Upton to serve as Honorary General Chair

Congressman Fred Upton
6th Congressional District, Michigan

Representing the common-sense, Midwestern values of his Michigan district for the last 22 years, Fred Upton is one of the most active members of Congress working to ensure our nation is on a path toward a smaller, more efficient, more effective federal government.

A budget hawk, Fred honed his fiscally conservative credentials while serving in President Ronald Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget prior to his election to Congress in 1986.

Fred has a reputation for getting things done in Washington and at home in southwest Michigan. The Dowagiac Daily News calls Fred a “breath of fresh air in polarized Washington” who “keeps company at the highest levels of the federal government, but he never forgets where he comes from.” Fred’s hometown paper, The Herald Palladium, calls Fred an “engaged, positive representative” who has “effectively pulled the levers of government that have allowed key infrastructure projects to move forward.”

In the House of Representatives, Fred is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He currently serves as the top Republican of the powerful Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, a critical position as the nation seeks to reduce its dependence on Mideast oil through a greater emphasis on domestic exploration, the advancement of renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, the promotion of emissions-free nuclear power and increased conservation through advanced technologies.

Fred also plays an active role on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, a subcommittee he chaired in the last Congress, which has jurisdiction over newly emerging high-tech issues such as telemedicine, broadband deployment, and the wiring of America’s classrooms for Internet technology. As chairman, Fred authored the law that created a billion dollar program to ensure our first responders can communicate with one another during times of emergency – a top priority of the 9/11 Commission.

Fred and his wife Amey have two children, a son in high school and a daughter in college.