State of the Union; the 112th Congress

"The liberal philosophy is running this country down the drain," says Senator Orrin Hatch, "and your futures are headed down the drain if we don’t stop it." The Senator, who recently spoke at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, believes the Democratic electorate is spending the country blind and "pissing our futures down the drain." He notes issues with the tax system which he believes is too lenient on the bottom 40 percent. He also believes entitlement programs such as Medicare should be delegated to the states. This would require immense redrafting of the recent Medicare bill in addition to other new legislation. Meanwhile Democrats still have control for another month or so and they hope to get some legislation through before they get the boot.

During this "lame duck" session Congress will have to decide on many fiscal decisions such as the Bush tax cuts, the defense budget, and the fate of said entitlement programs. Orrin Hatch discussed the future of a Republican controlled House and his intentions as the possible future chair of the Finance Committee with control over these programs.

"I worked across the aisle with my friend Senator Ted Kennedy in order to get the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) passed," says Hatch. But no one’s willing to work together anymore. Hatch says that Senator Kennedy’s plan was very different than the one that was eventually passed, namely in that Hatch co-sponsored the bill once authority over the program was delegated to the states. The future of this program and others will be on Hatch’s shoulders as future chair of the entitlements committee.

Partisanship has become the norm in Washington. This last election has only exacerbated the problem with the influx of more radical conservatives and tea-party elects, many of whom would like nothing more than acquiescence of the President and the Executive Branch to their agenda.

The appearance and diversity of Congress will have drastically changed by the beginning of the next session, as evidenced by the loss of women in Congress. This was supposed to be the "year of the woman" in politics but this election failed to produce many outside of the governors’ mansions. The Republicans saw more women running for office than ever before, but the 112th Congress will actually see fewer women than the 111th did. One woman who is either loved or hated will remain, however, and she, Nancy Pelosi, will be the firm advocate of the Democrats in Congress as the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives.

According to Hatch, "the liberals have gone further to the left and Republicans have gone further to right." The healthcare bill garnered no Republican support and pushed people farther apart according to the Senator. Neither side is budging and, depending on how President Obama works with the next Congress, they may not budge any time soon.

By: Jacob M. Stout