U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has been named a 2005 Community Health Defender by the National Association of Community Health Centers, a federally funded program established 40 years ago to help low-income and medically under-served Americans gain access to health care.

The Community Health Defender Award is presented to members of Congress during the association's annual Policy and Issues Conference in Washington, D.C. Thousands of local and national leaders, health care experts and policy-makers, doctors, nurses and patients attend.

President Bush in his 2006 budget has requested a $304 million increase in health center funding, and has said he wants "a community health center in every poor county in America."