U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., is one of six Republican legislators to be appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

He was selected to the committee by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
The committee was formed as a provision of the deal to raise the debt ceiling, signed by President Obama last week. The deal calls for more than $900 billion in cuts from the federal budget over the next decade. The committee is charged with the task of recommending another $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by November.
“The Budget Control Act made a modest down payment on our debt in the short term and called on Congress – through a Joint Select Committee – to build on those savings with meaningful spending controls and program reforms that will continue the process of putting our fiscal house in order over the long term,” Upton, a St. Joseph resident, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Being from Michigan where families have endured 31 consecutive months of double-digit unemployment, I know how important it is to get our economy back on track and get Americans back to work,” he said. “No one believes this is going to be easy, but working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both Chambers of the Congress, we will work to address our fiscal challenges and get America back to work.”