{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=c5ca30e2-44a5-42c2-9360-fbd51ff4c986", "ICYMI: Washington Post Names Hatch \"Distinguished Pol of the Week\"", "2014-11-17", "2014", "2014-11", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Orrin Hatch", "H000338", "www.hatch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC\u00a0\u2013 According to the\u00a0Washington Post, Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was the \"Distinguished Pol of\u00a0the Week\" last week,\u00a0and \"perhaps the most productive lawmaker in the Senate.\"\u00a0\r\nThe full text of the\u00a0article\u00a0appears below: \u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Kudos to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who were elected by acclamation to lead their respective house\u2019s Republicans. But as we turn from campaigns to governing, I want to single out perhaps the most productive lawmaker in the Senate\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) for decades has done what the liberal media constantly demand \u2014 work across party lines to pass constructive legislation. This year he didn\u2019t wait for the GOP majority to arrive. Back in January, he joined with fellow Republicans Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) to set out a detailed\u00a0Obamacare alternative. In October he presented an\u00a0innovation agenda\u00a0\u201cto foster an environment that encourages research and innovation by addressing abusive patent litigation, protecting trade secrets, modernizing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, strengthening cybersecurity, reforming immigration policy for high-skilled workers, reducing regulatory and tax burdens for innovators, and removing barriers to digital trade.\u201d\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In addition, this week he made a constructive suggestion on immigration reform,\u00a0writing that\u00a0\u201ceffectively fixing this high-skilled piece of the immigration puzzle will require legislative action, and the president\u2019s promise to act unilaterally in other areas will only short-circuit the statutory reforms we desperately need.\u201d He warned, \u201cObama\u2019s promise to make further unilateral changes to our nation\u2019s immigration policy breeds mistrust and makes meaningful legislative reform even harder to achieve.\u201d \u00a0He then suggests, as the GOP House leadership supported, a piecemeal approach starting with a pro-growth, bipartisan H1-B visa plan. (\u201cthoughtful, lasting legislative framework that would increase the number of H-1B visas, based on annual market demand, to attract the highly skilled workers and innovators Obama highlighted in his speech\u201d). Now that the Senate is in GOP hands, it can come up with a series of these. Let the Democrats filibuster border security and H1-B vs. reform or a new e-Verify, thereby showing the public which party favors the component parts of a reasoned immigration approach.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And in a fine speech before the conservative\u00a0Federalist Society he offered this sage advice:\r\n[T]he Constitution teaches the virtue of prudence.\u00a0\u00a0Prudence is a habit of mind that should come naturally to conservatives.\u00a0\u00a0It restrains us from seeking immediate and complete vindication of a single, abstract principle.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, it counsels us to work within our existing circumstances to advance the enduring principles upon which liberty depends.\u00a0\u00a0Prudent lawmakers make real-world experience, not abstract theory, their guide, and recognize that success requires harmonizing competing values.\r\nThe Constitution is an exercise in such prudence.\u00a0\u00a0It contains within its structure a clash of many competing institutions: The democratic, majoritarian House.\u00a0\u00a0The deliberative Senate.\u00a0\u00a0The unified and energetic Executive.\u00a0\u00a0And the independent judiciary.\u00a0\u00a0There is tension between individual rights and majority will, energy and stability, limited powers and flexibility to act.\u00a0\u00a0The Constitution mediates many rival goods.\u00a0\u00a0It is founded on compromise.\u00a0\u00a0And it institutionalizes prudence as a signal virtue of our Republic.\u00a0\r\nConservatives have been most successful when we have tempered our ideological zeal with the prudence necessary to produce practical results. Many conservative leaders and thinkers eagerly wrap themselves in the mantle of Ronald Reagan. But as time has passed, President Reagan\u2019s legacy has become increasingly prone to misappropriation and misuse. . . .When I see someone misappropriating President Reagan for their own purposes, I often feel duty-bound to remind my fellow conservatives that President Reagan never prized ideological purity over concrete results.\r\nWhen faced with divided government, he did not choose a my-way-or-the-highway approach.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, he searched for areas of agreement. That meant accepting that some of our noble goals\u2014such as restraining spending and reforming the administrative state\u2014were out of reach at the time. But it enabled President Reagan to make meaningful progress in other, equally critical areas\u2014like pro-growth tax relief and bolstering our national defense\u2014progress that helped produce economic prosperity and won the Cold War.\r\nToday, we honor President Reagan\u2019s legacy, not by mischaracterizing his record or engaging in idol-worship, but instead by thoughtfully emulating his leadership, adapted to the challenges of today.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0So for all that, and with the promise of a productive 2015 legislative year and prudent governance , we can say, well done, Sen. Hatch.", 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=c5ca30e2-44a5-42c2-9360-fbd51ff4c986"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.032797085121274, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}