WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) issued the following statement regarding the committee’s priorities for the 114th Congress. Upton recently unveiled the #RecordOfSuccess webpage chronicling the committee’s bipartisan achievements in the 113th Congress.
“At the Energy and Commerce Committee we have had a proven record of bipartisan success and that will only continue to grow in the coming years. Earlier this year my Democratic colleague Diana DeGette joined me in launching the 21st Century Cures initiative with the goal of accelerating the pace of new cures and treatments. We have heard from patients, researchers, care givers, and innovators for the past several months about the tremendous opportunities we have in the United States to find treatments for the thousands of diseases without them and close the gap between the science of cures and how we regulate them. In the coming weeks we will continue to advance this initiative and work with our colleagues in Congress and the administration to deliver hope to patients and loved ones all across the country.
“This is also our chance to govern on energy and environmental policy. We achieved great bipartisan success in the House this Congress advancing commonsense solutions that seek to harness the benefits of the American energy boom and empower states. We unveiled a broad new energy vision called the Architecture of Abundance, which includes plans to build a modern new energy infrastructure and increase energy efficiency. We want to build off our past successes and work together to see these policies enacted.
“We have also spent the past year gathering input and information to inform our work to bring the nation’s communications laws into the 21st Century. Over the next several months, we will take what we have learned from our hearings and white papers to update the law to boost job creation and economic growth in the innovation era. Likewise, we have made progress on key issues to consumers, workers, and job creators, exploring issues that range from data protection to privacy to manufacturing. We will continue to advance these priorities in the coming year.
“Helping to create jobs and grow the economy have always been our focus, and will continue to be the top priority for the committee. We will work to ensure that all sectors of the economy, including health care, telecommunications, manufacturing, and energy, can tackle today’s challenges and take advantage of the opportunities of the future. And we will continue our careful oversight to hold government accountable to the people. I remain very optimistic and encouraged by the success that we have had over the past two years and look forward to seeing our #RecordOfSuccess grow."
