from years or even decades in the past, and use their media allies to transform these bits and pieces into what appear to be full-fledged stories.\u00a0\r\nThe text of the speech is below.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. HATCH.\u00a0 Mr. President, before the 114th Congress adjourns, I want to take a minute to put on the record my strong support for the nomination of our distinguished colleague, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, to be the next Attorney General of the United States.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thomas Jefferson once wrote that government's most sacred duty is \"to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.\"\u00a0 This ideal is also reflected in the Justice Department\u2019s own mission statement, which I have here:\r\nTo enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.\"\u00a0\r\nNo one believes in this mission more, no one understands better what this mission requires, than Jeff Sessions.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, Mr. President, the Justice Department has lost its way.\u00a0 It has gone off course.\u00a0 The Justice Department has become partial rather than impartial, unfair rather than fair.\u00a0 It has become political rather than independent, partisan rather than objective.\u00a0 The Justice Department has enabled the executive branch\u2019s campaign to exceed its constitutional powers, while ignoring Congress\u2019 proper and legitimate role of oversight.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This decline, this corrosion, contributes to a steady loss of trust in government generally, and in the justice system specifically.\u00a0 According to the Pew Research Center, public trust in government is at a record low.\u00a0 Polls like this are not asking whether government is doing a good job, but whether our fellow citizens actually trust government.\u00a0 Fewer than one in five say that they trust government most of the time.\u00a0 The Gallup organization asked Americans how much of the time they can trust government here in Washington to do what is right.\u00a0 They, too, found that a record low percentage have that trust most of the time.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Reversing this decline, and trying to rebuild this trust, requires getting back to the essential ingredients in the Justice Department\u2019s mission statement.\u00a0 The fair and impartial administration of justice, being guided by the law rather than politics, these are basic, fundamental principles that it appears are easier said than done.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Senator Sessions will bring more hands-on experience to the leadership of the Justice Department than any of the 83 men and women who have occupied the post of Attorney General.\u00a0 He was a federal prosecutor for 18 years, 12 of them as United States Attorney.\u00a0 He has also served on the Judiciary Committee since he was first elected two decades ago.\u00a0 In other words, he has been directly involved in both the development and implementation of criminal justice policy \u2013 a combination unmatched by any Attorney General since the office was created in 1789.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0His service in this body, and on the committee of jurisdiction over the Department, is especially important because a respectful and productive working relationship with Congress has never been more important.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Mr. President, no one knows more what the office of Attorney General requires than those who have actually served in that office.\u00a0 I have a letter signed by 10 former Attorneys General and Deputy Attorneys General, who served over the past three decades, and ask consent that it appear in the record following my remarks.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of these officials knew and worked with Senator Sessions when he was U.S. Attorney, others since he joined us here in the Senate.\u00a0 They all share the same conclusion:\r\n\u201cAll of us know him as a person of honesty and integrity, who has held himself to the highest ethical standards throughout his career, and is guided always by a deep and abiding sense of duty to this nation and its founding charter.\u201d\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I ask my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, whether there is a better description of the kind of person we want in public office generally but leading the Justice Department in particular.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Let me say a word about Senator Sessions\u2019s work on the Judiciary Committee.\u00a0 I have worked with him in that capacity for 20 years, including when he served as Ranking Member.\u00a0 We have worked together on dozens of bills to improve forensic science services for law enforcement, promote community policing, help child abuse victims, and prevent gun crimes.\u00a0 He is a serious legislator who knows that prosecutors and law enforcement need common sense, workable policies from lawmakers to help keep communities safe and protect the rights of all Americans.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I also received a letter from a bipartisan group of eight men and women who have served as Director of National Drug Control Policy or as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.\u00a0 I ask consent that this letter appear in the record following my remarks.\u00a0 Here is what they say:\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cHis distinguished career as a prosecutor\u2026earned him a reputation as a tough, determined professional who has been dedicated to the appropriate enforcement of the rule of law.\u00a0 His exemplary record of service in law enforcement demonstrates that he is a protector of civil rights and defender of crime victims.\u201d\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Again, I ask my colleagues whether there is a better description of the kind of leader America needs at the Justice Department.\u00a0 I ask my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, who would have a better informed, more comprehensive knowledge of Senator Sessions\u2019s fitness to be Attorney General?\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Before I conclude, I want to address what is already shaping up to be an ugly propaganda offensive against this fine nominee.\u00a0 I have served in this body under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, under both Republican and Democratic Senate leadership.\u00a0 I have actively participated in the confirmation process since I first came here, including for the appointment of 12 attorneys General of both parties.\u00a0 In that time, I have seen the steady degradation of the confirmation process.\u00a0 And I have seen before the tactics that are already being used in a vain attempt to undermine this nomination.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The critics do not challenge Senator Sessions\u2019s qualifications.\u00a0 They do not question the conclusions, like I have mentioned here today, of those who know more about Senator Sessions\u2019s fitness to be Attorney General than anyone in this chamber.\u00a0 Instead, they traffic in rumor, innuendo, and smear.\u00a0 They take a comment here, a decision there, from years or even decades in the past, and use their media allies to transform these bits and pieces into what appear to be full-fledged stories.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The critics know that people who might read these so-called news stories will not know the rest of the story, the context for a statement, or facts that the media choose to ignore.\u00a0 In fact, these critics are actually counting on people not knowing the whole story. \u00a0Such a cynical, dishonest campaign is not about the truth, it is not about a fair evaluation of the President-elect\u2019s nominee to be Attorney General.\u00a0 To be honest, these tactics are really not about Senator Sessions at all, but about the power of those who are using these tactics.\u00a0 They have to mark their territory, flex their muscle, and show that they are still a force to be reckoned with.\u00a0 If such things as fairness, integrity, truth, or decency have to be sacrificed in that power struggle, so be it.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The media have a lot at stake if they choose to cooperate with this smear campaign.\u00a0 The liberal propaganda machine is already churning and the tactics are sadly familiar.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Gallup organization recently found that only 32 percent of Americans \u2013 a new low \u2013 have even a fair amount of trust that the media will report news fully, accurately and fairly.\u00a0 Americans should be highly skeptical of those who traffic in rumor, innuendo, and gossip but ignore Senator Sessions\u2019s 40 years of public service, his long record of achievement, and his actual views.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I hope my colleagues not only will resist these tactics, but that they will join me in exposing and rejecting them.\u00a0 They degrade the Senate, they mislead our fellow citizens, and they corrode our democracy.\u00a0 Let us stay focused on our role here, which is to evaluate whether the President-elect\u2019s nominee is qualified.\u00a0 We know that he is superbly qualified, and that he will be a strong and principled leader for the Justice Department.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In closing, I want to quote from that letter by bipartisan drug policy officials.\u00a0 They say this about Senator Sessions: \u201cHis prudent and responsible approach is exactly what the Department of Justice needs to enforce the law, restore confidence in the United States\u2019 justice system, and keep the American people safe.\u00a0 We support the nomination of Senator Sessions to be Attorney General of the United States, and we ask you to do the same.\u201d\u00a0 I could not have said it better.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=BDD2DE15-FBF1-4E84-84CC-32C9B2846059"], "units": {}, 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