Hatch Ratified as Senate Finance Committee Chairman

Political strategist Greg Valliere noted in his Thursday commentary that he believes the chances that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who's set to be the next chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, can get a corporate tax reform plan through Ways and Means this year are about 70%. The chances that such legislation will be signed into law this year: "25%, a long slog is likely," Valliere, of Potomac Research, said.   

As to the chance that final anti-corporate inversion regs will be issued by the Treasury Department by spring: 80%, Valliere said.

Lawmakers, Hatch said in his Thursday statement, must also "act to tear down barriers to international trade and increase market access for American goods and services."

He vowed that his committee "will continue with its efforts to implement common-sense solutions to improve health care coverage" in the nation, saying, "The higher premiums and fewer choices brought on by Obamacare is not what the American people were promised. We need to empower American families with patient-centered reforms that will lower costs and increase high-quality care."

Steps must also be taken to "strengthen the nation's safety-net programs — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — to help guarantee their solvency for future generations," Hatch said.

Another priority for Hatch in the New Year will be to halt progress on the Department of Labor's rule to amend the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Hatch said in mid-December that he plans to reintroduce in 2015 his Secure Annuities for Employee Retirement (SAFE) Act, which includes language that would stop the Department of Labor from writing fiduciary rules for individual retirement accounts. 

— Sen. Hatch's 2015 Priority: Torpedo DOL Fiduciary Efforts on ThinkAdvisor.