Joe Barton

Joseph Linus Barton born September 15 1949 is an American politician A member of the Republican Party he represented Texass 6th congressional district in the US House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019 The district included Arlington part of Fort Worth and several small towns and rural areas south of the DallasFort Worth Metroplex He was also a member of the Tea Party Caucus In 2014 Barton became the longestserving member of the Texas congressional delegation Barton described himself as a constant defender of conservative ideals and values He advocated for deregulation of the electricity and natural gas industries and served as vicechairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committees He denied that manmade carbon emissions had contributed to global warming was a proponent of the use of fossil fuels voted in favor of the May 2017 GOP plan to replace Obamacare supported President Donald Trumps ban on immigration from certain predominantly Muslim nations and supported the death penalty for people caught spying Barton led a successful effort to repeal the oil export ban in the House in 2017 His environmental record of defending industries against tighter pollution controls earned him the nickname Smokey Joe Barton came to national prominence after telling a citizen at a town hall meeting to shut up He came to national attention again when sexually explicit photos that he had shared with women surfaced online in 2017 In November 2017 Barton announced that he would not seek reelection in 2018