Upton is the representative for Michigan’s 6th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 5, 1993. Upton is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
He was previously the representative for Michigan’s 4th congressional district as a Republican from 1987 to 1992.
![Photo of Rep. Fred Upton [R-MI6]](/static/legislator-photos/400414-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Upton is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Upton has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 21, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Upton was the primary sponsor of 13 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 500: Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin Act of 2019
- H.R. 5800 (115th): Medicaid Institutes for Mental Disease Are Decisive in Delivering Inpatient Treatment for Individuals but Opportunities for Needed Access are Limited without Information Needed about Facility Obligations Act
- H.R. 829 (115th): Prioritizing the Most Vulnerable Over Lottery Winners Act of 2017
- H.R. 5944 (114th): To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to certain grant assurances, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 5414 (114th): FDA Cross-Center Collaboration Act of 2016
- H.R. 5728 (113th): STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014
- H.R. 3204 (113th): Drug Quality and Security Act
Does 13 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Upton sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Transportation and Public Works (22%) Health (22%) Energy (17%) Finance and Financial Sector (13%) Private Legislation (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (9%) Environmental Protection (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Upton’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 9056: To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to secure the supply of ...
- H.R. 7435: Methane Emissions Reduction Act
- H.R. 7377: DIGITAL Applications Act
- H.R. 7005: SHIELD Act
- H.Res. 882: Recognizing the importance of the blueberry industry to the United States of America ...
- H.Res. 785: Supporting the designation of February 1, 2020, as “Blue Star Mother’s Day”.
- H.R. 4700: Pipeline Safety Act of 2019
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1987 to Jan 2021, Upton missed 90 of 20,917 roll call votes, which is 0.4%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
