U.S. Representative Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today voted for legislation – H.R. 5016, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015 – to hold the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accountable for its actions against American taxpayers. Overall, this legislation reduces funding for the IRS by $1.48 billion compared to the previous fiscal year, and includes a number of provisions to stop the agency’s targeting of individuals based on their political beliefs. H... Read more

Speaking last week at a Michigan Tourism Roundtable discussion in South Haven, Mich., House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, underscored the importance of the travel and tourism sector to Southwest Michigan’s economy and pointed to the tremendous potential to grow this industry by attracting more visitors from overseas. Today, Upton’s Committee approved H.R. 4450, the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of 2014, to reauthorize Brand USA, which is ... Read more

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today addressed the Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2014 Energy Conference to share his new vision for America’s energy policy – the Architecture of Abundance. Upton outlined the five pillars needed to construct this new architecture: modernizing infrastructure, maintaining diverse electricity generation, permitting a new manufacturing renaissance, harnessing energy efficiency and innovation, and unleashing energy dip... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today voted for a bipartisan agreement – H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 – to ensure federal highway and mass transit projects continue to receive adequate funding through May 2015. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that without congressional action the Highway Trust Fund will be depleted by August, bringing important transportation projects across the country to an immediate halt. H.R. 5021 also reauthor... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, voted today for bipartisan legislation to strengthen and streamline the current system of federal workforce development services in order to better serve the nation’s job seekers, employers, and states. The agreement reached by House and Senate negotiators – H.R. 803, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) – embodies key principles of the House-passed SKILLS Act and combines a modern reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. H.R. 803 pass... Read more

U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today released a report on the accomplishments of the committee in the first six months of 2014. The mid-year review continues the tradition of status reports issued throughout the tenure of Chairman Upton on the committee’s legislative and oversight work under the current Republican majority. The updates are part of the committee’s effort to increase transparency and ensure the public has easy and ready access to the pa... Read more

Travel and tourism are among the top industries in the state – along with agriculture and manufacturing – and we all need to do our best here in Southwest Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes State to promote it, Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said during the Michigan Tourism Roundtable discussion Monday with state officials and tourism association representatives. “We have some of the best beaches and amenities – world-class hotels and golf courses – right here in Southwest Michigan. ... Read more

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Declaration of Independence Read more

​The winner of the Congressional Art Competition in Michigan's Sixth District, Autumn Roth of St. Joseph, was feted Thursday during a reception in the nation's U.S. Capitol Building. Roth, who graduated from St. Joseph High School in Berrien County and plans to attend Hope College in Holland in the fall, won with her digital photograph titled, "Heard?" The image depicts a covered human form holding a blue and white sphere. The idea for the image came to her looking at pictures of women in Afghan... Read more

The House of Representatives today approved bipartisan legislation that would cut through the red tape currently blocking exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to our global allies. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, is an original cosponsor of H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act, which would speed up the Department of Energy’s (DOE) approval process to ensure exports to our allies are no longer subject to unnecessary delays. Currently... Read more