Rep. Upton: Important work being done in Washington

August 25, 2017

WOOD TV 8

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Despite the constant reports of chaos in Washington D.C., at least one longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives says important work is getting done even if you don’t hear about it.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, has been working on a bipartisan issue that would reauthorize funding for the Food and Drug Administration program that approves new drugs and medical devices.

While that may not sound particularly exciting to you, Upton says it’s very important, particularly for our area.

“So here we are trying to compete against the rest of the world. For us of course in Southwest Michigan, with Pfizer and with Stryker and with Perrigo, all of those companies employ thousands of people that without that approval process moving forward they going to be sunk,” Upton said. “So like we did before, in a very bipartisan way the President signed it into law just in the last couple of days and we’re good, we’re good for the next four or five years.”

Failure to reauthorize the program could have also had an impact on another piece of legislation that Upton helped push through late last year.

His 21st Century Cures act calls for quicker testing and approval times to put new medical products and devices on the market more quickly to make treatments available sooner and with less cost.

Click HERE to watch the video.