Westerman is the representative for Arkansas’s 4th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 6, 2015. Westerman is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Bruce Westerman [R-AR4]](/static/legislator-photos/412610-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Westerman.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Westerman is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Westerman has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 3, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Bruce Westerman sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Westerman was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 5923 (115th): Walnut Grove Land Exchange Act
- H.R. 3931 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 620 Central Avenue Suite 1A in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, as the “Chief Petty …
Does 2 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Westerman sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Public Lands and Natural Resources (26%) Armed Forces and National Security (16%) Crime and Law Enforcement (16%) Education (13%) Health (13%) Environmental Protection (10%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Westerman’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.Res. 729: Expressing support for the recognition of October 2021 as “National Dyslexia Awareness Month”.
- H.R. 4614: Resilient Federal Forests Act
- H.Res. 531: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the National Center for Toxicological Research.
- H.Res. 378: Celebrating the 149th anniversary of Arbor Day.
- H.R. 2858: Sara’s Law and the Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act of 2021
- H.R. 2639: Trillion Trees Act
- H.R. 2269: To modify the presumption of service connection for veterans who were exposed to …
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Dec 2021, Westerman missed 35 of 3,894 roll call votes, which is 0.9%. This is better than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
