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Westerman Issues Statement On State of the Union

January 20, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON – Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-Hot Springs) issued the following statement regarding President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address:

"While President Obama gave a good speech with nice words about the middle class, this is yet another reminder that his words and his actions do not match up. It is hard for me to take the president's talk of strengthening the middle class seriously when he proposes tax increases on college savings accounts that benefit the middle class. Increasing taxes, coupled with promises to veto legislation promoting energy price stability and restoring the 40-Hour work week shows me that he is simply continuing to talk out of both sides of his mouth.

"The voters spoke in a loud, clear voice in November when they voted to increase the Republican majority in the House and gave the Senate its first Republican majority since the president took office. We heard our constituents. Unfortunately, the president appears to have turned a deaf ear and remains focused on campaigning for his legacy—not governing the country."

Congressman Westerman's guest for the State of the Union was Dr. John Pace of Hot Springs. Dr. Pace is a neurosurgeon and longtime friend of the congressman.

About Rep. Bruce Westerman

A lifelong resident of Garland County, Congressman Bruce Westerman was elected the 20th representative of Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District in 2014. In the 114th Congress, he will serve on the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Elected twice to serve in the Arkansas General Assembly, Westerman was Arkansas's first Republican House Majority Leader since Reconstruction, and an architect of the House Republican SIMPLE Plan which led to the 2013 Republican takeover of the Arkansas House of Representatives.

An engineer and forester for 22 years at Mid-South Engineering in Hot Springs, Westerman is a registered professional engineer and forester. He holds a Master of Forestry degree (2001) from Yale University. In 2013, he was named Engineer of the Year by the Arkansas Society of Professional of Engineers.

Westerman graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1990. While at Arkansas, Westerman was a four-year walk-on member of the Razorback Football Team. He received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2005 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.

Westerman is a former board member of the Fountain Lake School District and is a deacon at Walnut Valley Baptist Church. He lives in Hot Springs with his wife Sharon and their four children.

For more information on Rep. Bruce Westerman, please visit https://westerman.house.gov and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RepWesterman and Facebook at https://facebook.com/RepWesterman.

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