Orrin Hatch compares reform to Harry Potter fiction

Sometimes Senate debate on the Democratic health care reform bill isn't all that serious, as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, showed this week by comparing it to a Harry Potter novel, saying both are works of fiction and fantasy.

Actually, it started when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the 2,074-page bill, which Hatch has said is longer than the novel "War and Peace," actually has fewer words in it than a Harry Potter novel.

So Hatch responded, "I like the fact that the distinguished senator from Rhode Island compares this, this itty-bitty bill here, to a Harry Potter novel. Perhaps pretty appropriate because both of them are what I consider to be works of fantasy and fiction."

Hatch added, "This thing has 14 pages in the table of contents alone. You notice how my voice goes up as I'm holding it. It puts that much pressure on your speech diaphragm."

— Lee Davidson