Bruce Westerman

Actions by this Administration to lock up Federal lands for mineral development... are moving our country in the wrong direction.

We need to produce more energy, not less.

This war on American energy has sent prices at the pump and utility bills unnecessarily soaring.

In his first 2 years of office, President Biden broke a record for leasing the fewest acres for oil and gas drilling offshore and onshore than any other administration dating back to the end of World War II.

Westerman, Hon. Bruce, a Representative in Congress from the State of Arkansas

The explosive growth of CEQ's mission and bureaucratic morass is mirrored in the dramatic rise of their budget.

In many ways, CEQ has acted as the enforcers for every anti-energy and unscientific ecoagenda that President Biden has prioritized via Executive Order.

CEQ's own chief of staff has described the responsibilities and powers bestowed upon the agency by President Biden as unprecedented.

President Biden has transformed the once small staff from their core mission of ensuring NEPA compliance into a legion of people implementing social change and ecojustice initiatives across the Federal Government.

It is the elected representatives facing off against the unelected bureaucrats.

We do control the purse strings.

We don't think career bureaucrats buried in some cubicle over in some nondescript building should be determining what happens out on our Federal lands.

This rule would devastate rural economies across the West under the guise of conservation.

Is this a result of low U.S. engagement in the region, increasing efforts and resources by the PRC for its influence operations, or conditions in the FAS?

It's time to establish... a mechanism to pull together and coordinate all U. S. assets and concerns.

We should not neglect the area and simply feel that somebody else is taking care of our problems.

U.S. focus on this area has been less than optimum for years.

When I say and when other members of the Task Force refer to 'China' and 'Chinese influence,' we are referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

It's time to establish, perhaps in the National Security Council (NSC), a mechanism to pull together and coordinate all U. S. assets and concerns.

We need centralized strategic planning and control at the national level here in Washington.

Is this the result of low U.S. engagement in the region? The short answer is YES!

We recognize and firmly believe in the distinction between the totalitarian regime in Beijing and the Chinese people who long for democracy and freedom from autocratic rule.

We will meet this threat head on and will not stand idly by in the face of Chinese aggression.

It is imperative that we find ways to counter the PRC's malign influence and to protect U.S. interests in the region.

The People's Republic of China is an existential threat to the United States.