@MyKitchenTable: Monday, July 13, 2020 Dear Friend: Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t—-you are right." If you’ve followed me through the Kitchen Table report, you should know that yes, as much as we all wanted this pandemic over and back in the bottle by Easter, it was not going to happen. But, I remain encouraged and optimistic that indeed we will see real progress on both a successful vaccine and the proper therapeutics in the not so distant future. Many of my coll... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Thursday, July 9, 2020 Dear Friend: Helen Keller said, “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows." The CDC, NIH, FDA and other partners are conducting a nationwide COVID-19 seroprevalence survey in 25 U.S. metro areas to understand the percentage of folks who may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. This is the largest such study to date and collaborating organizations will collect and test 1,000 anonymous blood donation samples from each of the 25 sites for ... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 Dear Friend: Someone reminded me, “If you feel down just consider that the sun sinks every night — but it rises again in the morning." And Will Rogers added, “Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today." I had a number of folks inquire how they might be considered for the Pfizer COVID-19 clinical trials. That will likely start this month with production slated for their Kalamazoo facility. You’ll remember that they anticipate preparing as much as 100M ... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 Dear Friend: Albert Schweitzer said, “Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will—his personal responsibility.” It was a different era back then, but it would easy to add Dick Cheney’s quote a couple weeks ago when he said, “Real men wear masks!" The Detroit News reported today that Governor Whitmer is “prepared to take heat” again and dial back reopening if the Michigan case load increases. We’ve seen a ... Read more

July 6, 2020 @MyKitchenTable: Monday, July 6, 2020 Dear Friend: This day’s inspiration comes from John F. Kennedy, “We all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” That comes from the book, “Healing”, a journal of tolerance and understanding by Muhammad Ali and Thomas Hauser - a truly great collection of quotes written to combat bigotry and prejudice that Ali gave to me in 1997. Some good news continues on the vaccine ... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Dear Friend: Ahead of the 4th of July holiday, Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Independence Day: freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” Another full day in Washington and a number of new developments. First, Pfizer, who is working in tandem with BioNTech, announced today encouraging news on the vaccine fro... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 Dear Friend: "In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” – Mister Rogers Fitting as today’s Health Subcommittee hearing was on mental health and anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis. More on that below. After a lot of back and forth travel between Washington, D.C. and home in St. Joe, the KT update is back. It was a full day ... Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Fred Upton today issued the following statement after voting to advance police reform. The U.S. House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act by a vote of 236-181. The National Fraternal Order of Police issued a statement of support, saying, “We were heartened to see that there were provisions in the bill that we believe… that will have a positive impact on law enforcement and policing in our country.” Click here to read their full statement. Upton’s stateme... Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Frank Lucas (R-OK), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) introduced bipartisan legislation to authorize billions in funding to U.S. researchers who have been impacted by the pandemic. While coronavirus-related research is now in overdrive, most other research has been slowed down or stopped altogether due to pandemic-induced closures of campuses and laboratories. Now, tens of thousands o... Read more

@MyKitchenTable: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Dear Friend: Today’s inspiration is from Dr. Fauci at today’s hearing on Capitol Hill: “It will be when, not if” for a COVID-19 vaccine. We all hope so. My day started with my weekly interview on WHTC. We covered a number of issues, including police reform, future COVID-19 relief packages, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans/grants transparency, our bipartisan efforts to help nursing homes with the COVID-19 crisis, and today’s Energy and Commerce heari... Read more