Joe Barton

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Joe Barton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 6th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1985
Preceded by	Phil Gramm
Born	September 15, 1949 (1949-09-15) (age 59) Waco, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Terri Barton
Residence	Ennis, Texas
Alma mater	Texas A&M University, Purdue University
Occupation	Engineer
Religion	Methodist

Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton (born September 15, 1949) is a Republican politician, representing Texas's 6th congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985.

[edit] Biography

Barton was born in Waco, Texas to Bess Wynell Buice and Larry Linus Barton.^[1] He graduated from Waco High School. He attended Texas A&M University in College Station on a Gifford-Hill Opportunity Award scholarship^[2] and received a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1972. An M.Sc. in industrial administration from Purdue University followed in 1973. Following college Barton entered private industry until 1981 when he became a White House Fellow and served under Secretary of Energy James B. Edwards. Later, he began consulting for Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Co. before being elected to Congress in 1984.^{[citation needed]}

Barton was elected to represent Texas's 6th congressional district in his first attempt, defeating Democratic opponent Dan Kubiak with 56% of the vote in a contest to succeed Phil Gramm, who left his seat to run for the United States Senate that year. He was one of six freshmen Republican congressmen elected from Texas in 1984 known as the Texas Six Pack. He received 88% of the vote in 2000, 71% of the vote in 2002 against Democratic challenger Felix Alvarado, and 66% of the vote in 2004 against Democratic challenger Morris Meyer.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, Barton ran in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Lloyd Bentsen, who became Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. Barton finished third in the contest and missed a runoff slot.^{[citation needed]}

Congressman Barton is the Ranking Minority Member on the Energy & Commerce Committee.^[3]

[edit] Legislative work

• Former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,^[4][5] primary House author of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House-Senate energy conference committee.^{[citation needed]}
• Both initiated and eliminated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005).^[6][7]
• Co-founded the Congressional Privacy Caucus, cosponsor of the anti-spyware SPY ACT, initiated reauthorization of the National Institutes of Health.
• Opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006, as did many Republicans for its bilingual ballot printing requirements, with Southern Republicans in particular objecting to their states being held to the stigma of their voting practices in the 1950s and required to report to the federal government for something as small as moving a polling place from one church to another.^[8]
• A list of all bills that Representative Barton has introduced is available at Sponsored Bills and amendments at Amendments.
• Barton has been the lead representative in forcing the switch from analog to digital TV and auctioning off the public airwaves to private companies.
• Barton has actively obstructed implementation of clean air standards, work that has earned him huge pay-offs from companies such as Texas Industries which operated a cement kiln in Midlothian, Texas and burns hazardous waste for fuel with insufficient technology to prevent the resulting air pollution throughout North Texas.

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce (Ranking Member)
  • As Ranking Member of the full committee, Rep. Barton may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.

[edit] Caucus memberships

• Founding Co-Chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus

[edit] Environmental record

Rep. Barton has been regarded as a global warming skeptic^[4] and his opposition to addressing global warming has been consistent and long-term. As a powerful chairman with primary responsibility over the energy sector, Barton has consistently acted over the years to prevent congressional action on global warming.^[9] In 2001, Barton declared, "as long as I am chairman, [regulating global warming pollution] is off the table indefinitely. I don't want there to be any uncertainty about that."^[10] Barton led opposition to amendments that would have recognized global warming during consideration of the Energy Advancement and Conservation Act in 2001, opposing an amendment to require the President to develop and implement a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels as called for by the non-binding United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the U.S. is a party to.^[11] In 2003, Barton again opposed amendments that would have recognized global warming during consideration of the National Energy Policy Act of 2003, opposing a nonbinding amendment that would have put Congress on record as saying that the U.S. should "demonstrate international leadership and responsibility in reducing the health, environmental, and economic risks posed by climate change."^[12] In July 2003, Barton offered an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act to remove language that both recognized global warming and called on President Bush to reengage with the international community to find solutions.^[13] In addition, Barton has consistently opposed proposals to reduce the nation's dependence on oil.^[14][15][16]

In 2005, prompted by a February 2005 Wall Street Journal article,^[17] Rep. Barton has launched an investigation into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999.^[4] In his letters to the authors of the studies, he requested not just details on the studies themselves but significant information about their entire lives and previous studies. This has been widely regarded as an attempted attack on the scientists rather than a serious attempt to understand the science,^[18] although some view it as a normal exercise of the committee's responsibility and an effort to make possible scientific debate on a subject within its jurisdiction.^[19][20] The Washington Post condemned Barton's investigation as a "witch-hunt".^[21] Environmental Science & Technology, an obscure policy journal often cited by politicians, including Barton, reported what it said was scientific proof that global warming science is wrong.^[22] See also Barton's own response to this controversy in The Dallas Morning News.^[23] The dispute expanded with Sherwood Boehlert's House Science Committee taking a strong interest.^[24]

In 2006, Barton earned two "environmental harm demerits" from the conservative watchdog group Republicans for Environmental Protection, the first "for derailing floor passage of a sense of the House resolution ... acknowledging climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions"; the second, "for holding hearings, in his role as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, designed to intimidate climate scientists and raise doubt about the impacts and causes of climate change."^[25] The hearings were held by Barton's committee on July 19, 2006, chaired by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations; there, several skeptics testified regarding the hockey stick graph. The RealClimate blog responded to its mention at the hearing.^[26]

During Former Vice President Al Gore's testimony to the Energy and Commerce Committee in March, 2007, Barton asserted to Gore that "You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong,"^[27] thus reinforcing his denial that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global climate change.

[edit] Personal life

Barton divorced his first wife, the former Janet Sue Winslow, with whom he has three children, in 2003. Janet received some media attention as a victim of identity theft. Barton has used her as an example when discussing identity theft legislation. He is now married to Terri Barton, and they have one child, Jack, who was born in 2005, and 2 step children, Cullen Taylor and Lindsay Taylor, who are children of Terri.^{[citation needed]}

Citizens for Ethics reported that Barton paid his wife Terri $57,759 in salary and bonuses, from his campaign funds in the 2006 election cycle.^[3] A spokesman said that Terri served as the campaign's outreach director and planned fundraising and special events.^[5] Barton's daughter Kristin was paid $12,622 in salary and bonuses and his mother, Nell Barton, was paid $7,000 for a car.^[5]

Barton's office announced that, on Thursday December 15, 2005, he suffered a heart attack and was taken to George Washington University Hospital.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Barton Family Foundation

The Barton Family Foundation was established to support charities within the congressman's district. His daughter-in-law, Amy Barton, is the Foundation's Executive Director. Major energy corporations, such as the Chicago-based nuclear engergy producer, Exelon Corporation, make major gifts to the Foundation. In June 2008, at a time when Barton had introduced legislation to assist corporations with the recycling of spent nuclear fuel, the corporation donated $25,000 to the Foundation. Exelon has also donated $80,000 to Barton's campaign funds. Exelon also gave $400,000 to the local Boys and Girls Club.^[28]

[edit] Congressional Vote on Financial Bailout

Congressman Barton voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in both of its manifestations.^[29][30]

[edit] Other endeavors

Barton revealed during a congressional hearing on video games that he was a video game player. He announced that he had "worked [his] way up to Civilization IV".^[31]

Barton has also been an advocate of a playoff system to determine a national champion for college football, even introducing legislation to require that any game being marketed as a national championship game be a part of a playoff.^[32] On May 1, Barton grilled BCS coordinator John Swofford, saying of the BCS that, "It's like communism. You can't fix it." He also suggested that the 'C' be dropped from the BCS and it be called the "the 'BS' system."^[33]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joe Barton

• U.S. Congressman Joe Barton official House site
• Joe Barton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Joe Linus Barton campaign finance reports and data
• Newsmeat — Joe Barton campaign contributors
• On the Issues — Joe Linus Barton issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Joe Barton campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Joe Barton (TX) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Joe Barton profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Joe Barton voting record
• How the Wall Street Journal and Rep. Barton celebrated a global-warming skeptic: The untold story of how a front-page article and powerful U.S. politicians morphed former mining executive Stephen McIntyre into a scientific superstar Environmental Science & Technology, August 31, 2005
• "Big Oil Looking for a Government Handout, Courtesy of Joe Barton" World Internet News, April 2006,