Senator Orrin Hatch Scolds Internet About True Meaning of ‘Shooting Wads’

Senator Orrin Hatch delivered a striking quote in a Politico piece detailing Republicans lawmakers’ transition to tax reform following the failure of their health care efforts.

“We’re not going back to health care. We’re in tax now. As far as I’m concerned, they shot their wad on health care and that’s the way it is. I’m sick of it,” the Republican senator told Politico in an article published Monday morning.

Many commentators on social media erupted in delight at Hatch’s comments, specifically his claim that lawmakers “shot their wad” — a phrase commonly understood a sexual reference.

In response to the blowback, the Twitter account of Hatch’s office clarified his comments, scolding those who did not live through the Civil War, and offered “a valuable jargon lesson on ‘wads’ and the shooting of them”:

As few of you were alive during the Civil War, here’s a valuable jargon lesson on “wads” and the shooting of them. https://t.co/dOYvcfgImO pic.twitter.com/wk9aaNb3s2

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) August 7, 2017

The Utah senator’s office alleged that “to shoot one’s wad” means “to do all that one can do,” and is a reference to the material used to plug old guns.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter

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