Joe Barton

This article is about the American congressman. For the English footballer, see Joey Barton.

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
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Terri Barton
Residence	Ennis, Texas
Alma mater	Texas A&M University, Purdue University
Occupation	Engineer

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.

Life and career

Barton was born in Waco, Texas, the son of Bess Wynell (née Buice) and Larry Linus Barton. He graduated from Waco High School. He attended Texas A&M University in College Station on a Gifford-Hill Opportunity Award scholarship 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.

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.

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.

Congressman Barton has taken $1.4 million in campaign contributions from the Oil industry since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Congressman is the Ranking Minority Member on the Energy & Commerce Committee and during the June 17, 2010 hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, apologized to BP for what he termed the the $20 billion "shakedown" of BP by the White House.

Legislative work

• Former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, primary House author of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House-Senate energy conference committee.
• Both initiated and eliminated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005).
• 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
• 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.

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.

Caucus memberships

• Founding Co-Chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus

Environmental record

Rep. Barton has been regarded as a global warming skeptic and his opposition to addressing global warming has been consistent and long-term. Barton is considered an oil industry apologist, most notably by rebuffing the White House for asking for a cleanup fund from BP in response to the Gulf Oil Spill disaster.

As a chairman with primary responsibility over the energy sector, Barton has consistently acted over the years to prevent congressional action on global warming. 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." 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, to which the U.S. is a party. 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." 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. In addition, Barton has consistently opposed proposals to reduce the nation's dependence on oil.

In 2005, prompted by a February 2005 Wall Street Journal article, Rep. Barton has launched an investigation into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999. 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, 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. The Washington Post condemned Barton's investigation as a "witch-hunt". 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. See also Barton's own response to this controversy in The Dallas Morning News. The dispute expanded with Sherwood Boehlert's House Science Committee taking a strong interest.

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." 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.

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."

Barton used his committee chairmanship to block the Combating Autism Act of 2006, despite overwhelming bipartisan support. Barton claimed the money steered toward environmental causes of autism were not the reason he blocked passage of the bill, However, he voted for passage of the bill once the environmental language was removed.

On June 17, 2010, Barton accused the White House of a "$20 billion shakedown" of oil giant BP after the company agreed to establish an escrow account to pay the claims of people harmed by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He made the assertion at the outset of a House hearing where BP's chief executive officer, Tony Hayward, appeared for the first time before Congress. Facing Hayward at the witness table, the Texas Republican congressman said, "I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House" on Wednesday. Barton was referring to the agreement that President Barack Obama announced with BP for establishment of a $20 billion relief fund. In response, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs criticized Barton’s remarks and asked other members of Congress to do likewise. "What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction," said Gibbs.

Funding

During his political career, the industries that have been Barton's largest contributors were oil and gas ($1.4 million donated), electric utilities ($1.3 million) and health professionals ($1.1 million) He is ranked first among members of the House of Representatives for the most contributions received from the oil and gas industry, and number five among all members of Congress. His largest corporate contributor, Anadarko Petroleum, owns a 25 percent share in the Macondo Prospect, the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Personal life

Joe Barton and his wife Terri own several homes in the Texas cities of Ennis and Arlington. Barton has four children, two stepchildren and five grandchildren.

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. A spokesman said that Terri served as the campaign's outreach director and planned fundraising and special events. Barton's daughter Kristin was paid $12,622 in salary and bonuses and his mother, Nell Barton, was paid $7,000 for a car.

Barton's office announced that, on Thursday, December 15, 2005, he suffered a heart attack and was taken to George Washington University Hospital.

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 energy 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. The Foundation gave $400,000 to the local Boys and Girls Club enabling the organization to build a new facility.

Congressional Vote on Financial Bailout

Congressman Barton voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in both of its manifestations.

Healthcare Reform

Congressman Barton voted against the Affordable Health Care for America Act. FEC data shows that in his career, Barton has received almost $2.2 million from the Healthcare industry, $1.5 million of that coming from PACs. This is second only to the amount of money Barton has raised from the Energy sector.

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".

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. 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."

External links

• U.S. Congressman Joe Barton official House site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Campaign contributors at Newsmeat
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch
• 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,
• "Activists Putting Heat on Barton" Dallas Morning News, October 2006