Congressman Fred Upton is renewing his call to repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax on U.S. medical device sales that took effect in January as part of the Affordable Care Act. Upton – a cosponsor of the bipartisan Protect Medical Innovation Act (H.R. 523) to repeal the medical device tax – reintroduced the bill to the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. Similar legislation to repeal the device tax passed the House last summer by a bipartisan vote of 270 to 146, but was never considered by ... Read more

The U.S. House has overwhelmingly passed legislation to pay for research of rare childhood diseases. Congressman Fred Upton spoke on the House floor in support of the National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013, and talked about Brielle and Brooke Kennedy, two sisters in the 6th Congressional District who have Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The measure passed the House, 375-to-27 and is now before the Senate. The House passed the bill in 2012, but the Senate did not follow suit. http://www.wsjm.co... Read more

By Scott Aiken - U.S. Rep. Fred Upton has asked that the Michigan Air National Guard base in Battle Creek become the new home of a unit of C-27J or C-130 transport aircraft. The St. Joseph Republican said in a letter to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley that the base has "continually modernized its assets and has nearly everything needed to host the mission, including three runways, one of them 10,000 feet long. The base, at W.K. Kellogg Airport, has a strategic location, Upton said, at ... Read more

By Terry Katz - U.S. Rep. Fred Upton made his first visit to Sturgis Molded Products on Monday. Upton, R-St. Joseph, was accompanied by his wife, Amey, and community leaders including Sturgis City Manager Michael Hughes and Mayor Kenneth Rhodes. Mark Weishaar, Sturgis Molded Products president, welcomed the guests and led them on a tour. Visitors said they were impressed by the variety of products produced at SMP. The company produces millions of plastic dose cups for cough medicine, baby scoops... Read more

By Ted Yoakum Staff Reporter Yet another milestone has been reached on the way to the opening of Western Michigan University’s School of Medicine, as the school announced this morning that it had reached preliminary accreditation status. The announcement was made during the groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming renovation project to the former MPI Research facility in downtown Kalamazoo, which was donated to the school last year. Over 100 members of the community attended the event, including... Read more

By Rick Cordes - An upturn in the auto industry economy and the success of American Axle and Manufacturing to stay at the forefront of the automotive supply sector has enabled the Three Rivers American Axle plant to make a sizeable donation to the City of Three Rivers and the Three Rivers Community Schools. In a ceremony this morning, AAM officials, represented by Bill Smith, executive director of governmental affairs and community relations, will present Three Rivers Mayor Tom Lowry with a chec... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton this week praised legislation that he says will help promote research into rare diseases in children. The bills that were approved by the House on Wednesday will allow the National Institutes of Health to fund a consortium formed from cooperating institutions to promote more research into genetic illnesses in kids: Upton says that there are diseases may affect such a small number of children that better coordinating researchers could help speed up finding treatments. The l... Read more

A local Korean War veteran was presented on Thursday with several medals for his military service in the 1950s. U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, presented the medals to Roger Jay Williams during a ceremony at the congressman's Kalamazoo District Office. Williams, a native of Kalamazoo, served in the Navy from 1952 to 1956, enlisting at age 17, according to a news release from Upton's office. He served as a sheet metal worker, including aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, a recommissioned attack carrier. ... Read more

By Ralph Lindeman Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Aug. 20 cited “growing concern” about delays at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in providing guidance to states about implementation of the health care reform law. In a sharply worded letter to acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, the GOPlawmakers said “regulatory uncertainty has crippled states and health providers in their ability to plan for future Medicaid expansions or state insurance exchange... Read more

By John Hayward The Environmental Protection Agency suffered a major defeat in federal court on Tuesday, as its Cross State Air Pollution Rule was struck down. This little bundle of regulatory joy was going to cost the American energy industry (the stuff that works, not the “green energy” junk) a cool $2.7 billion to deliver. ... House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) was also pleased: “Today’s decision striking down EPA’s costly and unworkable Cross-State Air Pollution R... Read more