A Ceremony

Unveiling the Portrait

of

THE HONORABLE

JOE BARTON

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

PROCEEDINGS

before the

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

U.S. House of Representatives

April 21, 2008

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 2008 41–940 PDF
A Ceremony

Unveiling the Portrait

of

THE HONORABLE

JOE BARTON

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

U.S. House of Representatives

April 21, 2008

[ III ]
iv

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
v

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.
vi
[ vii ]

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
[1]

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
[2]

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, 21⁄2 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 trib-
[3]

ute 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
[4]

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,
[5]

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.
[6]

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.
[7]

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
[8]

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
[9]

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.
[ 10 ]

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
[ 11 ]

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
[ 12 ]

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
[ 13 ]

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
[ 14 ]

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.
[ 15 ]

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
[ 16 ]

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

RALPH M. HALL, Texas

FRED UPTON, Michigan

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky

CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico

JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona

CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING,

Mississippi

Vice Chairman,

VITO FOSSELLA, New York

ROY BLUNT, Missouri

STEVE BUYER, Indiana

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania

MARY BONO, California

GREG WALDEN, Oregon

LEE TERRY, Nebraska

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan

C.L. ‘‘BUTCH’’ OTTER, Idaho

SUE WILKINS MYRICK, North Carolina

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan

Ranking Member

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio

BART GORDON, Tennessee

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois

ANNA G. ESHOO, California

BART STUPAK, Michigan

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland

GENE GREEN, Texas

TED STRICKLAND, Ohio

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado

LOIS CAPPS, California

MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania

THOMAS A. ALLEN, Maine

JIM DAVIS, Florida

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois

HILDA L. SOLIS, California

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas

JAY INSLEE, Washington

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

C.H. ‘‘BUD’’ ALBRIGHT, Staff Director

DAVID L. CAVICKE, General Counsel

REID P.F. STUNTZ, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel

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