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A North Texas woman says Rep. Joe Barton sent her inappropriate Facebook messages, including at least one exchange in which the congressman asked things like if she was wearing panties. The revelation comes a week after Barton apologized for a nude photo of him that circulated on social media. Kelly Canon, an Arlington tea party organizer, said she and Barton have exchanged many Facebook messages. "We would chat about 97 percent politics, and one percent A&M. The other percent he would ask what I was wearing. I though that was inappropriate, so I would shut it down," Canon said. In...

Rep. Joe Barton, who apologized Wednesday for a lewd photo of him that circulated on the Internet, told a woman to whom he had sent sexually explicit photos, videos and messages that he would report her to the Capitol Police if she exposed his behavior, according to a recording reviewed by The Washington Post. The woman spoke to The Post after the lewd photo was published Tuesday by an anonymous Twitter account. She shared a secretly recorded phone conversation she had with Barton in 2015 in which he warned her against using the explicit materials “in a way that would...

Texas Rep. Joe Barton may have been the victim of revenge porn, after an anonymous Twitter user posted explicit photos and texts of the longtime congressman. Barton “may be a victim of a crime under Texas laws intended to protect against the release of intimate materials.” In 2015, Texas legislators passed a "revenge porn law" criminalizing the act of intentionally disclosing pictures or videos "depicting another person with the person's intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct" without their consent. Anyone found in violation of the law could be charged with a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to...

Texas Congressman Joe Barton sent nudes and illicit text messages to a woman, and he's apologizing for the graphic image first revealed by a Twitter user.

Texas Congressman Joe Barton released a statement Wednesday apologizing for a graphic nude photo of him that circulated on social media earlier this week. He announced his re-election bid earlier this month. U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, released a statement on Wednesday apologizing for a graphic nude photo of him that circulated on social media earlier this week. "While separated from my second wife, prior to the divorce, I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women," he said. "Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am...

Texas Congressman Joe Barton sent nudes and illicit text messages to a woman, and he's apologizing for the graphic image first revealed by a Twitter user. Barton, a Republican, sent the nude photo showing his penis. The Twitter user censored the image, and also revealed a sext that reads, "I want u soo bad. Right now."

Just because you’ve been doing something for decades, that doesn’t mean that you need to keep doing it. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the roughly forty year old ban we have on crude oil exports, enacted back when the Middle East oil barons decided to kick off an embargo, leading to skyrocketing gas prices and long lines at service stations. Congress seems to slowly be getting the message on this subject, and yesterday the House finally passed a bill to end the ban. (Yahoo News) A bill to repeal the U.S. oil export ban passed...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today released the following statement upon the House of Representatives’ passage of legislation lifting restrictions on crude oil exports: “I applaud the House of Representatives for voting today to remove restrictions on exports of domestic crude oil, an effort strongly led by Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. Eliminating the de facto ban on crude oil exports is long past due. This ban is a relic of 1970s price controls, and like most of the 70’s fads, this one is far past its prime. It’s time to put it to bed for good.“Today’s vote...

Texas Rep. Joe Barton must have been reading the new polling data this week that shows Republicans are headed for victory in November. Like any good establishment Republican, Barton could not let our prospective victory go unanswered and is seeking a way to stifle Republican turnout. What better way to accomplish “victory” than by introducing comprehensive amnesty legislation? Joe Barton plans to file his bill this week, but he refuses to call it amnesty. After all, he claims, there is no pathway to citizenship. But there are two fundamental problems with his assertion. His bill incorporates the so-called Dream Act,...

Rep. Joe Barton said Friday he was close to introducing a sweeping proposal that would overhaul the nation’s immigration system. The plan will include a path to citizenship for undocumented children and a mechanism to give legal status to adults in the country illegally who have not committed other crimes. Barton, R-Arlington, said his bill would be ready in a month to six weeks.

House Republicans say they’re proud of their 2013 campaign to stymie President Obama’s regulatory agenda, even as Congress comes under fire for one of its least productive years. The bitterly divided Congress will pass fewer laws in 2013 than any year in modern history. As a result of the gridlock, President Obama has turned to his administration’s regulatory authority in pursuit of key policy goals, including efforts to tackle gun violence and climate change. While House Republicans have pinned the blame for Congress’ anemic legislative output on Senate Democrats, they make no bones about their efforts to blunt Obama’s rulemaking...

Rep. Joe Barton accused the Obama administration Friday of "running over" the privacy rights of individuals by using hidden codes in the HealthCare.gov website. "The Obama administration is hiding that they're running over your privacy rights," the Texas Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The law, specifically designed to protect your medical privacy, HIPAA, in my mind is being violated under this law," he added, referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The Texas Republican made the same charge at Thursday's House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the problems with the Obamacare enrollment website, which requests...

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) told C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Wednesday that as a member of Congress, he’ll be forced to get his own insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, and that he thinks taxpayers should continue helping him pay his premiums. Members of Congress, like Barton, get paid $174,000 per year, and, as Barton noted on C-SPAN, he also gets a subsidy of more than $10,800 per year to pay for his health insurance. …

In light of a New York Times article published Saturday that described an “epic battle” raging within the Republican Party, MSNBC’s Craig Melvin invited tea party congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) on his show and began by asking one question: “Who’s calling the shots, is it Speaker Boehner or Texas Senator Ted Cruz?” Barton began by denying that any major divide exists in the GOP between the tea party faction and the establishment. As for Cruz, Barton assured Melvin, “He is not calling the shots.” Instead, he said President Obama’s “calling the shots” in the House of Representatives “by refusing the...

Few members of the United States Congress are willing to risk their careers to state the truth to the American people. In the ten years I’ve known him, Iowa’s Steve King has never shied away from the truth for the sake of political correctness. Texas Congressman Joe Barton had the courage to call Barack Obama’s extortion of $20 billion from oil giant BP after the Gulf oil spill exactly what it was — a shakedown. But few congressional statesmen in our time have emerged to so utterly speak truth to power — the truth, as did U.S. Rep. Jim Brindenstine,...

It’s amazing how a person’s media profile can change in just a year. Joe Barton has done a complete 180 in the eyes of many Americans, particularly poker players. If you remember, it was just 53 weeks ago the Texas Republican stood up at the congressional hearings investigating the BP oil spill and environmental disaster and Joe Barton apologized to British Petroleum for having to sit and answer for their destruction of the US Gulf Coast. Fast forward to Friday and Joe Barton is riding high among the poker playing public after he released his Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer...

Sam Biddle — Today's superfluous political grappling comes via Texas, where Republican rep Joe Barton's incensed by legislation mandating efficient incandescent lightbulbs. Rather, he and his backers claim, Americans should be able to screw-in whatever they damn please. Is old tech really a liberty? ... But to Barton it's not about efficiency. It's not about technology at all. It's about Ye Olde Blood Stained Tree of Liberty: the bulb law (and the push to repeal it) "Is about more than just energy consumption. It is about personal freedom." Well, not so fast, Joe. Beyond anything but the most stringent enshrinement...

Reporting from Washington— It doesn't have the ring of "Remember the Alamo," but a new battle cry has gone up in Texas: "Remember the incandescent bulb." Texas has become the first state seeking to skirt a federal law that phases out old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs in favor of more efficient lamps — a move that has emerged as a shining example of Republicans' resolve to strike down what many view as excessive federal regulation. Texas hopes to get around the law with a measure recently signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry declaring that incandescent bulbs — if made and sold...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Barton failed Tuesday in his bid to lead one of the House’s most powerful committees despite an aggressive campaign that involved mobilizing the support of tea party groups. *snip* Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., won a vote of the GOP Steering Committee, a panel composed of party leaders. The appointment must be ratified by the full Republican conference on Wednesday. Barton, R-Arlington, could challenge the decision by seeking a vote of the entire conference. It remained unclear Tuesday night whether he would do that. *snip*

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) pushed back on Monday against a contention by a Democratic FCC commissioner that the government should create new regulations to promote diversity in news programming. Barton was reacting to a proposal made last week by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who in a speech suggested that broadcasters be subject to a new "public values test" every four years. "I hope … that you do not mean to suggest that it is the job of the federal government, through the [FCC], to determine the content that is available for Americans to consume,” Barton wrote Monday in a letter...