Republican Targeting Global Warming Scientists

As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, [Joe Barton has] sent letters demanding financial records and other information from the National Science Foundation and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose reports on global warming have shaped policies and treaties.
Three climatologists who authored a seminal 1998 analysis of ancient tree rings, ocean sediment and polar ice have been asked to provide details on funding sources, methods, computer code and data.
Their paper in the journal Nature depicted an alarming warming spike and was a turning point in the debate over climate change. But as Mr. Barton points out, some of their data and methods – though not their central conclusions – have been attacked in other peer-reviewed journals.