The congressman from the 6th District is Fred Upton, a Republican first elected in 1986 and now chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Read More
The congressman from the 6th District is Fred Upton, a Republican first elected in 1986 and now chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The grandson of one of the founders of Whirlpool, Upton grew up in St. Joseph, attended the University of Michigan and worked for David Stockman, first on Stockman’s congressional staff, then at the White House in OMB from 1981 to 1985. Upton returned home and ran in the 1986 Republican primary against Rep. Mark Siljander, a conservative and evangelical Christian, and won 55%-45%, going on to win the seat handily in the general election.
Early in his House career, Upton was known for his amendments to force across-the-board cuts in appropriations. But he developed a moderate voting record over time, and he freely exercised his independence when his party controlled the House from 1995 to 2006. He sought, with limited success, to use his leverage to reduce the size of the tax cuts of the Bush era. He backed increases in the minimum wage, increased funding for Amtrak, and Democratic measures to expand medical insurance for poor children. He also voted with Democrats to preserve the Endangered Species Act and to fund embryonic stem cell research. In 2007, he broke with his party to oppose the Bush administration’s troop surge in Iraq, but later backed Bush’s veto of Democratic proposals to restrict spending on the war.
On Energy and Commerce, Upton chaired the Telecommunications Subcommittee for six years. He supported a bill to allow regional telephone companies to provide broadband service more easily, and he pushed for higher fines against broadcasters for indecent programming. He also criticized the recording industry for inadequate parental advisory labels on music that contains sex, violence or strong language, but took the view that the First Amendment bars Congress from regulating the content. Bush signed his bill to create a “safe playground for kids” on the Internet, free of pornography and other inappropriate material.
He has strongly opposed so-called net neutrality, which requires that telephone and cable operators controlling the nation’s broadband networks provide equal access to rivals and small, independent websites. On other initiatives by the Democratic majority in 2009-10, Upton sharply opposed the cap-and-trade bill to reduce carbon emissions, saying it would cripple the Midwest and send jobs overseas. But not surprisingly, he favored the “Cash for Clunkers” program providing government reimbursements for trading in old cars for more fuel-efficient models, which was a boost for the ailing domestic auto industry.
As opposition to the Obama administration grew and the tea party movement advanced, Upton’s moderate record, and the fact that he was next in line to be the ranking Republican on Energy and Commerce, made him a target for conservatives. In spring 2010, former state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk ran against him in the GOP primary, criticizing Upton for voting for the $787 billion bailout of the financial industry, increases in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Republicans’ Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003. “I see government growing well beyond its intended borders in Washington, and I see that our congressman has participated in this unabated growth of government,” said Hoogendyk, who was vastly outspent by the incumbent. Upton won 57%-43%, not a robust outcome for a longtime incumbent. He went on to win 62%-34% in November’s general election.
With Republicans poised to capture control of the House in the election, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas asked the Republican Steering Committee to waive term limits so that he could become the chairman of Energy and Commerce. But Barton had opposed John Boehner in the race for Republican minority leader in 2006, and his public apology to BP during the June 2010 hearings on the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico made him a political liability in the minds of some of the GOP rank and file. Two less-senior members of the committee, Cliff Stearns of Florida and John Shimkus of Illinois, were also running in the hope that Upton would be rejected as too moderate. Upton launched an aggressive bid for the chairmanship, contributing thousands of dollars to Republican challengers and setting out a proposed agenda for the committee that included such conservative hobby horses as fighting regulations on power plants and on ozone limits. He said his goal would be “cutting spending, removing regulatory burden, restoring freedom, [and] keeping government accountable through rigorous oversight.” He also promised to work with Republicans to seek repeal of the Democrats’ 2010 health care overhaul.
The contest for the chairmanship heated up when conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh came out against Upton and pundit Glenn Beck called him “all socialist.” The League of Conservation Voters did him no favors when they pointed out their lifetime vote rating for Upton of 39% versus Barton’s 2%. Nevertheless, the GOP Steering Committee, heavily influenced by Boehner, chose Upton in December 2010 as chairman. Upton named Barton as chairman emeritus, the same title Democrat Henry Waxman of California created for John Dingell of Michigan after he ousted him as chairman in 2008. Shimkus and Stearns got subcommittee chairmanships.
