When the 112th Congress convenes in January, top on the agenda will be energy, the environment, and health care, all issues in the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. With polls showing Republicans likely to take the House of Representatives, the chairmanship of this committee is vital.
The ranking Republican on the committee now is Joe Barton, R-Texas. Under the Republican House rules, members can only lead committees for three terms before they must step down. Barton, a strong voice for fiscal responsibility, had one term as chairman, from 2004 to 2006, and two terms as ranking member, from 2006 through 2010.
Next in line is Fred Upton, R-Mich. In Politico on Thursday, he laid out his plans. “Now you have me measuring the drapes,” Upton told Politico.
But Upton’s record is such that if he were a Democrat, he’d be worried about getting re-elected. If Republicans take the House, their members will have been elected on an anti-tax, fiscally conservative platform, with job creation as their voters’ top priority.
Why would the House leadership name Upton as chairman of one of the most important congressional committees?
The congressman’s philosophy is probably best summed up with his 2005 vote against extending the Bush tax cuts on capital gains and dividends, even though these cuts were projected to save taxpayers $80.5 billion over 10 years.
In addition, Upton was one of 11 Republicans who voted with Democrats to try and make future tax cuts harder to pass. He was one of nine Republicans who opposed the Republican amendment to President Obama’s “stimulus” bill to stimulate with tax cuts instead of $787 billion in borrowed money.
If you like your incandescent light bulbs, you won’t like Upton, because he coauthored the 2007 light bulb ban with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. In 2012 the Federal government will start phasing out these light bulbs, so consumers will have to buy other types such as compact florescent bulbs.
We might not have enough energy for incandescent light bulbs, because Upton voted for oil and gas drilling bans off the coast of Florida and in the Great Lakes, as well as for blocking millions of acres from new oil and gas leasing, logging, mining, and other business activity.
As entitlement spending swells, we should remember that Upton was in favor of expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program from families at 200 percent of the poverty line to families at 400 percent of the poverty line–families of four making $88,000 a year, far above U.S. median income of $50,000. Upton voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2007 and 2008 to try to override President Bush’s vetoes of similar legislation.
Upton also voted to bail out banks and Wall Street with $700 billion of taxpayer money. He voted for the first attempt, which failed, and for the second attempt, which passed.
The Democrats’ $409 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 was too much for most Republicans to swallow, as it increased spending by 8.4 percent over the previous year. It actually gave President Obama $19 billion more than he had requested, contained $7.7 billion in earmarks, and increased Congress’s spending on itself by 11 percent. Even 20 Democrats voted no, but Upton said yes.
If Republicans are restored to dominance in the House, voters who stream to the polls to reject big spending, bailouts, light bulb bans, and drilling bans won’t want committee chairmen who voted for these programs. They’ll want real change.
So when the Republican Steering Committee meets to choose new committee chairmen, members should ensure that new chairmen and their voting histories reflect the will of the American public. Fred Upton and his voting record might not qualify.
Examiner Columnist Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
