[House Prints, 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
JOE BARTON
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED]
April 21, 2008
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC
COMMITTEE PRINT
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
JOE BARTON
A Representative in Congress from the State of Texas
Elected to the Ninety-ninth Congress
Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
One Hundred Eighth and One Hundred Ninth Congresses
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED]
PROCEEDINGS
before the
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
U.S. House of Representatives
April 21, 2008
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2008
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
41-940 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008
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_______________________________________________________________________
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
JOE BARTON
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
U.S. House of Representatives
April 21, 2008
_______________________________________________________________________
[ iii ]
The Honorable Joe Barton
Congressman Joe Barton was first elected to serve the Sixth
Congressional District of Texas in 1984. In 2004, he was
selected by his colleagues to be the chairman of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce--the oldest standing
legislative House committee. Congressman Barton was the first
Texan since former House Speaker Sam Rayburn to chair this
important committee. The Energy & Commerce Committee has
arguably the broadest non tax-oriented jurisdiction of any
congressional committee, with principal House responsibility
over matters relating to commerce, public health and
marketplace interests. Congressman Barton currently serves as
the ranking Republican of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
in the 110th Congress.
The ``House GOP's leading expert on energy policy'' (Wall
Street Journal, October 2002), Congressman Barton has led the
House charge to pass comprehensive national energy policy
legislation. In the past two congresses, he has shared
authorship of the two most comprehensive energy policy packages
to pass in the House since the 1930s. Congressman Barton has
committed himself to passing legislation promoting an
environment of high supply, low demand, consumer-friendly
prices and environmental protection. A proponent of
competition, Congressman Barton is additionally responsible for
both the first electricity deregulation legislation to pass a
House subcommittee, and for legislation which deregulated the
natural gas industry.
Congressman Barton's diligent work to promote a
conservative agenda and protect individual rights earned him
notice from the National Journal as one of the ``Republicans to
Watch'' (November 2003). In his first legislative victory as
chairman, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to limit
indecency on the public airwaves. As a founding co-chairman of
the Congressional Privacy Caucus, he continues in his new role
to preserve the financial and medical privacy of Americans, and
has used his jurisdiction to protect safety and privacy in the
ever-expanding Internet universe. As founding co-chairman of
Asthma Awareness Day on Capitol Hill, Congressman Barton has
consistently supported common sense, environmentally-sound
clean air policy at the local, state and national level. He
remains committed to supporting advanced research and increased
funding for diabetes, cancer and the issues of home, rural and
mental health, and was responsible for the passage of landmark
Food and Drug Administration reform legislation designed to
improve the way the agency approves medical devices.
Congressman Barton remains among the steadfast House
leaders on tax reform through the promotion of lower taxes and
financial freedom. He has supported eliminating the marriage
penalty and the estate taxes, reducing capital gains taxes,
retirement of the current Tax Code and sweeping bankruptcy
reforms. Congressman Barton will continue to fight for the
basic traditional rights put forth by the Founding Fathers.
Joe Barton was born on September 15, 1949, in Waco, Texas.
An avid baseball player growing up, he earned a 4-year Gifford-
Hill Opportunity Award scholarship to Texas A&M University,
where he was the outstanding industrial engineering student for
the Class of 1972. After earning a Master of Science degree in
Industrial Administration from Purdue University, he joined
Ennis Business Forms, where he rose to the position of
Assistant to the Vice President. In 1981, he was selected for
the prestigious White House Fellows Program, and served as an
aide to then-Energy Secretary James B. Edwards. He returned to
Texas in 1982 as a natural gas decontrol consultant for
Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Company before being elected to
Congress.
Congressman Barton and his wife Terri have homes in Ennis
and Arlington, Texas. He has four children, two stepchildren,
and four grandchildren.
(Reprinted from the program. Prepared for the portrait
unveiling ceremony.)
----------
About the Artist
Laurel Stern Boeck, born in 1959 in New York City, is a
highly accomplished portraitist, who started her career quite
successfully in advertising.
She studied portrait painting at the School of Visual Arts
in New York and the Art Students League of New York, with noted
artist and teacher, John F. Murray.
Ms. Boeck's likenesses are perfectly accurate. They capture
the warmth and essence of her subject. A pleasure and
professional to work with, Ms. Boeck's clients all sing her
praises.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 41940.001
P R O G R A M
Master of Ceremonies
The Honorable W.J. ``Billy'' Tauzin
Invocation
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives
Remarks
The Honorable Fred Upton
Member of Congress, Sixth District, Michigan
The Honorable Roy Blunt
Minority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable John D. Dingell
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Address
The Honorable Joe Barton
Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Portrait Unveiling
Mrs. Terri Barton
Benediction
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives
The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of
THE HONORABLE JOE BARTON
April 21, 2008
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC.
The ceremony was held at 5:00 p.m., in room 2123 of the Rayburn House
Office Building, Hon. W.J. ``Billy'' Tauzin (master of ceremonies)
presiding.
REMARKS OF HON. W.J. ``BILLY'' TAUZIN
Former Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Mr. Tauzin. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am Billy Tauzin. I
am subbing for the famous Ralph Hall, who called in from Texas
indicating he couldn't be in time to be here on this auspicious
occasion. I want to first welcome you all to this unveiling of the
portrait of former chairman Joe Barton of the illustrious Energy
and Commerce Committee.
Let me first welcome all of you on behalf of Ralph and Joe, and to
acknowledge the presence of some very special guests this evening
for this very important occasion.
First of all, let's welcome former chairman Tom Bliley. Tom, where are
you?
And the reason I wanted to welcome Tom so soon is because, of course,
the picture on the left will be coming down. It will be moving over
to this side of the room, and Tom is out of here. He is gone. I am
not sure where the picture goes from now on, Tom.
Mr. Bliley. I guess the Ford Building.
Mr. Tauzin. Cecile, as you know, Joe, was the chairwoman of the project
to get my portrait painted, and she said that she couldn't be here
today for the coming-down ceremony. This is a big day and is long
overdue when we honor Joe for his contributions as chairman of
this, the most important and most historic of all the committees of
the United States Congress. It is such a great pleasure to be with
you again in this room and to be not only with Tom, but with John
Dingell, who I will introduce shortly, and with Chairman Barton and
so many of the other members of the committee and those of you who
have worked in this committee room for so many years.
Joe has also welcomed, and I hope you will welcome with me, many
members of his family who are here for this occasion. First of all,
his sister Jan is here, and her husband Mike, and their two kids,
Parker and Whitney.
Would you please welcome the Gerros.
And his stepkids are also here, Lindsay and Cullen. Lindsay and Cullen,
where are you? In the back.
And then he has his own children. Brad is here, who is married to Amy,
and their children Blake, Brant and Bailey, three of his grandkids
here. I welcome all of you. His daughter Alison is here with her
husband Larry Day and their daughter Vivian. And his daughter
Kristin is here also. Please welcome Kristin.
And, of course, I saved the most important member of his family,
outside of his beautiful wife Terri, his lovely little son, 2\1/2\
year-old Jack. Please welcome Jack.
Mr. Tauzin. This has been an auspicious week in Washington, DC. We have
just had a wonderful visit from His Holiness, Pope Benedict, and
the Pope couldn't stay for the ceremonies today, so he sent Father
Dan Coughlin.
Father Coughlin. There are a lot of things that I don't have that the
Pope does, including a German accent.
INVOCATION
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Father Coughlin. Let us pray.
Oh, mighty God and Father of us all, this evening we gather and we
offer you praise and thanksgiving for giving Texas and the House of
Representatives of the United States the Honorable Joe Barton.
We thank you for his years of dedicated service as chairman and now the
Republican ranking member on the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce.
In this man, Lord God, you fashioned deep principles that provide inner
strength and character and clear direction as a leader.
He is recognized by his colleagues and his constituents alike for his
deep commitments, unafraid of questioners or critics because he
stands in the light of integrity and remains informed on complex
issues.
By promoting an environment of high supply, low demand, consumer-
friendly prices and environmental protection, Joe Barton has always
sought to bring to this Nation a comprehensive national energy
policy. Lord, that is a mighty job.
Lord, this portrait in the halls of Congress will mark his place in
history, but the living respect and gratitude of those gathered
here who have worked with him on this committee will remain a life-
giving tribute to him, for they see him as one who continues to
give of himself, to his family, his beloved State of Texas and to
this Nation.
Lord, You also see him as a dedicated public servant and a servant of
Yours in building Your kingdom here on Earth. Amen.
Mr. Tauzin. Thank you, Father.
You know, in 2004, when I received an awful call that I had been
diagnosed with a potential killer cancer, and I had to leave this
committee and go do battle for my life, I faced that awful moment
when you are leaving behind something you loved and something you
cherished and something you enjoyed so much in your life and
passing it on to someone you hope would carry on that tradition in
this great committee. And it was in that moment that I realized
that I had nothing to worry about because Joe Barton was there not
only ready to pick up the reins of the leadership of this
committee, but to lead the committee to even greater heights during
the time in which he had a chance to serve it.
So, Joe, I want to personally thank you for that because it was a very
comforting thought for me when I knew the committee I loved, and
Tom Bliley and John Dingell and so many other chairmen before you,
going back to Harley Staggers and Sam Rayburn, the committee we
love so much would be in such good hands.
Father said it best: Joe brought principle, he brought incredible work
ethic, he brought an incredible Texas style, he brought a
willingness to work with anybody and anyone to get something good
done for this country out of the committee that had delivered so
much good for so many decades.
And so, Joe, I wanted to take a minute on a very personal level to
thank you for taking up the challenge on that awful month back in
2004 and for delivering so mightily on behalf of this Congress and
the people of this country and this amazing opportunity to serve as
chairman of this great committee.
I want to introduce a few of his colleagues today who will pay tribute
to him. One of his colleagues, one of my dearest friends here on
the committee who is now sitting in my old office place back where
I spent so many years, is here with us today. And I want you to
please welcome with me, from the great State of Michigan, the
Honorable Fred Upton.
REMARKS OF HON. FRED UPTON
Member of Congress, Sixth District, Michigan
Mr. Upton. Thank you. I was surprised Billy didn't come by because I
said there is always a cold one in the refrigerator.
It really is a delight to be here. Joe has been a special friend for a
long, long time now. Some of you may not know, but he and I were
actually the two deputy whips when Newt was the whip of the House.
And I am sorry to those who wished that Newt had never moved from
the back bench to the front center because it wouldn't have
happened without Joe Barton and the two of us.
Joe and Terri are both very close friends. Now, Joe, of course, is an
Aggie, and I am a Wolverine. Neither team is known to be
particularly flashy, we don't have a west coast offense, neither
one of us, we don't have any trick plays. Basically we rely on a
strong defense and a strong ground campaign. In other words, what
you see is what you get. And particularly important in this place
is your word and your bond, because that gets you where you need to
go.
Tonight we stand in this marvelous committee room where true giants
have steered the helm of our storied committee, whether it be
Harley Staggers or Tom Bliley, obviously a great John Dingell,
Billy Tauzin. You look at the pictures, they are larger than life.
Joe, you stand shoulder to shoulder now with these folks who have
gone before us, and every one of us in this room, Republicans and
Democrats, are certainly grateful for your continued service.
Joe's reign as chairman is no different than any other in terms of
pushing through major landmark legislation. Look at the energy
legislation! When we passed the landmark legislation back in 2005,
you take up legislation that people said no one could get done:
reauthorizing the NIH, something that I don't think had been done
in my lifetime, maybe not even in John Dingell's lifetime, but we
got it done; oversight investigations, even though somewhat of a
friendly administration, they knew that they had to be on their
toes when we sent requests down; and obviously telecommunications,
an issue where Joe and I worked very closely together with all of
the members on this committee, and again we passed landmark
legislation.
Now, Joe is known as a staunch conservative. A lot of us didn't know
how conservative he was until we got to look at his life a little
bit. Terri, I think, would acknowledge such. Here is a guy, we are
working on telco legislation, he doesn't have cable or satellite.
In fact, he goes out to buy a new TV, and he buys the biggest one
he can find. And guess what? It is analog, not digital.
He assembled a topnotch staff. Look at the folks that surround him,
whether it was Andy or Bud, David today, Ryan, his personal staff
as well, loyal as the day is long, talented, doing wonderful
things.
Now, they gave us a preview of this portrait, and I don't know if my
eyesight is getting a little bad. Someone said that this was a
gavel that is between his hands. I guess we will be able to see
here when they unveil it. From this far, I thought it might be a
pair of aces that he has in his hand. He is known to be quite a
card player. And for that I don't know how either, because he is--
you know, again, you can read Joe like a book. His word is his
bond. He will tell you right off where he stands on literally every
issue. He doesn't play any tricks. But he is probably, I am sure,
the best poker player on Capitol Hill bar none, and I don't know
how he got to be that. So this has got to be two aces here that he
is holding, at least from afar.
The bottom line is this: All of us on the committee, Republicans and
Democrats, cherished the time that Joe was chairman. He had a great
relationship with his good friend John Dingell and all the Members
on the Democratic side. Whether they be left or right, didn't
matter, because Joe was known to be as fair as could be. He is
hard-working, wants to get the job done right, and that was very
important.
And so I know that, in closing, John Dingell has established what I
think is a pretty good precedent. You lose the chairmanship, and
then you come back. A lot of us Republicans are anxious to have Joe
come back with this gavel sitting in the front. Let's have just a
quick toast to a great chairman and a good friend of all of us, the
Honorable Joe Barton.
Audience. Here, here.
Mr. Tauzin. John Dingell was heard to comment from the back of the
room, ``I ain't done yet.''
Now it is my great pleasure to introduce to you the Republican whip of
the United States House of Representatives from the great Show-Me
State of Missouri, the Honorable Roy Blunt.
REMARKS OF HON. ROY BLUNT
Minority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives
Mr. Blunt. Thank you, Billy.
Ralph Hall told me to come over here, that we were going to hang Joe
Barton. I had no idea what we really--no, at least I am not here to
try to substitute for Ralph Hall. But as Billy has shown in so many
ways, and all the chairmen that have been mentioned today, this is
a committee that has had great leadership, and Joe Barton was part
of that great leadership. John Dingell is in his 16th year as
chairman of the committee, happily interrupted by some of us for 12
years when he was the great ranking member. But when I came on this
committee in my second term of the Congress, I always had a hard
time not referring to both Chairman Bliley and Chairman Dingell.
Chairman Dingell was right there in every fight for whatever was
the jurisdiction of the committee and whatever we needed to do to
protect the rights of our committee, whether it was with Tom or
with now Joe Barton serving as the chairman, and Billy in between
while I was here.
Joe's family is here. I think that is a significant thing, for so much
of Joe's family to be here. Joe is a guy who cares about his
family. Joe and Terri came to a little event I hosted not too long
ago, and I was telling people who was going to be here, and I told
one lady who was going to come. And her only question was, is Jack
coming? So Jack is very popular. There he is. Jack is right over
there. He is a popular guy around here.
Probably the only thing that would make Joe happier would be if this
many members of his family were at the congressional baseball game.
He is our coach, the coach of our Republican team. You know,
whether it is Coach Barton or Chairman Barton, or Ranking Member
Barton, or just our good friend Joe Barton, Joe Barton is just a
guy that we respect and appreciate.
As the whip of the House, I probably spend more time than anybody else
trying to figure out Members, just trying to figure out where they
are going to be at any given time on any given issue. Not
particularly hard to figure out with Joe, to tell you the truth.
Whatever is the most conservative position is usually the one Joe
is going to have. But I also see--I am thoughtful about how I say
this because I don't mean it to be in any way negative because it
is not--there are--you know, Joe brings a lot of different and sort
of contradictory strengths to what he does. First of all, he is an
engineer and a politician. Now, I will tell you, engineer and
politician don't work very well together. Engineer is very much,
this is the way it is. The politician is, well, let's see how we
get things done. And Joe knows the facts. So he always sort of
starts from the premise of what has to be done and then figures out
with the rest of us how you get to what can be done. And that is an
important part of who he is.
He is a strong guy, a stubborn guy, in some ways very open. And I don't
know many people in the Congress who kind of have that ability to
start out with all of the facts and then figure out how you bring
all the other facts you discover into making things happen.
He is determined, and he is one of the softest-hearted, kindest,
gentlest men in Congress. If there is anything that affects his
family or his friends, you know that that response is immediate,
you know what it is going to be, you know it is going to be
heartfelt. It is who he truly is. He knows how to build a
consensus.
When Joe became the chairman of this committee, we had the opportunity
to pass what was for the third time, and in the three Congresses,
an energy bill, but one that we thought this time was going to get
signed into law. And Joe literally knew more about energy than
anybody else in the room. He knew about it from his professional
life, he knew about it from his State, he knew about it from his
24-year congressional career. And one of the things I was most
interested in is how could you take all of those facts and all of
that information and know the moment that you have to step back and
say, here is what I know is absolutely the way to do this, but here
is how I know to get it done. And I watched that, and I appreciate
that. And I think I told Joe after we passed that Energy Act in
2005 that it would have never happened without him, and nobody
would have had the same sense of where to accommodate the pressure
points to make it happen.
And as Fred Upton mentioned, first time in 13 years we were able to
reauthorize the National Institutes of Health, the NIH. And there
was a reason it hadn't been done for 13 years. And when Joe Barton
said we were going to do it in the last Congress, nobody else
thought it was going to get done in that Congress as well. And it
almost didn't. But Joe just persevered right up until the last
minute, the last days of that Congress, and that NIH authorization
happened. There is a plaque in Joe's office, and I think it is not
exactly the 12 commandments; he has kind of got it down to three
commandments. The plaque in Joe's office says, ``Fear God, tell the
truth, make a profit.'' That is a Republican if I ever heard of
one.
He is a good leader. He is a good legislator. He is a good friend, and
I am pleased to be here with my other colleagues and tonight to be
here for this important moment for our committee and for this
Congress. Thank you all.
Mr. Tauzin. I am sure most of you are aware that this committee has
produced some extraordinary leadership for the House, not, of
course, to forget the retired Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert,
who came from this committee; Roy Blunt, who has been in the
leadership of the House, providing great leadership on so many
issues for so many years now.
Roy, thank you for your service to this Congress and your great
leadership from this committee again.
Speaking of leadership, the gentleman for whom, I guess against whom,
we are all humbly measured in our roles as chairmen of
subcommittees and chairman of this full committee has always been
John Dingell. I told the story to you before, but it is worth
repeating.
I joined the committee against his wishes. He didn't want another
southern oil and gas guy from Louisiana on this committee at the
time we were doing southern gas fights, but I got on anyway. I
figured I had better go make up with him real quick, so I went to
visit him in his office.
I remember that first meeting with the incredible John Dingell, the guy
who has been literally on the lips of everyone in oil and gas
country for years, the greatest and biggest, most powerful voice on
energy you can imagine, and the guy is making the policy that we
all had to follow. And I am going to go and finally meet him.
It was an amazing moment to come and sit down with him and get to know
him. We hit it off beautifully. We were fast friends. I mean,
immediately we found connection and rapport, and we were having a
great time together. We got so loose, we started exchanging jokes,
and I started telling this wonderful Polish joke. And I got about
halfway into it, and John stopped me and he said, Billy, you do
know that I am Polish. I said, oh, my God. I didn't know, John. He
said, yeah, we were ``Dingellaviches'' when we first arrived in
Michigan, and our name got changed to Dingell. But he says, my
family is Polish. I said, look, John, I swear I didn't know it. I
said, I promise you I didn't do this on purpose. So I will tell you
what I will do, I will start the joke all over, and I will go a lot
slower this time.
Well, John looked at me like he wanted to eat me, first of all. He gave
me that hard look he always gives to someone in hot water. And then
he had a great wonderful belly laugh. If you ever hear John
Dingell's belly laugh, it is a wonderful, Earth-shaking moment, and
he had a great belly laugh. We have been and remain the closest of
friends ever since.
That is the hallmark of John Dingell, not just great leadership, but
incredible friendship, enduring, lasting, always there, always
extraordinarily present in your life. And he and Debbie have made
such a mark on this committee over the years.
I have got to tell you, John, I had enormously mixed feelings when the
House leadership changed and you had the tough job of handing over
the chairmanship, because I knew how hard it was for you. I know
how much you loved being chairman of this committee as much as I
did. At the same time, I had this enormous warm feeling about John
Dingell having the chance to do it again. He loves this committee
perhaps more than anyone I know. He literally lives and breathes
the work of this great committee. It is part of his being, part of
his soul. Joe, I hope when John Dingell is finished with it, that
you will have a chance to come back and serve again.
For the time being, ladies and gentlemen, the chairman of the Energy
and Commerce Committee, the Honorable John Dingell.
REMARKS OF HON. JOHN D. DINGELL
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Chairman Dingell. Thank you, Billy, and welcome back. We are always
happy to see our old friends and our former chairmen, like you and
Tom Bliley, come back to share fellowship with your old friends in
a room where we have done so much good for the public interest, and
which is so much a part of our personal history and the wonderful
committee of which we are all so proud.
First of all, like all of you, I am honored and delighted to attend
today's public hanging of Joe Barton. And I want to say that the
lovely Debra and I, like the other wives and Members, are
particularly proud of this committee, and, Joe, also of you and
your leadership.
Joe, I have been able to enjoy working with you now for the better part
of 25 years. That is a long time. And you are a talented and a
dedicated legislator who has led the committee well and fairly. And
we are proud of you and the work that you have done here in this
room.
Joe, you bear the distinction of following in the footsteps of one of
my great mentors and friends, Sam Rayburn. As history tells us, Sam
was the first Texan to serve as the chairman of the Committee on
Energy and Commerce, and he set the standards for the way in which
the committee should be run. And he would have been proud of what
you have done as the second chairman from Texas of this committee.
This committee is the oldest and, it is my belief, as it is that of our
colleagues who serve here, the greatest and the most important in
the Congress of the United States. And, Joe, you have helped to
extend the great history of this wonderful committee. Now, we sat
on opposite sides of the aisle, but there is a tradition in this
committee that we are, first of all, proud of the committee; second
of all, we want it to work; and third of all, it is our belief that
we serve the public interest best by working together. And you have
always been an important partner and friend, and we have
accomplished a great deal, both as chairman and as the ranking
member, regardless of who it was that enjoyed the support of the
majority.
Like everyone else here, I am very anxious to see this masterpiece, and
I am especially curious to find out whether Joe wore his armadillo
tie or his Lone Star State tie when he posed.
Mr. Barton. I wanted to.
Chairman Dingell. I suspect there are many here who share this
curiosity.
In any event, in this room in which so much has happened, and in which
you and all of our colleagues have made so many great
contributions, not just to the committee, but to the public
interest, it is a great pleasure to see you join with our other
colleagues, Mr. Bliley and Mr. Tauzin, and the others who are up on
the wall, and I want you to know that it is a real pleasure to
share a wall in this room in which you have done so much to serve
the public. And we are going to see that you have a doggone good
place to hang in this room.
Thank you, all my friends, for honoring my friend Joe Barton.
Mr. Tauzin. Well, now we come to that moment, the moment of unveiling.
Joe, you know, I have always been a respecter of your frankness,
and what Roy said about you, what you see is what you get, and Fred
mentioned it, too. But I have to tell you, I am reading on the back
of this program, the artist Laurel Boeck, who did the portrait we
are going to unveil today, apparently Ms. Boeck's likenesses are
perfectly accurate. I will tell you, John, I have never seen you
look this good. It is a good picture of you, kiddo.
But more importantly, Joe has never looked as good since Terri came
into his life. And Terri has in so many ways made the Joe that most
of us came to love and admire so much during his chairmanship. She
has made such a difference in his life, not to mention the presence
of Jack in his life. But Terri is going to do the unveiling. And
she is going to show us exactly just how perfect Laurel Boeck has
come to capturing the warmth and incredible personality of Joe
Barton.
Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Barton.
[Portrait unveiled.]
Mr. Tauzin. That is well done.
And, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to get a benediction as we
close out the program, but we are going to hear from Joe first. And
Joe is going to literally give us a chance to find out what he
thinks about this beautiful portrait.
Joe Barton.
ADDRESS OF HON. JOE BARTON
Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Mr. Barton. Well, I think everybody knows that Ralph Hall was supposed
to be the master of ceremonies, but something came up that was
unavoidable. So I called Billy to ask if he would substitute, and
he was gracious to say so. Then I had to tell Chairman Dingell. The
reason Chairman Dingell was a little bit late, he was having the
Oversight staff prepare subpoenas for Mr. Tauzin. We have been
trying to reach him for a month, and he couldn't track him down. He
is here.
I am so appreciative of everybody that is here this evening. There are
a few people that were not introduced that I want to before I give
my very brief remarks. I have my mother-in-law and father-in-law,
Steve and Betty Hodges from Lockhart, Texas. The guy that looks
like the Texan, that is the Texan. And I don't know where Betty is.
We have several Members of Congress that are here. We have Cliff
Stearns, who is a good friend from Florida. We have Mac Thornberry,
a good Member from Texas. We did have Henry Waxman. I am not sure
if Henry is still here or not. We have got Henry. We have got
former Congressman Greg Laughlin and former chairman of the
Telecommunications Subcommittee Jack Fields is here. So we are
appreciative of you.
I want to thank the chaplain for his gracious invocation. I hope he
doesn't have to go to confession for saying those nice things about
me. I really do appreciate that.
And I also want to introduce this young man here, Tommy Driskell. The
reason Tommy is here is he is the guy who got me into politics. He
was mayor of Crockett, Texas, when I was living in Crockett, and he
decided to run for State representative in the Democratic primary.
Now, you may think, well, that is a rational decision. The problem
was, he was running against an incumbent and against a young man
named James Turner, who later became Congressman Turner.
So Tommy Driskell got into a three-way primary for State rep against an
incumbent and somebody who had been groomed his entire life to be
Governor of Texas, and he asked me to be his campaign manager. Now,
you talk about mistakes. I knew nothing about campaigns. Here is
how smart he was, and I am going to not tell the whole truth here
because I don't know if these are still indictable offenses or not.
But we had one group that wanted to give us a lot of cash money, a
lot of cash money when we had no money. And being the campaign
manager, Tommy asked me to talk to this group, and I told him no.
Now, what campaign manager in their right mind would turn down cash
money? But I did.
And so then it came to getting time for the election, and Tommy had
just worked his tail off going around the district. And he showed
up; if there were two people talking politics, Tommy would show up.
And so it came like the week before the election, and I had a
precinct chairman call from a specific city that we really needed
to carry. And, again, Tommy had him call me. And he said, are you
the campaign manager? And I said, sure. He said, well, I need some
walking around money. And I said, what is walking around money? I
didn't know what the term meant. And he told me. And I said, no, we
don't do that. We don't do walking around money.
And so I told Tommy that somebody had called for walking around money
in this precinct, and Tommy seemed a little bit upset. I said,
Tommy, you will do fine, you will do fine. You have been over
there; you have been to the suppers and the Chamber of Commerce.
You will do fine. He got four votes in that precinct.
So anyway, this is Tommy Driskell and his wife Jeanie. And they were on
a trip in South America and found about this and came all the way
back from South America to come to this.
Mr. Driskell. Joe, I am not sure that I would have come if I knew you
were going to tell that story. Thank you.
Mr. Barton. Anyway, it is a real privilege to be elected to the House
of Representatives. It is the only Federal office that you can't
get appointed to. You have to be elected. So that right there makes
it special.
In the entire history of Congress, there have been about 20,000, give
or take a few, that have been elected to the House. And if you are
really lucky, you are a member of the majority party, and if you
are really, really lucky, eventually you get to be a chairman.
I am the 50th chairman, as far as I can tell, of this committee, the
Energy and Commerce Committee, which was established in December of
1795 as the Committee on Commerce and Manufacturers. It has been in
continuous existence since 1795. It was the first standing
committee, and it has historically had the longest and broadest
jurisdiction of any of the authorizing committees. And I know that
there are other committees that have proud histories, the
Appropriations Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, the Armed
Services Committee; but if you look back at the history of
Congress, the committee that has passed almost all the major
domestic laws, it is this committee. The original Navigation Acts
in the early 1800s came out of this committee, the Railroad Act,
the Telegraph Act. In the early 20th century, the Pure Food and
Drug Safety Act, all of the major legislation in the New Deal when
Sam Rayburn was the chairman, the Communications Act came out of
this committee; and then if you move forward into the 1950s and the
1960s and the 1970s, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water
Act, the Clean Air Act, the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978. Under
Chairman Bliley's jurisdiction, the Communications Act. You know,
you can go on and on and on.
So to become the chairman of this committee, when Billy told me that he
was stepping down, I might have a chance, I was just very--I won't
say intimidated. That is not quite true. But I was very awed to
have the chance. The chairmanship of this committee, as Tom Bliley
and Billy Tauzin and John Dingell will tell you, is a public trust
in the truest sense of the word.
If you get to be chairman--and you have heard the stories about how
stubborn I am and how hard-headed, and they are all true, but when
you get to be chairman, you check that at the door. And you have to
work with the leadership. In this case, it was Speaker Hastert, Mr.
Blunt, Mr. Armey, Mr. DeLay and Mr. Boehner. You have to work with
the interest groups, and that is not an easy thing to do. It starts
with the members of the committee, and currently there are 57; 31
Democrat and 26 Republican. And you have to be a psychologist
because there are certain Members that have to be handled a little
bit differently. You have to be a negotiator. You have to be a
conciliator.
I can't tell you, to put together the votes--it is easier knowing that
you have got the votes if it is a party-line vote, but even then,
given the wiley nature of my ranking member, John Dingell, who
never knew that he wasn't chairman even when he was ranking member,
he just didn't have that attitude. He was just chairman, but he was
five votes short. It is just kind of the way he operated.
And so you first have to decide what you want to do. You have to have a
vision. And if you are going to have a vision, you have to have a
philosophy. And, you know, I am a conservative, and I believe in
markets, and I believe in personal freedom, and I believe in
individual opportunity. And so that was my vision. And then you
have to come up with a game plan based on the issues to try to put
that into effect.
And I was only chairman for 3 years, as Chairman Tauzin was. Chairman
Bliley was the chairman for 6 years. Chairman Dingell first time
around was chairman for 14, and now he is in his second year of the
chairmanship in this term.
But that was my vision. So the Energy Policy Act which I have alluded
to, Tom Bliley started that, Billy Tauzin continued it, and then I
was just the cleanup hitter.
We did mention the National Institutes of Health. I felt public health
is one of the original charters of this committee. Some of the
earliest petitions to the Committee on Commerce and Manufacturers
were for hospitals. Communities around America wanted hospitals.
This was the committee that had that jurisdiction. So NIH was
simply, let's bring the National Institutes of Health into the 21st
century. So I tried to do that. The Ryan White AIDS Reauthorization
Act, the autism bill, I could go on and on.
So I built from Mr. Bliley, and I built from Mr. Tauzin, and I built
from John Dingell, because you talk about an asset, to have John
Dingell in the room when you are putting a bill together, unless
you go back to the 1870s, he drafted the bill or the amendments to
the bill. And even when he is against you, he is a great
institutional member, because understanding the trust of the
committee, it makes him look bad if I screwed up on process and
things like that. So even as he was arguing against me, he was
telling me how to do it so I could win the argument at least with
votes, which he considered a temporary setback. So in any event, I
was honored to be the chairman and to have this trust.
And this committee I really think is the greatest committee. And, you
know, as my wife Terri would tell you, it sometimes really, really
frustrated her, as it should, how much I wanted the committee to
succeed. Now, as the ranking member, I still want it to succeed,
just not as much as when I was the chairman. It is a different
mindset. This is what I admire so much about John Dingell is when
he was chairman for 14 years, he was a can-do guy. And when he was
ranking member for 12 years, he was a can-do guy. And now that he
is chairman again, he is a can-do guy. And I was a can-do guy as a
rank-and-file member of the minority, and obviously a can-do guy as
a member of the majority, but now as the ranking member, I can't
always be a can-do guy. My job is to make sure everything is
properly vetted and that we do regular order, regular process. You
know, so I am using all the tricks that he taught me.
But I can't think of a better man and a better Member of Congress to be
involved with than Chairman Dingell. It is such a privilege to come
into this committee. And I, again, Mr. Bliley and Mr. Tauzin and
Mr. Dingell, would tell you, when you are debating in this
committee, first you are debating a major issue, unless it is a
hearing that Ed Markey is chairing on the Avatar. Notwithstanding
that--and second, you have got the A-team on the field; whether it
is Mr. Markey or Mr. Boucher, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pallone, or Mr.
Stearns, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Upton, Mr. Hall, you have got
the A-team. Both parties put their more aggressive and intelligent
Members on this committee. And it is just fun. It is just fun. Even
when I know we are probably going to get beat, it is fun to come in
and have the debate that we have in the Energy and Commerce
Committee.
So I am very proud to have you all here. Again, special thanks to Bud
Albright, my former chief of staff, who is now a muckety-muck at
the Energy Department. My current chief of staff David Cavicke is
here. And you can't do it if you don't have good staff members, and
I appreciate their leadership.
I am going to end with this: I researched all the Members that have
been chairmen of this committee, and there are 50 of them. I am the
50th. Thomas Newton was the longest-serving chairman. He served for
20 years, and he was from New York. There are several, and John
Dingell is one of them, that served 14. Actually Chairman Dingell
would now be the second-longest serving since he is in his 16th
year. Sam Rayburn was chairman before he became Speaker. There was
another Texan named John Reagan who served two times in the 1880s,
and he later became a Senator from Texas. But my favorite, my
favorite of all the chairmen, is Charles Wolverton from New Jersey.
Now, you may say, who the heck is Charles Wolverton? Well, he was a
Republican who was chairman for 2 years, 1947-48, and he got to be
chairman again 4 years later.
Mr. Tauzin. Let me thank you all for coming. I will thank all of them
for you, Joe. Let me also, Joe, tell you a quick story.
I have a television show that I do watch. One of them was on the the
other day was Joe Pantoliano, Joey Pants, who played as Ralphie on
the Sopranos. You remember him? Joe suffers with a mental illness.
And on the show he told me the reason he got into acting was
because at least when he died, people will always know he existed.
You know, he goes to the movies today, look at that guy, he is
dead, he is dead, she is dead. Humphrey Bogart, he is gone. But the
films remain, and the stories remain, and the memories remain.
Most people don't know what goes on inside this room in America. They
have no idea what contributions this room has made to the history
of our country. Joe has gone through and done some research on all
the chairmen, all the people who have passed through it. Most
people wouldn't do that. Most people have no idea about the
enormous contributions that are made by people like Joe Barton. But
today his picture goes up on the wall, and long after he is gone,
kids who come and see this incredible place will say, that guy is
dead, but I read about him. He served our country, and he served
our country well, and he deserves to be remembered.
And that essentially is what a portrait does. A portrait is just our
way here in this Capitol of remembering someone like Joey Pants,
who just wanted someone to know that he was here, that he served,
that he did his job for his country when he was called upon. And,
Joe, we all thank you for what you have given this committee and
this country. We know there are going to be great days ahead for
you, a great deal more. And we wish you bon voyage as you continue
your enormous career in Congress.
Joe asked me to thank the audience and Lauree Boeck, who did such a
fabulous job--Joe, the picture is much, much lovelier than the
program. It is really a great portrait. It is really well done; Ann
Fader, who reports to consultants for managing the portrait and the
framing process. I went through this. This is a long process; Ron
Sarasin, president of the United States Capitol Historical Society.
As you know, this is a gift for the country. Joe and the team and
all of your work together to finance this effort has made this gift
now to the United States Capitol Historical Society. And obviously
Joe wanted me to thank all the sponsors who made contributions to
the United States Capitol Historical Society for the Barton
Portrait Fund, and to thank all of you collectively for making this
day possible.
He asked me, obviously, to thank Fred and Roy and Chairman Dingell, and
to thank Father Dan Coughlin for their contributions today, and to
remember Ralph in our thoughts. He is a little sick today. He will
be fine. We got word that he is on his way back to Washington
pretty soon. He is having a bad time with the flu or something. We
checked to make sure he is all right and will be coming back soon,
but to thank Ralph for offering to emcee the program.
The photographer will be on hand to take candid and posed pictures,
obviously.
Terri, we didn't get a chance to introduce you formally. Where are you?
I just wanted to--Terri, thank you for all the work you do.
Now, on his way out of town, the Pope reminded us that this was a time
of healing and reconciliation for his Church, the Catholic Church
in America. And he called upon us to be forgiving and loving. And
in that spirit, we bring back Father Dan Coughlin, who will ask for
us all to forgive us for all our weaknesses and our faults, and to
build the kind of unity and peace that the Pope brought to this
wonderful country this week.
Father Coughlin.
BENEDICTION
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Father Coughlin. Lord, bless the Honorable Joe Barton, his wife Terri
and their family with long life, health and happiness. Answer all
their prayers and fulfill their dreams for the future.
Lord, bless the continued work of the oldest legislative standing
committee of the United States House of Representatives. May the
Committee on Energy and Commerce, through its members and staff,
assure the prosperity of the Nation by its broad-based
responsibility of oversight and its critical protection of health,
safety and welfare of the American people.
Lord, bless the 110th Congress of the United States of America. Bind us
together in ever greater unity that we may be that symbol of hope
and freedom around the world. It is for this that we place all our
trust in You now and forever. Amen.
Mr. Tauzin. We are dismissed. Thank you.
[Whereupon at 6:48 p.m., the presentation was concluded.]
?
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
109th Congress
JOE BARTON, Texas, Chairman
MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan
RALPH M. HALL, Texas Ranking Member
FRED UPTON, Michigan EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
NATHAN DEAL, Georgia FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia BART GORDON, Tennessee
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois ANNA G. ESHOO, California
HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico BART STUPAK, Michigan
JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
CHARLES W. ``CHIP'' PICKERING, ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland
Mississippi GENE GREEN, Texas
Vice Chairman, TED STRICKLAND, Ohio
VITO FOSSELLA, New York DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado
ROY BLUNT, Missouri LOIS CAPPS, California
STEVE BUYER, Indiana MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
GEORGE RADANOVICH, California THOMAS A. ALLEN, Maine
CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire JIM DAVIS, Florida
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
MARY BONO, California HILDA L. SOLIS, California
GREG WALDEN, Oregon CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas
LEE TERRY, Nebraska JAY INSLEE, Washington
MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MIKE ROGERS, Michigan MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
C.L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER, Idaho HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
SUE WILKINS MYRICK, North Carolina
JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma
TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
______
Professional Staff
C.H. ``Bud'' Albright, Staff Director
David L. Cavicke, General Counsel
Reid P.F. Stuntz, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
,