Joe Barton
Joe Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949), American politician, has been the Republican congressman representing the Texas 6th congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985.
Born in Waco, Texas, Barton graduated from Waco High School. Attending Texas A&M University, he received a B.Sc. 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 a natural gas company before being elected to Congress in 1984.
He is married to Janet Sue Winslow; they have three children; Janet received some media attention as a victim of identity theft. Barton has used her as an example when discussing identity theft legistlation.
Barton won his Congressional seat in his first attempt, defeating Democrat challenger Dan Kubiak with 56% of the vote. 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 unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate.
Congressman Barton is the chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee and also a member of the Science Committee. Recently, apparently prompted by a February 2005 Wall Street Journal article [1], he has taken an interest in climate change [2]; this has been widely regarded as an attack on the scientists than a serious attempt to understand the science [3] [4]. The dispute has now expanded, with Sherwood Boehlert's House Science Committee taking an interest [5]
Legislative Work
- 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.
- Initiated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005, together with Tom DeLay). [6],[7]
- Co-founded the Congressional Privacy Caucus, co-sponsor of the anti-spyware SPY ACT, initiated reauthorization of the National Institutes of Health.