By Rep. Fred Upton - This past Friday marked the two-year anniversary of the signing of the President’s controversial healthcare bill. While much of the law is yet to be implemented, the costs of this massive expansion of the federal government can already be felt here at home in southwest Michigan. When the so-called “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” came up for a vote in 2010, it narrowly passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 219 to 212, despite the 75-seat majority hel... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) voted in support of the bipartisan Protecting Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act (H.R. 5). The PATH Act addresses two of the most glaring deficiencies of the President’s overhaul of the health care system. It includes reforms to the broken medical liability system as well as repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a panel of 15 unelected bureaucrats tasked with finding Medicare savings through major decisions over medical treatments and service... Read more

In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) today urged continued public awareness and prevention in the fight against the disease, the third most common form of cancer among men and women in the United States. In 2007, over 5,000 people in Michigan were newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and about 1,800 died from the disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 140,000 Americans are diagnosed with color... Read more

By Rep. Fred Upton - Jobs. That’s our 2012 agenda in a word. Looking for a few more words? Look no further than recent recommendations from the president’s jobs council. Developed by business leaders hand-picked by this administration, the jobs council report affirms the pro-jobs policies championed by House Republicans for the last year, and it offers a real opportunity for consensus in a year that many political observers have already written off to gridlock. The Energy and Commerce Committee ... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) praised this evening’s House passage of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act (H.R. 3630). Among other things, this legislation extends payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits while preventing scheduled cuts to Medicare payments for physicians. H.R. 3630 also seeks to spur job creation by advancing wireless broadband service and investment, protecting employers from the costs of unattainable federal rules and regulations, and requiring approval... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) applauds the U.S. Supreme Court for announcing that they will hear arguments over President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. "Everyone from business operators and individual citizens to lawmakers and scholars have questioned the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law, and we have always known that it would ultimately fall to the Supreme Court to strike down this unprecedented overreach into citizens' lives, health c... Read more

By Rep. Fred Upton - This November is American Diabetes Month, an annual call to raise awareness about the seriousness of a disease that afflicts nearly 26 million Americans, or more than 8 percent of the U.S. population. Of those millions of children and adults living with diabetes, 7 million have not even been diagnosed. The figures become even more alarming when you consider another 79 million Americans are currently at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Beginning November 1, the Ameri... Read more

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI) voted in support of the three Free Trade Agreements (FTA), South Korea (H.R. 3080), Panama (H.R. 3079) and Columbia (H.R. 3078). The South Korea FTA passed the House by a vote of 278 - 151. The Panama FTA passed the House by a vote of 300 - 129. The Columbia FTA passed the House by a vote of 262 - 167. All three bills passed with bipartisan support and now await Senate approval. “These groundbreaking agreements will bring significant benefits to Michigan by expandin... Read more

Every October, we come together as a nation of patients, survivors, family, and friends in an effort to increase awareness of breast cancer. We have made tremendous progress through the years in the fight against this disease. The breast cancer death rate in the United States has largely decreased since 1990. The continued decline in the mortality rate is an important indicator of success in the fight against cancer, made possible in large part by advances in early detection and treatment. Yearl... Read more

On the evening of September 26, Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) enjoyed hearing that the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (HR 2005) was unanimously approved by voice vote in the U.S. Senate. HR 2005 is a bill that Upton supports and helped shepherd through the Energy and Commerce committee. The bill, which also passed the House of Representatives, last week, would fund federal autism research programs for another three years. “Early detection can be a key element to mitigating the impa... Read more