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House Natural Resources chair Westerman outlines committee jurisdiction, priorities at Yosemite
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Summary
Rep. Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, spoke at Yosemite National Park about the committee’s oversight of federal lands, cited acreage figures for federal and Forest Service lands, and said the committee will focus on energy and border issues; remarks were introductory and did not include formal actions.
Rep. Bruce Westerman, Arkansas' 4th District congressman and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, addressed an audience at Yosemite National Park and described the committee’s broad jurisdiction over federal lands and natural resources.
"The natural resources committee has jurisdiction over many things that are very important to our economy," Westerman said. He noted federal land holdings in the talk: "The US government has 640,000,000 acres of land. A lot of that's forested. The forest service has a 92,000,000 acres of forest." He also said his forestry degree informs his work and said, "I love to fish and hunt in the great outdoors."
The remarks were introductory and focused on outreach and engagement. Westerman said it is important for the committee to hear from people who live and work on or near federal lands: "it's important that the committee, get out in the real world that we hear from people who are working with these resources, people who live in and around federal lands." A speaker during the event said Westerman is "the only forester in the House of Representatives," praising his background.
Westerman framed the coming Congress as narrowly divided and said the committee will play a role in broader national priorities. "The 100 and nineteenth Congress is gonna be a very unique Congress," he said, adding that members must work together. He said he believes voters have given the House "a mandate to ... be energy dominant, to ... secure our borders," remarks that described priorities rather than formal committee action.
No motions, votes or formal directives are recorded in the remarks. The event served as a public-facing introduction to the committee's scope and stated priorities rather than a meeting to adopt policy or take official action.
