Congressman Fred Upton says it’s a “crazy time” in Washington as it still isn’t known who will be the Speaker of the House and members of Congress are unsure of their committee assignments. Speaking to Michigan’s Big Show with just a couple of weeks left as a congressman, Upton said last week’s passage of a temporary spending measure shows the problem solvers in Congress need to keep up the fight.
“The sun’s going to come up,” Upton said. “We’ve got to govern, we’ve got a lot of shoal there in the water, that’s for sure, but somehow we’ll survive. It’ll happen. I’m going to miss not being a problem solver with my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats. But that middle, they’ve got to perform.”
Upton was asked by host Michael Patrick Shiels if he’d like to be the House Speaker, something he said Congresswoman Candice Miller also suggested to him. Upton wouldn’t bet on it.
“We’ve never had a Speaker who hasn’t been a member of Congress, but that’s not a requirement. People have voted, in the past they’ve voted for Colin Powell. They’ve voted for other people.”
Upton told Michigan Advance last week the November elections show far right candidates are not what the voters want, adding Michigan will now have just six Republicans in Congress, the fewest ever, and the state House and Senate were both won by Democrats. He said, “I think there’s a message there.”
