Six years with the gavel. It goes by pretty fast. But a brief glimpse in the rear view mirror reveals that we left nothing on the table. Our 562 hearings produced a lot. And historically, we excelled. While the committee averaged 162 hearings for the 104th - 111th Congresses, we averaged 187 hearings over the last three.
Game-changing, transformational bills were passed and signed into law, making a difference for folks in Michigan and across America. After the administration having a free-pass from oversight the first two years in office, we tore back the curtain and shined a bright spotlight on everything from the stimulus, to Obamacare, and a runaway EPA. Officials like EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and DOE Secretary Steven Chu finally had to answer some tough questions.
Our work made Solyndra, the Keystone Pipeline, and 21st Century Cures household names. We worked to advance policies that said yes to affordable energy and yes to jobs. We took a hard look at Ebola, Healthcare.gov, GM, Meningitis, VW, and Takata, and sounded the alarm on misguided federal spending on programs like “Breathe Easy" Jakarta.
And even with all six years occurring with a divided government, we got the job done. Multi-year, multi-Congress efforts paid off in the form of landmark chemical safety updates and mental health reforms. Public health was a beacon of much of our success, with dozens of laws now on the books to help all Americans, including the capstone legislation to deliver #CuresNow.
Because of the work and dedication of all of our members, we defied the wisdom that Washington was broken and passed 354 bills and provisions through the House with 202 bills and provisions being signed into law. Pretty impressive for a Congress that’s not supposed to function. We had big ideas. And through hard work and determination, we had big results. Over the last six years, the committee has pursued thoughtful legislation to advance public health, provide affordable energy, deliver strong oversight of government agencies, protect consumers, and create jobs.
Looking back, we amassed a proud, bipartisan record of success. Below is a brief snapshot of the three reports we did for the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congress. Some of our greatest hits, if you will. And looking forward, the future is bright. And the Energy and Commerce Committee will continue to lead and demonstrate we have a Better Way.
- Fred Upton
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, 112th, 113th, and 114th Congress
Energy and Commerce 112th Congress: By the Numbers
188 hearings
88 E&C bills and provisions considered on the House floor
40 E&C bills and provisions signed into law
Excerpt from report on the 112th Congress:
Our record in the 112th Congress is an impressive one. Bills signed into law. Many more advanced through the House. Investigations that uncovered waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayers’ dollars. And innovative new ways of interacting with the American people. …
The Energy and Commerce Committee and its six subcommittees held 188 hearings during the 112th Congress, more than any previous Congress in nearly two decades. In addition, the committee held 69 markups; 35 were held at the full committee level, and another 34 were held among the subcommittees. To complete all those hearings and markups, members of the committee spent 569.81 hours hard at work in our hearing rooms. The committee’s busy hearing and markup schedule translated into major legislative production, with a total of 88 E&C bills receiving consideration on the House floor. During consideration of those bills, 165 amendments were offered and debated - a mark of the openness and transparency that characterizes current House leadership. 40 bills advanced by our committee were signed into law, including several key prescription drug and medical device measures incorporated into a broader package. The 31 Republican members of Energy and Commerce introduced a total of 208 bills that were referred to our committee in the 112th Congress. …
(T)the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee left an indelible mark on the 112th Congress with its investigations on behalf of American taxpayers. Their work made Solyndra a household name, and more importantly, set a foundation upon which we passed legislation to ensure such a scandal never happens again. But the panel’s oversight work included so much more, with investigations into the health care law, the NRC and its efforts to shut down Yucca Mountain, Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse, the LightSquared controversy, transparency within the executive branch, regulatory and budget policy, and the work of the Food and Drug Administration in responding to and working to prevent a series of food and drug contamination incidents. Oversight has been a priority of this Congress, and in turn this committee, and it plays an important role in supporting our legislative agenda.
Read more about the #RecordOfSuccess for the 112th Congress, including a full accounting of committee bills passed by the House and signed into law, HERE.
Energy and Commerce 113th Congress: By the Numbers
189 Number of Hearings
91 E&C bills and provisions passed the House
51 E&C bills and provisions signed into law
Excerpt from report on the 113th Congress:
The Energy and Commerce Committee amassed an impressive record of bipartisan accomplishments in the 113th Congress to create jobs and spur economic growth, modernize government for the innovation era, and protect families, communities, and civic initiatives.
The issues on which the Energy and Commerce Committee has legislated are widespread. In the public health space alone, the panel has seen bipartisan solutions enacted related to pandemic preparedness, organ transplants, emergency epinephrine in schools, programs to support newborn screening and to prevent and treat premature birth and sudden infant death, research rare pediatric diseases, and support children’s hospital graduate medical education. It has passed bills into law to improve the safety of compounded drugs and the pharmaceutical supply chain, address gaps in the mental health system, reauthorize autism research and support, extend animal drug and generic drug user fee programs and improve flexibility for veterinary medicine, support trauma care and emergency medical services for children, and extend research into muscular dystrophy and traumatic brain injury. It has also taken steps to allow improved sunscreen ingredients, ensure Medicare patients and those in rural communities have access to care, support individuals with disabilities, promote early detection of breast cancer in young women, protect against dangerous steroid products, and add Ebola to FDA’s priority review voucher program.
Related to energy, the committee’s legislative accomplishments include hydropower license extensions and regulatory efficiency, pipeline safety, home heating and propane availability, and policies addressing energy needs of U.S. territories and energy partnerships between the U.S. and Israel.
The committee also delivered consumer protection legislation on issues as diverse as fire safety and poison control centers, as well as anti-doping authority and Medicare physician payment ; it has eased regulatory burdens on vehicle dealerships, electronics manufacturers, and electronic power supply parts; it extended the satellite law to ensure continued programming availability for satellite customers; it reauthorized a travel promotion initiative that helps bring billions of dollars in tourism to the U.S.; and it extended the chemical plant security program. …
A few of the notable investigations in the 113th Congress include the extensive review of the GM ignition switch recall and important findings about the effectiveness of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ; continued oversight of the Affordable Care Act, including enrollment information the administration was unwilling to provide; the first-of-its-kind assessment of federal programs addressing severe mental illness ; scrutiny of CDC and other labs following a series of safety lapses; and real-time oversight of the U.S. and global public health response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the U.S. cases, and overall emergency preparedness.
Read more about the #RecordOfSuccess for the 113th Congress HERE. A full accounting of the committee bills passed by the House and signed into law is HERE.
Energy and Commerce 114th Congress: By the Numbers
185 Number of Hearings
175 E&C bills and provisions passed the House
111 E&C bills and provisions signed into law
Excerpt from report on the 114th Congress:
Ideas factory. Bipartisan collaboration. Legislative workhorse. Remarkable achievement. Thoughtful tenacity. Thanks to everyone’s collective efforts, these are the traits that have come to define the Energy and Commerce Committee in the 114th Congress. In a polarized Washington where the public sadly expects very little from their representatives, we shattered the trend by working together and delivered an impressive bipartisan Record of Success. …
We have a lot to be proud of. And it is not just the quantity of our legislative success, but the quality as well. Thoughtful legislating takes time, often years and longer in some cases. We have shepherded major new laws in landmark SGR and entitlement reforms to provide certainty for doctors and seniors - an accomplishment that was over a decade in the making. We’ve also been able to implement the most meaningful update to issues involving the environment and the economy in decades with the signing of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. We lifted the 40-year-old ban on oil exports, and improved our pipeline safety laws. Robust oversight led to the development and enactment of critical solutions to answer the nation’s opioid crisis, attacking the problem from every angle. And our thoughtful oversight led to the remarkable success we had this Congress in advancing landmark mental health reforms across the finish line after years of painstaking work. And last and certainly not least, the three-year effort to deliver 21st Century Cures paid off, big time.
Everyone on the committee - from both sides of the aisle - would agree that we can accomplish a lot more when we work together. And for the most part, we are a bipartisan committee. You’ll see that from Cures to pipeline safety to microbeads. What we accomplished here has a direct impact back home in Michigan and across all of our respective districts.
Read more about the #RecordOfSuccess for the 114th Congress HERE. A full accounting of the committee bills passed by the House and signed into law is HERE.
