Joe Barton Quotations

Wind is God's way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it's hotter to areas where it's cooler. That's what wind is.

Our flag honors those who have fought to protect it, and is a reminder of the sacrifice of our nation's founders and heroes. As the ultimate icon of America's storied history, the Stars and Stripes represents the very best of this nation.

Adapting is a common natural way for people to adapt to their environment.

No one in the United States has become seriously ill or has died because of any kind of accident at a civilian nuclear power plant.

I would point out that if you're a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn't because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continually reviewing its safety plan for the 100-plus operating civilian nuclear reactors in the United States. And when those plants were put into operation, they were required to have double and triple redundant safety systems.

CO2 is not a pollutant in any normal definition of the term.

I believe the earth's climate is changing, but I think it's changing for natural variation reasons and I think mankind has been adapting to climate as long as man has walked the earth.

I tell my environmental friends that they have won. Every issue we look at from an energy perspective is now also looked at from an environmental perspective.

I will use my position as chairman emeritus on the Energy and Commerce Committee to try to bring some common sense to EPA regulations.

The constant abuse of online activity must stop.

I think we should drill up in Alaska.

People don't want Congress dictating what light fixtures they can use.

Supercookies are legal, but I don't think they should be.

Let the market work. Competition will drive investment.

Let's wait and see how this all turns out. I don't think we are quite ready to say what Net neutrality is.

Many retailers do not disclose these restrictions. There are no national rules dealing with how gift cards should work.

Medicaid is a victim of its own success. The program has grown so expansive that it is unsustainable in its current form, ... The reforms we are offering on Thursday will help to save the program while at the same time protecting the poorest of our society.

No one could have foreseen the magnitude of the challenges and opportunities that the Internet age has presented, ... New services shouldn't be hamstrung by old thinking and outdated regulations. We need a fresh new approach that will encourage Internet providers to expand and improve broadband networks, spur growth in the technology sector and develop cutting-edge services for consumers.

More refineries will result in more domestic production of gasoline. We cannot stop hurricanes but we can mitigate some of the adverse impacts.

More refineries will result in more domestic production of gasoline.

I would rather use incentives and car pools and production increases,

I'd like to see Exxon Mobil take some of their $10 billion and announce some refinery expansion,

I don't know what it would take to make a change in management, but if I was a dues-paying member of the Guild, I would want a change in management,

I am a pretty good poker player, and I'd say the odds are 2-1 that the president is going to sign a bill this year. Obviously, it's going to be modified and amended, but I think it has real power and I believe the president will sign a version very close to this bill sometime this calendar year.

Basically, it takes the money and spends it all. It doesn't leave anything for deficit reduction.

I can only guess at the excuses that will be offered by people who profit by engaging in an obvious fraud, by invading personal privacy, and by assisting criminal behavior.

What you are seeing here is an exercise in futility in the worst case, or an exercise in fantasy in the best case, and nothing I have seen this week is going to be voted on in a positive way,

He's (Bryan) been one of the leaders. He's been ahead of the curve on a consistent basis.

Under CAFTA, prosperity and payrolls in Texas will only grow as our products and services become more competitive in these markets.

There are so many cars on the market that get 30 miles per gallon, and folks aren't buying them,

I would submit to you that Medicaid in its current form is already hurting the poor, ... This committee will not stand by and do nothing while Medicaid slowly collapses.

I would vote against it and I would encourage others to vote against it,

I think a good case can be made today that some retailers may have taken advantage of the Katrina emergency. If that's true, that is something that needs to be investigated and, in all probability, prosecuted,

I think there may be a need at the retail level to make sure we have adequate enforcement tools to prevent pure price gouging,

Our country needs more oil refineries because the people who work for a living need gasoline to get to work. These are the people who earn paychecks and buy groceries and pay their bills, including their taxes. That means they use gasoline every day. They need it, and they need it at a price they can afford to pay.

Our Velma Kelly is Jill Kelly - no relation - of Fort Wayne.

Releasing an equivalent amount of oil from the reserve for a short period of time will help keep fuel supplies adequate, not just for the Gulf Coast area, but for all the United States.

I tell my environmental friends that they have won, ... Every issue we look at from an energy perspective is looked at from an environmental perspective.

We need a fresh new approach that will encourage Internet providers to expand and improve broadband networks, spur growth in the technology sector and develop cutting-edge services for consumers,

My cast comes from as far away as Fort Wayne and Toledo; they're willing to make the hour's drive just to be in it.

We have between 1 to 2 million barrels of day of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico that's been shut down because of the hurricane, ... I think a very good case can be made today that some retailers have taken advantage of that and have begun to gouge the American people.

We have witness after witness that's testified to the staff and answered questions today that they thought they were still being covered,

threatened by China's aggressive tactics to lock up energy supplies around the world that are largely dedicated for their own use.

We can be responsible ... or we can throw caution to the wind and basically have the U.S. Treasury spend over $10 (billion) to $12 billion if everybody took advantage of the program.

What you see is not always what you get.

Updating the communications laws is one of my highest priorities. We have made some changes and we're going to make some changes to this draft.

Updating the communications laws is one of my highest priorities, ... We have made some changes and we're going to make some changes to this draft.

This would definitely limit states' flexibility, ... And again the underlying basis of the bill is to give states more flexibility, not less flexibility.

We use 21 million barrels of oil a day, and only have the refining capacity for 16 million on a good day, ... And after Katrina and Rita, we haven't had many good days.

Why in the heck don't we have a policy in effect today, once we found out we don't?

The president's package is a good package. We're going to work on a bipartisan basis.

We all know who will be the first to complain about natural gas prices this winter. And everybody here knows who will blame high prices on a corporate conspiracy, don't we? But the real conspirators seem to be New England and places like Fall River, Mass.

We cannot stop hurricanes, but we can mitigate some of these adverse impacts on our energy infrastructure and our economy that hurricanes can have. We need to tackle this problem for one simple reason: Our country needs more oil refineries because the people who work for a living need gasoline to get to work.

We could be drilling in Alaska right now; we could be drilling off the coasts of several other states, ... It would make a difference today if we were not as restrictive as we've been in the last 20 years about where we drill.

Enactment of this legislation by December would give us three years to prepare for the transition, ... That is more than enough time for manufacturers and retailers to move low-cost digital televisions and converter-boxes into the market, for the FCC to complete the channel allocation process, for broadcasters to finalize their digital facilities and for government and industry to prepare consumers for the transition.

There's no need to panic about this, ... On the other side, there's no reason for retailers to just jack up the price because everybody's concerned. We're going to move very quickly to stop that if we have the legal ability to do so without passing emergency legislation.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 spurred the development of telephone competition, but no one could have foreseen the magnitude of the challenges and opportunities that the Internet age has presented, ... New services shouldn't be hamstrung by old thinking and outdated regulations.

Now, if you're Al Gore, you can afford $10 a pop for squiggly-pig-tailed fluorescent light bulbs. But if you're mainstream America, two or three kids, mom and dad working outside the home, that's not a very good deal.

as a transparent effort to bully and harass climate change experts who have reached conclusions with which you disagree.

You're torn between 'Take care of the people that need taking care of, period' and doing it in a way that doesn't break the bank.

You need a leadership team that's ready to go to work next week, not next summer.

This is a way for the House to send a signal on this particular treaty.

This is a darned good bill, and this is going to help this country. The sooner we get it implemented, the better.

Americans are rightfully concerned that identity thieves, stalkers and unscrupulous data brokers can access such information they believed was kept private by their telephone company.

Americans would never allow a stranger at their front door access to the level of personal, private information about them that is being let out the cyber door,

There is no way that it has really been budgeted out and thoughtfully planned.

At a minimum, we want to see some on-track catastrophic insurance in place as soon as possible for on-track injuries, ... and then we want to go from there to start cleaning up this.

It's a travesty that we even have to have this hearing.

It is unfortunate that it takes a hurricane like Katrina or Rita to show us just how acute the problem is. Now is the time to start to correct this problem and build more refineries in the United States.

It sure looks to me like you got in control of the guild, got all your cronies on the board, you did everything you can to keep the guild members in the dark about the lack of an insurance policy about on-track injuries until it was obvious you had to say something. ... If I were a dues-paying member of the guild, I'd want new management,

Then Hurricane Katrina hit, and energy is back on the agenda big time,

It's important that the American people have full confidence in the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Zerhouni has done an admirable job addressing a difficult, yet critical, issue.

They look at it like trading futures, trading oil, trading gas, trading corn -- pick a commodity.

So far, a lot of it has been vague but they are now going to flesh out the details.

I'm a free-market guy. I come from an oil state. I am not anti-oil, by any stretch. But I don't want to see people get ripped off just because they're scared and retailers think they can just jack up the price.

I'm very disappointed to learn that, four years later, we still have a problem with interoperability,

In 1981, there were 324 operating refineries in the boundaries of the United States. Today there are 148. Do the math. There are a lot of reasons for it, but one of the reasons is the law as it exists today, ... What company's board of directors in its right mind would want to go through this complicated process and tie up billions of dollars for years and years if they weren't certain whether this process would wrap up in a timely fashion?

Initially, we took the administration policy and put it in the bill just to clarify and give certainty to the industry on what they could and couldn't do, ... But I have agreed to do hearings in committee, and go through the regular process, and bring it to the floor later this year as a stand-alone bill or as a part of another piece of legislation.

If I were a dues-paying member of the Jockeys' Guild, ... I'd want some new management.

If you want to see real shortages and a black market, then put price controls back on,

If there is a silver lining in this tragic situation, it may be that our country understands how fragile our energy sector is. ... We can't just get our oil and gas from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. We need to diversify our domestic oil resources.

If there is a silver lining in this, it is that it may finally bring home to the American people how fragile our energy sector is and our energy infrastructure is.

How I vote on final passage right now is between me and my maker.

You've done not a darn thing except to obfuscate and not obey the subpoenas of this committee,

The DTV legislation brings needed certainty to allow consumers, broadcasters, cable and satellite operators, manufacturers, retailers, and government to prepare for the end of the transition.

Now, if you're Al Gore, you can afford $10 a pop for squiggly-pig-tailed fluorescent light bulbs. But if you're mainstream America, two or three kids, mom and dad working outside the home, that's not a very good deal.