{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2022-12-23-pt1-PgE1349-2", "2022-12-23", 117, 2, null, null, "FINAL FAREWELL", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E1349", "E1350", "[{\"name\": \"Fred Upton\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "168 Cong. Rec. E1349", "Congressional Record, Volume 168 Issue 201 (Friday, December 23, 2022)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 201 (Friday, December 23, 2022)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E1349-E1350]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                             FINAL FAREWELL\n\n                                 ______\n\n                            HON. FRED UPTON-\n\n                              of michigan\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Friday, December 23, 2022\n\n  Mr. UPTON. Madam Speaker, as I reflect on more than four decades of\nservice in the Federal Government--working for our former Southwest\nMichigan Congressman David Stockman, then President Ronald Reagan, and\nfinally in the U.S. House of Representatives--I am so grateful for the\ncountless folks who have helped along the way including my peers,\nstaff, and wonderful family who have helped me do my best day after\nday.\n\n       ``One cannot count on luck. It comes and goes. But one can\n     count on hard work. ALSO, staying out of your OWN way . . .\n     and, for most folks, that's the hardest part.''--Amey Upton.\n\n  I was asked last week what I want to be remembered for, and without a\nsecond thought I pointed to a small, simple brass frame with a motto\nthat I picked up from my grandfather's desk when he passed away at 96\nyears of age. It read, ``When in doubt, do the right thing!'' I have\nkept it at the center of my desk and work at the Capitol all these\nyears.\n  In this journey, I have been blessed by the sacrifice of many. First\nand foremost, my wife Amey, who as my best friend for some 40 years has\nwatched me depart practically every week for a trip to Washington,\nD.C., making 99.9 percent of the nearly 22,000 votes cast. I often was\nat one of our district offices or community events most days of the\nweek. I still vividly recall the Bangor town meeting on a Halloween\nSaturday morning in 1987 when the word came down that my wife's water\nhad broken, and I had better get to the hospital pretty quickly. Then\nthere was my son reminding me not to talk to strangers as a 6-year-old\nin the Watervliet 4th of July parade or having to miss my daughter's\nbirthday to participate in a debate during one of my 25 contested\nelections. Obviously, the sacrifice of family time they all made was\nsomething they endured, especially last-minute schedule changes to\nlong-planned family activities.\n  My staff--such a blessing. Janet Zielke and Joan Hillebrands were\nwith me all 36 years and a number of others more than 20 years. Joan\nactually started as a legislative correspondent and worked her way to\nChief of Staff where she has been steadily guiding our ship for the\nlast 25 years. Corey Hanson, Mitzi Fitzpatrick, and Nivia Marquis are\nthe best in the business at solving IRS, small business, immigration,\nand veterans' issues among others. My communications folks handling\npress on local and national interests were always terrific, Caroline\nBanaszak and Jamal Ware helped finish up strong. Dale Shugars and Mike\nRyan ran my two district offices, and I have known them both for many\ndecades as leaders in their respective communities of Portage and St.\nJoseph. And before them, Al Pscholka, John Proos, Jeff Breneman, Clay\nMcCausland, and Jack Baker held those same titles. Kaitlyn Peterson was\nmy front desk traffic cop directing many constituent inquiries. All in\nall, we handled more than 1 million constituent inquiries. All my staff\ncarried the same passion to do the right thing from the start. Whether\nit be D.C. staff or here at home, they effectively and proudly served\nso many thousands of people in our communities.\n  Every Congressional office is different, but I established ours with\nmy 2 Michigan offices handling my constituent services, and my D.C.\nstaff preparing me on legislative issues. Almost everyone started as an\nintern, answering the phone, and hearing from constituents by answering\nthe mail (remember, the internet didn't become widely available until\nthe late 90s). From there, they moved up and were recognized for the\nexperience they gained and dedication they demonstrated. My former\nscheduler and Officer Manager Bits Thomas started as an intern and then\nwas my ``doorkeeper'' for a decade before she moved back to Michigan\nwith her family. Her stellar successor, Suzanne Scruggs, once worked\nfor a Cabinet member and is married to one of my first volunteers from\n1986, who later became my Legislative Director. He later went to law\nschool at night and now helps run one of the most prestigious firms in\nWashington.\n  Alec Zender was with us several years helping our farmers and small\nbusinesses, then went to fellow Michigander Rep. Jack Bergman.\n  Last but not least, the point man and architect who shepherded 21st\nCentury Cures, Mark Ratner. As resident comedian and my MSU sports\nrival, he served as my legislative right-hand man for nearly 20 years.\n  And the list goes on. I am so proud of our team. I've been involved\nwith a long list of issues, so long that there has been little time to\nstop and ``smell the roses.''\n  It was the late State Senator Harry Gast who convinced me to serve on\nthe House Transportation Committee when I was first elected so I could\nhelp complete US-31 connecting three interstates in Berrien County.\nThere were a lot of bumps, potholes, and butterflies along the way, but\nI am happy to say the project is now complete. Also, my amendment in\nthat first 5-year highway bill increased Michigan's share of each\nfederal dollar from 72 cents to 90 cents, providing billions that would\nhave otherwise gone to other states. Later helping to widen and improve\n1-94 with US-131 moving east towards I-69.\n  Moving from Transportation to the powerful Energy & Commerce\nCommittee in 1991 I had a terrific mentor in Chairman John Dingell. I\nserved as Chair of the Oversight, Telecommunications, & Energy\nSubcommittees which eventually led to me becoming Chair of the full\ncommittee from 2010 to 2016. Speaker Newt Gingrich changed the\nseniority rules making the chairs compete for the chairmanships with a\n6-year term limit. Without that change, I would still be sitting as a\nsenior member of the committee but still not having had a chance to\nlead it.\n  Yes, bipartisanship was always a guiding principle. I learned that at\nthe Reagan White House where a GOP President worked with a Democrat-\ncontrolled Congress and got things done. Quite frankly, quite a few\nAmericans probably voted with both hands to fill in ballot circles or\npunch the chad for him in 1980 yet we saw him win in a landslide 4\nyears later except for Mondale's Minnesota. I always kept one of\nReagan's mottos in mind, ``It doesn't matter who gets the credit, as\nlong as the job gets done.''\n  The Great Lakes has always been a top priority for me. I've worked to\nban micro-beads, ensure water quality funds, establish an oil spill\nresponse team, pipeline safety and delivered on a plan with Governor\nRick Snyder to replace Line 5 under the Mackinac Bridge at a $500\nmillion cost. I also spent time ensuring dredging our harbors, battling\nAsian carp, and authorizing a new lock for the Soo. If the 60-year-old\nlock went down, it would literally double the Nation's unemployment as\niron ore could not make it to the steel mills for autos, appliances,\nand our manufacturing industries.\n  As a vice-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solver's Caucus (PSC), we\nmet virtually every week and were instrumental in passing the CHIPS and\nInfrastructure bills to help America remain competitive. We also played\na role in the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) that enabled so many of\nour small businesses to keep their employees paid during the COVID\nshutdown and provide a lifeline to maintain their presence.\n  On the morning of September 11, 2001, I drove through the Pentagon\nparking lot about an hour before the plane hit the building. General\nVan Antwerp, whom I had grown up with on my street in St. Joseph, was\nspared because he was at a meeting out of the building, but a number of\nhis staff were killed. As the Telecommunications Subcommittee Chair, I\nled a number of colleagues to New York City a few days later, where the\nrescue mission was still taking place at Ground Zero. We later passed\nlegislation that was the top priority noted by the 9/11 Commission's\nreport to allocate broadcast spectrum allowing law enforcement to have\ntheir own frequency to communicate. We did such by forcing the\nbroadcasters to convert their analogue broadcast signal to digital and\nselling that newly created spectrum to the highest bidders in the\ntelecommunications industry. This allowed them to produce devices with\ntext and video, which created the 5G network, hundreds of thousands of\njobs, and generated revenue to reduce the deficit.\n\n  Supporting our troops and our brave veterans was always the easiest\nvote I cast. Whether it be Agent Orange or Burn Pits benefits or\nvisiting our troops in harm's way in Iraq or Afghanistan, visiting our\nmilitary hospitals here and overseas, count me as a grateful American.\nAllowing our vets to receive medical care in their home community if\nthey prefer versus traveling across the state to a VA facility was also\na choice I supported.\n  I have had the opportunity to have many classified briefings on\nChina, Ukraine, Russia,\n\n[[Page E1350]]\n\nand protecting American interests. We are a free nation because of our\nbrave. It always has been a favorite moment for me to nominate\nqualified young men and women to attend our military academies. General\nEmery Upton was in the West Point class with George Custer and later\nserved as Commandant. His statue is on Little Round Top in Gettysburg.\nAnd my 98-year-old dad served in World War II, including the Battle of\nthe Bulge.\n  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the enactment of 21st\nCentury Cures the most important legislative achievement in that\nCongress when President Obama signed it into law in December 2016. I\nled a 3-year effort as chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee to pass\nthis legislation, which expedites the FDA approvals of drugs and\ndevices and was coupled with $45 billion in additional health research\nfunding. We literally held dozens of round table discussions, hearings,\nmeetings with disease groups, the FDA, National Institutes of Health\n(NIH), pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions like the\nUniversity of Michigan, MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, Harvard, and the\nMilken Institute. Fast forward 4 years to COVID. Pfizer's CEO told his\nfolks that they would spend ``whatever it takes'' to find a vaccine and\nthankfully were successful. Cures allowed them to produce the vaccine\nprior to the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and be able to deliver\nit across the country the very next day after receiving the EUA in\nDecember of 2020. This was probably 6-8 months earlier than would have\nhappened without our legislation, saving hundreds of thousands American\nlives. Then-Vice President Joe Biden played a pivotal hands-on role,\nand we included the $1 billion Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative as\npart of this bill. One of our great sources was Nobel Prize winner\nimmunologist Jim Allison whose breakthroughs have been the answer to\nthousands.\n  The terrible events of January 6 continue to dominate the news nearly\ntwo years later, including this week's release of the final committee\nreport. That morning, I walked through the House floor back to my\nRayburn office where I watched many of the protesters parading under my\nbalcony to the White House grounds. I then watched the President's\nspeech to the crowd on TV before they came back to the Capitol and\ncertainly attempted to violently disrupt the counting of the electoral\nvotes cast by each state. I saw the gallows on the Capitol lawn\nintended for Mike Pence, and thanked some of the SWAT team members\nlaying exhausted in the Rotunda. Chilling. Michigan was one of the 4\nstates that was going to be challenged despite the 154,000-vote\ndifference. To date, there is still no credible evidence that our vote\nwas fraudulent. I voted absentee in that election, as I did this last\nNovember 8, and I am confident that our system works. Under the law\nestablished in the 1800s, it only takes 1 Member from the House and\nSenate to force the full House and Senate to reconsider. This week the\nHouse and Senate adopted a legislative change requiring a minimum of 20\npercent of each body to challenge a states' certified count. In my\nestimation we avoided a massacre of my colleagues on the House floor by\nonly 10-15 minutes. Trump's later statement that he did everything\n``totally appropriate'' was a key factor for my impeachment vote a week\nlater and my support for a bipartisan January 6 congressional\ncommission. In my view, the commission's unanimous support for their\nreport issued this week prevented the facts from being swept under the\nrug and helped ensure preservation of the peaceful transfer of\npresidential power.\n  More than a 1,000 folks provided testimony to get the truth that\notherwise never would have been told. Where were these same souls who\nknew the intimate story when we debated impeachment? Crickets.\n  One regret I will share was the failure of the Super Committee a\ndozen years ago to deal with the deficit. It had 6 members of the House\nand Senate: 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats. The rule was that we had to\nget 7 votes, and we could never get more than 6 as it turned out. We\nspent a couple months negotiating different alternatives but could\nnever quite get there. I was one of the ``aye'' votes with fellow\nMichigan colleague and Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee Dave\nCamp, but we were 1 vote short. The looming budget deficit remains a\nthreat that most certainly future leaders must address.\n  My last 2 days in Congress were action packed. On Wednesday evening,\nI attended a joint session of Congress in which we heard from the\nPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Earlier this year, I had a\nchance to listen as Zelenskyy addressed the bipartisan Problem Solvers\nCaucus by Zoom. It was encouraging to now see him in person as he makes\nthe compelling case for Ukraine directly to the American people and\ntheir representatives. I have had the opportunity during my career to\nwatch presidential national addresses and world leaders speak to the\nCongress such as Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth, the Pope, and others\nfrom around the globe. I was especially proud to listen to President\nZelenskyy on one of my very last days serving in the U.S. Congress.\n  The House and Senate cleared a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill to\nkeep the government open and funded through the 2023 fiscal year. I\nvoted for the package, funding a number of priorities, including a 10-\npercent increase in defense spending to $858 billion. The bill also\nincludes $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency, that\nlike its defense counterpart, will fund cutting-edge research that has\nthe potential to save millions of lives. This is the next step for 21st\nCentury Cures. The bill also includes $45 billion to help Ukraine\ndefend its freedom and citizens against Russia's brutal invasion,\nincluding barbaric attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.\n  I supported Congress acting this year because it avoids the risk of a\ngovernment shutdown to start the New Year, given the narrow majorities\nin the House and Senate. A shutdown would threaten America's security\nand cause disruption to vital domestic programs, including those that\nhelp improve health outcomes in our nation. It clears the deck for the\nnext Congress to start fresh on FY '24 rather than mop up unfinished\nbusiness 4 months into FY '23.\n  On a closing note, I leave you with the words of a brave young woman:\n\n       ``How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment\n     before starting to improve the world.''--Anne Frank\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2022-12-23-pt1-PgE1349-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 23.7091570161283, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}