U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, may be one of the most affable, easygoing politicians you’ll ever meet but when it comes to enemies, he sure can pick them.
Over the years, he has taken fire from both sides.
The late Rush Limbaugh savaged him on his radio show more than a decade ago for embracing more efficient lightbulbs and being too willing to work with Democrats. Glenn Beck called him “all socialist.” The conservative Club for Growth took out TV ads against him. And when he appeared to swing to the right after the Tea Party takeover of the U.S. House in 2011 and led efforts as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to curb greenhouse gas regulations, the American Lung Association went after him and the L.A. Times called him Earth’s biggest enemy, even though Upton has always maintained he has tried to balance environmental concerns with the economy.
Then there’s former President Donald Trump, who has labeled Upton as a RINO (Republican in name only) so many times, you’d think he has a horn.
Despite all of that, Upton — who on Jan. 3 will officially leave Congress after 36 years of representing southwestern Michigan and spending nearly a half-century in Washington — has staked out a remarkable career. It’s in no small part due to a genial nature, close relationships and a willingness to cross the political aisle, even if it meant a Democrat might score points, too — a fact he readily concedes, even if it’s a quality that has alienated Trump and other Republicans whom he says too often seek political “pelts” over accomplishments.
“Isn’t the country more important than this? That’s who I am,” he said. “(But) I’ve never been a rubber stamp.”
Legislatively, Upton can point to several significant achievements, writing legislation that increased reporting requirements after hundreds died in accidents linked to Firestone tires mostly in Ford vehicles in the late 1990s and passing tougher pipeline safety standards alongside the late Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, after a catastrophic oil line break in Marshall in 2010.
He also led countless efforts to help west Michigan — including spending decades on a project linking US-31 to Interstate 94 in Berrien County, which was finally completed this year. And as a key member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, comprised of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, he helped put forward and pass Biden’s signature bill to rebuild roads, bridges and other infrastructure that most House Republicans voted against. For that achievement — worth billions to Michigan — he received death threats.
As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee from 2010-16, he led dozens of efforts and since then has continued to serve as a mentor and force for bipartisanship. “He’s one of the all-time greats,” said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who will take over as chairman of the committee in the new Congress and is a close friend of Upton’s. “He’s been an extraordinary leader.”
Perhaps most importantly, however, he wrote — along with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and with help from then-Vice President Joe Biden — the 21st Century Cures Act, a sweeping effort to accelerate medical advances. One of the last acts signed into law by President Barack Obama, it would help pave the way for a COVID-19 vaccine to be speedily brought to the public beginning in late 2020.
“Ultimately, it saved hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Upton said. “They were able to roll it out eight to 10 months earlier than it would have happened. We changed the law allowing the process.”
A descendant of the family that founded Whirlpool, the appliance company, Upton also is the uncle of model Kate Upton, who is married to former Detroit Tiger Justin Verlander. Before running for Congress in 1986, Upton worked at the Office for Management and Budget — and for former U.S. Rep. David Stockman, who was its director — during President Ronald Reagan’s tenure.
Source: Todd Spangler, “Easygoing Fred Upton departs Congress with many friends and a few well-known enemies“, Detroit Free Press, December 30, 2022; updated January 2, 2023.