Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, made the following statement today in response to House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings' effort to seize the energy portfolio from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "This ill-advised proposition could not come at a worse time and would have dire consequences. "The current administration has fallen asleep at the wheel in addressing the nation's energy needs and has taken a regul... Read more

Rep. Fred Upton (MI-06) - The voters have spoken. The failed job-killing policies of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have been soundly rejected. We have a clear mandate to cut the size of government, reduce spending and reverse costly job-killing regulations. The new Republican majority will be different — we will listen. Pelosi never listened to the American people and she never lived up to her promises. We will do both. This change will be evident from day one at the Energy and Commerce Committe... Read more

By Fred Barnes - Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, the favorite to be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has come under attack by some conservatives as a mushy RINO (Republican In Name Only). But take a look at what his agenda as chairman would be. It’s anything but what a RINO would propose. The committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and not-so-poor. (The Ways and Means Committee handles Medicare.) Medicaid is hemorrhaging ... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is contacting members of the Republican Conference to outline his vision as Committee Chairman. Serving the last twelve years as a chairman and ranking member on the Oversight, Communications and Energy subcommittees, Upton has demonstrated steady leadership, knowledge and experience on the major issues confronting the nation. Upton writes, “My vision for the Energy and Commerce Committee is a conservative... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is demanding answers from White House energy czar Carol Browner over the administration’s decision to enact a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. In the letter to Browner, Upton raises concerns over a Department of the Interior Inspector General review that determined White House staff had made edits to the Executive Summary of Interior’s... Read more

By Ben Geman - A Michigan Republican seeking to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pressing White House energy czar Carol Browner for information about controversial changes her office made to a May Interior Department report on offshore drilling safety. In a letter to Browner Monday, Rep. Fred Upton asked about recent findings by Interior’s inspector general, who concluded that the White House edits left the impression that outside experts consulted on the report had endorsed a si... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today called on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to remove the bureaucratic roadblocks that have delayed the administration’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline application. The proposed cross-border oil pipeline would stretch from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, supplying approximately 50 percent of United States’ oil imports. The $7 billion project is expected to stimulate $20... Read more

By Byron York - There's been a lot of talk about Republican plans to subject the Obama administration to strict oversight once the new GOP House majority takes office. Most of the discussion has focused on Rep. Darrell Issa, head of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is the main panel charged with keeping the administration in line. "I'm going to be doing a lot of investigating," says Issa. That's true, but it's also true that some of the most intense action will be elsewher... Read more

By Ben Geman - A Michigan Republican lawmaker is promising to make the White House climate czar a familiar face by repeatedly bringing her in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. Fred Upton, who is gunning to chair the powerful panel, vows to end “the free pass of zero-accountability for Obama czars” such as White House energy adviser Carol Browner. “Given her extensive influence within the administration, one would think [current Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry] Waxman woul... Read more

By Rep. Fred Upton (MI-06) “Put nothing in writing, ever,” sounds like a command a veteran CIA official may give to an incoming class of new officers. One would not expect such a directive to issue from one of the President’s trusted advisors, especially from a White House that proudly proclaims itself to be the most transparent in history. But according to various media reports, that “cloak and dagger” tactic was Energy and Climate Change Czar Carol Browner’s underlying rule for auto industry e... Read more