Upton: Rumsfeld should have left earlier

Published 8:05 pm Friday, November 10, 2006

By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said he expected Congress to lose 30 seats in the midterm elections.
He also said he believes a few of his Republican colleagues may still be working alongside him in the House of Representatives had Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld left his position prior to the midterm elections.
"I had lost confidence in Rumsfeld a long time ago," Upton said Thursday. "I just wish [President George] Bush had announced his departure last week or a couple of months ago or at least before the election. I really think that would have made a difference for a couple of seats."
Balancing the budget will remain a major issue, Upton said, as will the war in Iraq. He also added he does not know Rumsfeld's successor, the former CIA director under President George H.W. Bush, Robert Gates.
"I do want to get our troops home," he said. "We have to be much more forceful in getting the Iraqis to self govern. We've been there three years and they need to take over so we can bring our troops home."
Democrats took control of both the House and Senate after Tuesday's elections. Regardless of who is in the majority in Washington D.C., Upton said he will "continue to put policy over politics."
The lame duck session of Congress starts Monday, and Upton said some important items are yet to be addressed this year. A few of the top priorities could include an appropriations spending bill and addressing expired business tax credits, Upton said.
Also on the agenda are elections to determine minority leadership in subcommittees, which Upton said will take place next Friday. No one is a "shoe-in" for any of those positions, Upton said, though he added because of his seniority he expects to "retain a very good spot on a major committee."
"The speaker [Dennis] Hastert was senior to me on energy and commerce so he is likely to come back to energy and commerce. But I'll be three or four on seniority and thus be able to choose what major subcommittee I want to be ranking," Upton said.
Closer to home, Upton said he was "very disappointed" with the negative campaigning in Indiana's second Congressional district between Republican incumbent Chris Chocola and his Democratic challenger and election winner Joe Donnelly. Upton called the advertisements "trashy."
"Other colleagues ran similar ads and they lost. That's why we stayed positive," he said in reference to his campaign and that of his challenger, Three Oaks Democrat Kim Clark.
"We had only positive ads and talked about the issues," Upton said.