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Quick Facts
Personal Details

Caucuses/Former Committees

Former Member, Aviation Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Budget Committee, United States House of Representatives

Member, Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus

Member, Congressional Western Caucus

Former Member, Environment Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Federal Lands Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Chair, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Member, Republican Study Committee

Former Member, Science, Space and Technology Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, United States House of Representatives

Former Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, United States House of Representatives

Education

  • MF, Forestry, Yale University, 2000-2001
  • BSBAGE, Biological/Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, 1986-1990

Professional Experience

  • MF, Forestry, Yale University, 2000-2001
  • BSBAGE, Biological/Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, 1986-1990
  • Engineer/Forester, Mid-South Engineering Company, 1992-2014
  • Plant Engineer, Riceland Foods, 1990-1992

Political Experience

  • MF, Forestry, Yale University, 2000-2001
  • BSBAGE, Biological/Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, 1986-1990
  • Engineer/Forester, Mid-South Engineering Company, 1992-2014
  • Plant Engineer, Riceland Foods, 1990-1992
  • Representative, United States House of Representatives, Arkansas, District 4, 2014-present
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, Arkansas, District 4, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020
  • Majority Leader, Arkansas State House of Representatives, 2013-2014
  • Representative, Arkansas State House of Representatives, District 22, 2010-2014
  • Minority Leader, Arkansas State House of Representatives, 2012-2013
  • Candidate, Arkansas State House of Representatives, District 22, 2012

Former Committees/Caucuses

Former Member, Aviation Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Budget Committee, United States House of Representatives

Member, Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus

Member, Congressional Western Caucus

Former Member, Environment Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Federal Lands Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Chair, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives

Member, Republican Study Committee

Former Member, Science, Space and Technology Committee, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, United States House of Representatives

Former Member, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, United States House of Representatives

Current Legislative Committees

Member, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Member, Natural Resources Committee

Member, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit

Member, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials

Member, Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Religious, Civic, and other Memberships

  • MF, Forestry, Yale University, 2000-2001
  • BSBAGE, Biological/Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, 1986-1990
  • Engineer/Forester, Mid-South Engineering Company, 1992-2014
  • Plant Engineer, Riceland Foods, 1990-1992
  • Representative, United States House of Representatives, Arkansas, District 4, 2014-present
  • Candidate, United States House of Representatives, Arkansas, District 4, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020
  • Majority Leader, Arkansas State House of Representatives, 2013-2014
  • Representative, Arkansas State House of Representatives, District 22, 2010-2014
  • Minority Leader, Arkansas State House of Representatives, 2012-2013
  • Candidate, Arkansas State House of Representatives, District 22, 2012
  • Deacon/Sunday School Teacher, Walnut Valley Baptist Church, present
  • Former President, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
  • Former Chair, Arkansas Academy of Biological and Agricultural Engineers
  • President/Member, Fountain Lake School Board, 2006-2010

Other Info

— Awards:

  • Engineer of the Year, 2013, Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers

Policy Positions

2021

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No

2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- Unknown Position

Campaign Finance

Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- No

Crime

Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
- Unknown Position

Defense

Do you support increasing defense spending?
- Yes

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No

Energy and Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Yes

2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Yes

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Yes

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- No

Trade

Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Yes

Arkansas Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- No

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Yes

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Yes

2. I am a co-sponsor and support the Securing America's Future Act, HR4760
- Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? "Yes" https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/119120/bruce-westerman/#.WcLfmme3wfI (votesmart.org) Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? “Yes” https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/119120/bruce-westerman/#.WcLfmme3wfI (votesmart.org) "No matter how compassionate its intent, President Obama's creation of DACA was a clear violation of our separation of powers,' Westerman said. 'As Attorney General Sessions said today, the Justice Department could not make a clear and compelling defense for an executive action that was outside the Constitutional authority granted to the President.” https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1193502/westerman-statement-on-daca-rescindment#.WcwYJWe3wfI (votesmart.org) Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? "Yes" https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/119120/bruce-westerman/#.WcLfmme3wfI (votesmart.org) "No matter how compassionate its intent, President Obama's creation of DACA was a clear violation of our separation of powers,' Westerman said. 'As Attorney General Sessions said today, the Justice Department could not make a clear and compelling defense for an executive action that was outside the Constitutional authority granted to the President." https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1193502/westerman-statement-on-daca-rescindment#.WcwYJWe3wfI (votesmart.org) "No matter how compassionate its intent, President Obama's creation of DACA was a clear violation of our separation of powers,' Westerman said." https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1193502/westerman-statement-on-daca-rescindment#.WcwYJWe3wfI (votesmart.org)

Marijuana

Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- No

National Security

1. As issues arise that affect our safety or national security, they each have a unique set of circumstances that cannot be addressed in simple broad questions as posed here. As a member of Congress, I accept with great seriousness my responsibility to examine all the data including classified data and make decisions as needed.
- "It's an Islamic caliphate, which means it is borderless [â?¦] We need our military and armed forces to fight for human rights and freedoms for people to be able to live and have a say."https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1120054/westerman-reflects-on-countys-condition/?search=isil#.Wgyb_We3wfI (votesmart.org) Arkansas News Bureau “We shouldn’t announce to the enemy that we won’t put boots on the ground, or continually draw lines in the sand and then back away. ISIS want to bring the war here to us and I believe they are actively doing that.” http://www.arkansasnews.com/news/arkansas/three-issues-4th-district-congressional-candidates-infrastructure-isis-farm-bill (www.arkansasnews.com) “ISIS has conducted a second despicable and disgusting act against an American citizen. These acts point to the urgent need for the U.S. to develop an aggressive strategy and plan to confront ISIS and protect American citizens.” https://votesmart.org/public-statement/918273/isis-despicable-and-disgusting-act/?search=Islamic%20state#.WgyeE2e3wfI (votesmart.org) “It's an Islamic caliphate, which means it is borderless […] We need our military and armed forces to fight for human rights and freedoms for people to be able to live and have a say.”https://votesmart.org/public-statement/1120054/westerman-reflects-on-countys-condition/?search=isil#.Wgyb_We3wfI (votesmart.org) "ISIS has conducted a second despicable and disgusting act against an American citizen. These acts point to the urgent need for the U.S. to develop an aggressive strategy and plan to confront ISIS and protect American citizens." https://votesmart.org/public-statement/918273/isis-despicable-and-disgusting-act/?search=Islamic%20state#.WgyeE2e3wfI (votesmart.org) Arkansas News Bureau "We shouldnâ??t announce to the enemy that we wonâ??t put boots on the ground, or continually draw lines in the sand and then back away. ISIS want to bring the war here to us and I believe they are actively doing that." http://www.arkansasnews.com/news/arkansas/three-issues-4th-district-congressional-candidates-infrastructure-isis-farm-bill (www.arkansasnews.com)

Congress Bills
Speeches
Articles

Fox News - Reps. Scalise, Westerman, Herrell, Sen. Lummis: President Biden, Reverse This Energy Ban

Feb. 5, 2021

By Rep. Steve Scalise, Rep. Yvette Herrell, Rep. Bruce Westerman, Sen. Cynthia Lummis President Biden will "create millions of new jobs, including new opportunities in rural America [and] partner with rural communities to help them fully access federal resources." Or so the Biden-Harris Plan to Build Back Better in Rural America reads. Yet as the adage goes, actions speak louder than words. President Biden's first actions in office have certainly spoken. The long-term impacts of his oil and natural gas leasing ban on federal lands and water are grim, to say the least. A Wyoming Energy Authority study covering 97 percent of federal onshore oil and gas production calculated that, by the end of President Biden's first term, a ban on leasing and drilling will cost $43.8 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), more than 72,000 jobs annually, and $19.6 billion in lost wages. The impact from stopping offshore leasing and permitting is similarly destructive -- by 2040, a combined 145,000 jobs will be lost across the country, $24.7 billion in GDP contributions will be lost, and $4.1 billion in government revenues will be lost or put at risk. While President Biden talks about helping struggling American families through a pandemic, in reality, he's killing hundreds of thousands of jobs. This is why we've introduced the Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act of 2021, a bicameral call to action that would stop the "Biden ban" on energy leasing. As we just outlined, this is a knee-jerk, top-down approach that does nothing but put Americans out of work and outsource our energy demand overseas. In order to fully grasp the magnitude of this situation and why we've issued a legislative response, it's important to answer a few questions conservatives often hear about these issues: Shouldn't we focus on renewable energy instead? We can utilize an all-of-the-above energy approach, but the reality is our demand for oil, natural gas and coal will not go away with an overnight ban. Instead, President Biden is merely shifting that same demand for these products to OPEC, causing gas prices to skyrocket. Can't these oil and natural gas industry workers just get new jobs? In short, no. While certain projects, like pipeline construction, might be temporary, oil and gas workers often spend their entire careers working in the industry, developing highly specialized skills that allow them to move through the industry and take home significantly higher than average wages. Not to mention even a temporary job has an end date that workers can plan for in advance. In contrast, President Biden's swift measures are putting thousands of Americans out of work in the middle of a pandemic, the exact opposite of what he promised on the campaign trail. Isn't this kind of energy production bad for the environment? Absolutely not. In fact, energy production on federal land actually results in a wide range of environmental benefits. Take the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) as an example. This bipartisan program depends on revenue from offshore energy production for conservation efforts and to provide money to state and local governments to enhance outdoor recreation opportunities. Under revenue sharing agreements with Gulf Coast states, hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore oil and gas revenues each year are used for coastal restoration and resiliency efforts. Cutting off oil and gas production -- even temporarily -- will have a significant impact on the revenue needed to fund these important conservation programs. Innovation brought about the American energy industry, and we are a leader in exporting the best practices and technologies. Pipelines, for example, are 25 times safer than rail cars and 3,000 times safer than trucks as a way to transport crude oil. Much as the Biden administration may like to pretend otherwise, our demand for these products will not simply disappear, whether or not domestic development continues. Why are we developing federal land? Shouldn't that be a private landowner issue? When it comes to this issue, it's important to grasp the sheer magnitude of how much federal land the U.S. government owns and operates. Currently, 640 million U.S. acres are federally owned, almost 30 percent of the entire country. Much of this land is in the West, where our richest resources lie. While some of this land is heavily protected by national park or monument status, much more of it is available for safe, sustainable energy development under the best environmental standards in the world. If you hear nothing else, hear this: President Biden's reckless, unscientific domestic energy bans do nothing to help the environment. They merely shift our sources to OPEC, where we have no control over their environmental regulations, pollution standards or methods of transportation. What do President Biden's measures actually accomplish? Nothing more than pulling the rug out from under American workers, preventing states from funding schools and community programs through energy revenues and hamstringing our ability to tap into our own rich resources. As conservatives, we care deeply about the environment. We all live here, drink the same water and breathe the same air. We want to pass down this incredible land for future generations to enjoy. However, that doesn't mean we lock it up and throw away the key. We have an incredible opportunity to show the world that our environment can thrive right along with our economy. Unfortunately, President Biden doesn't appear to be up to that challenge.

Events

2020

Jul. 1