Hatch: Don't compare GOP's prescription drugs bill to health reform

Don't compare Republicans' prescription drug benefit bill earlier this decade with the current healthcare bill, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) protested Tuesday.

Hatch said there's no comparison between the Republican-led push to expand prescription drug coverage in Medicare and Democrats' current legislation to reform the nation's healthcare system.

The two bills aren't comparable, Hatch said during an appearance on CNBC Tuesday, because the prescription drug bill "helped millions and millions of Americans to get their drug costs down."

That bill, for which Hatch, along with 37 other Republican senators, had voted, was considered one of the largest expansions of a healthcare entitlement to date.

The bill had also relied in substantial deficit spending, which, Hatch said, would have been bridged if not for Democratic opposition to cuts and savings.

"We have never had a fiscal conservative majority in the United States Senate," Hatch said. "We couldn't have done it if we wanted to because they would not have paid for this."

"We would have paid for that but we didn't have the votes to pay for it, so don't blame Republicans for that," the Utah senator added.

Hatch has been among a chorus of GOP senators to urge President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress to start over on healthcare, arguing it would grow healthcare spending and worsen the U.S. deficit situation.

Watch the interview below: