United States Rep. Bruce Westerman (R) stopped by the Malvern/HSC Chamber of Commerce on Thursday afternoon to briefly speak to local officials and citizens about his role in Congress and the most pressing issues facing his district.
Westerman was born in Hot Springs in 1967 and graduated from Fountain Lake High School in 1986. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fayetteville and went on to earn a master’s degree from Yale Forestry School in 2001.
Westerman previously served Arkansas as a state rep from 2010-2014. He has been in Congress since Jan. 2015 serving the state’s District 4 and is the current Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources. He also sits on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Westerman had just come from a similar engagement at Saline County Career and Technical Center and remarked on the impressive facility. “Just a phenomenal facility, and a benefit to the whole region and the whole state,” he said.
“That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is what’s happening on the creek down here with the water, and the cattle and the farmland, and everything,” Westerman said. “I know you’ve been working with my staff, and we’re going to keep pushing…I don’t know why ADEQ is not working on that more and what the issue is there, but if there’s a federal nexus on that, we’re going to try to, you know, push that side of it, as well.”
“Those pictures tell it all, and I know of some of the things that have happened with the cattle that won’t pass USDA inspection, that’s not a good thing,” Westerman said. “But there’s other good things that are happening, and I wanted to give you just an update on what it’s been like in D.C., it’s been a real whirlwind.”
Westerman referred to his appointment as Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, which he took over after Republicans gained the majority. “I never realized how busy it is to the the Chairman of a committee because all of a sudden, I’ve got this big district in Arkansas, then I’ve got people all over the country with issues that they are wanting to work on that are very important to here and the rest of the country.”
Read the full story in Saturday's March 4 newspaper edition.
