Sen. Hatch’s leadership is vital to Utah’s future
Mark S. Whitney, Kerry W. Gibson, Leland Pollock and Dell LeFevre, County Commissioners in Utah
An excerpt from The Spectrum:
Thanks to Sen. Hatch, Utah has an outsized voice in setting our nation's policy agenda. And thanks to his steadfast support of President-elect Donald Trump, that voice will only grow stronger in the years to come.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Sen. Hatch stood by the president-elect through the thick and thin of a historically harsh political season. By proving his loyalty, Sen. Hatch won the confidence of Mr. Trump and is now uniquely positioned to guide our next president on Western issues, including policies that will directly affect Utah's rural counties.
Today, our rural communities need Sen. Hatch more than ever. For eight years, the Obama administration has laid siege to western counties, subjecting them to a relentless barrage of damaging and unnecessary environmental regulations.
First, came the EPA's Clean Power Plan — an unprecedented power grab by the Obama administration that impacts every power plant in the country and threatens to raise utility rates nationwide.
Next, the administration issued the harmful Waters of the United States rule, which puts an EPA regulator in the backyard of virtually any farmer or rancher who has so much as a puddle of water on their property.
Then came the administration's federal coal moratorium, which shut off the largest source of America’s lowest cost and most reliable fuel.
But the administration didn't stop there. Under President Obama, federal forestry policies have moved so far away from responsible management that there’s practically no management at all. And now that timber receipts are a thing of the past and mineral production is in decline, Western County Commissioners are faced with the nearly impossible task of providing essential government services — such as maintaining roads and funding schools — on continually diminishing budgets.
But even as the Obama administration launched attack after attack on our way of life, Utah was not alone: We always had a powerful ally in Sen. Hatch.
Indeed, Sen. Hatch has never stopped fighting on behalf of Utah's rural counties. Now, with the ear of the president, Sen. Hatch has both the opportunity to advocate for western priorities and the leverage to deliver. And as chairman of the Finance Committee, he will spearhead the effort in Congress to advance key aspects of the President-elect's agenda — from replacing Obamacare and improving entitlement programs to negotiating trade deals and simplifying our tax code.
With Sen. Hatch taking lead on the most significant legislative initiatives to come before Congress in well over a decade, Utahns can do more than push for lasting conservative reforms; they can lead the charge.
