Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a 34-year Senate veteran who is up for reelection next year, attended a Tea Party Express event tonight in Washington. Hatch, who may face a tough primary challenge, gave a firebrand speech to a packed room of conservative activists. “We are living in perilous times,” he warned. “We have run this country into the ground.”
“We are not going to take it,” Hatch continued, to nods and murmurs. “The fact of the matter is, we have got to come back and we have got to fight for this country.”
“We have got to get armed and get out there,” Hatch added, as he advocated for a balanced-budget amendment. “If we don’t, we are not going to get spending under control.”
In recent weeks, Hatch has proposed a balanced-budget amendment. He has also been both praised and criticized by leaders of the Tea Party Express, one of the more prominent groups in the Tea Party movement.