United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate.^[1] Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, and transportation, the Senate Commerce Committee is one of the largest of the Senate's standing committees, with 28 members in the 117th Congress. The Commerce Committee has six subcommittees. It is chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as Ranking Member. The majority office is housed in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and the minority office is located in the Hart Senate Office Building.^[1]

Senate Commerce Committee

Standing committee
Active United States Senate 118th Congress
History
Formed	February 4, 1977
Leadership
Chair	Maria Cantwell (D) Since February 3, 2021
Ranking member	Ted Cruz (R) Since January 3, 2023
Structure
Political parties	Majority (14)   Democratic (13)   Independent (1) Minority (13)   Republican (13)
Jurisdiction
Policy areas	Aviation, Coast Guard, Coastal zone management, Common carriers, Communications, Competitiveness, Consumer protection, Highways and highway safety, Inland waterways, Internet, Navigation, Interstate commerce, Marine conservation, Marine fisheries, Merchant Marine, Oceanography, Outer Continental Shelf lands, Panama Canal, Product safety and liability, Rail, Science policy of the United States, Sport, Standards of weights and measures, Tourism, Transportation generally, Weather and climate change
Oversight authority	Coast Guard, CPSC, CPB, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, FAA, FCC, FMCSA, FRA, FMC, FTC, MARAD, NASA, NHTSA, NOAA, NIST, NSF, NTIA, NTSB, PHMSA, STB, TSA, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
House counterpart	United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Subcommittees
Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation Communications, Media, and Broadband Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change and Manufacturing Space and Science Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight, and Ports Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion
Meeting place
512 Dirksen Senate Building
Website
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/
Rules
Rule XXV.1.(f), Standing Rules of the Senate Rules of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Charles Bolden, nominee for Administrator of NASA, center, and Lori Garver, right, nominee for deputy administrator of NASA, testify at their confirmation hearing before the Committee in 2009.

History

The committee has its roots in the Committee on Commerce and Manufacturers, which served as a standing committee in the early-1800s. This committee was split in two in the 1820s and remained in this configuration until the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Under the LRA, the number of standing committees was dramatically decreased to increase congressional efficiency and increase institutional strength. As a result, the Committee on Commerce, the Committee on Manufactures, the Committee on Interstate Commerce, and the Committee on Interoceanic Canals were combined into the United States Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. In 1977, as a part of widespread committee reorganization, the committee was renamed the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and given additional oversight jurisdiction over nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The original progenitors of this committee were:

• United States Senate Committee on Commerce and Manufactures (1816–1825)
• United States Senate Committee on Commerce (1825–1946, 1961–1977)
• United States Senate Committee on Manufactures (1825–1855, 1864–1946)
• United States Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce (1885–1946)
• United States Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals (1899–1946)
• United States Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (1946–1961)
• United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences (1958–1977)

Jurisdiction

In accordance of Rule XXV of the United States Senate, all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects is referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation:

1. "Coast Guard;
2. Coastal zone management;
3. Communications;
4. Highway safety;
5. Inland waterways, except construction;
6. Interstate commerce;
7. Marine and ocean navigation, safety, and transportation, including navigational aspects of deepwater ports;
8. Marine fisheries;
9. Merchant marine and navigation;
10. Nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences;
11. Oceans, weather, and atmospheric activities;
12. Panama Canal and interoceanic canals generally, except as provided in subparagraph (c);
13. Regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances, other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services, and housing;
14. Regulation of interstate common carriers, including railroads, buses, trucks, vessels, pipelines, and civil aviation;
15. Science, engineering, and technology research and development and policy;
16. Sports;
17. Standards and measurement;
18. Transportation; and,
19. Transportation and commerce aspects of Outer Continental Shelf lands."^[2]

The Senate Commerce Committee is also charged to "study and review, on a comprehensive basis, all matters relating to science and technology, oceans policy, transportation, communications, and consumer affairs, and report thereon from time to time."^[3]

Members, 118th Congress

Main article: 118th United States Congress

Majority^[4]	Minority^[5]
Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Brian Schatz, Hawaii Ed Markey, Massachusetts Gary Peters, Michigan Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Jon Tester, Montana Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona^[a] Jacky Rosen, Nevada Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico John Hickenlooper, Colorado Raphael Warnock, Georgia Peter Welch, Vermont	Ted Cruz, Texas, Ranking Member John Thune, South Dakota Roger Wicker, Mississippi Deb Fischer, Nebraska Jerry Moran, Kansas Dan Sullivan, Alaska Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Todd Young, Indiana Rick Scott, Florida (until February 2, 2023)^[6] Ted Budd, North Carolina Eric Schmitt, Missouri J. D. Vance, Ohio Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Chairs

The committee, under its various names, has been chaired by the following senators:^[7]

Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, 1816–1825

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	William Hunter	Federalist	Rhode Island	1816–1817
	Nathan Sanford	Republican	New York	1817–1820
	Mahlon Dickerson	Republican/Crawford Republican	New Jersey	1820–1825

Committee on Commerce, 1825–1947

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	James Lloyd	Adams-Clay Republican/Adams	Massachusetts	1825–1826
	Josiah Johnston	Adams	Louisiana	1826–1827
	Levi Woodbury	Jacksonian	New Hampshire	1827–1831
	John Forsyth	Jacksonian	Georgia	1831–1832
	William R. King	Jacksonian	Alabama	1832–1833
	Nathaniel Silsbee	Anti-Jackson	Massachusetts	1833–1835
	John Davis	Anti-Jackson	Massachusetts	1835–1836
	William R. King	Jacksonian/Democratic	Alabama	1836–1841
	Jabez Huntington	Whig	Connecticut	1841–1845
	William Haywood	Democratic	North Carolina	1845–1846
	John Dix	Democratic	New York	1846–1849
	Hannibal Hamlin	Democratic	Maine	1849–1856
	Henry Dodge	Democratic	Wisconsin	1856–1857
	Clement Clay	Democratic	Alabama	1857–1861
	William Bigler	Democratic	Pennsylvania	1861
	Zachariah Chandler	Republican	Michigan	1861–1875
	Roscoe Conkling	Republican	New York	1875–1879
	John B. Gordon	Democratic	Georgia	1879–1880
	Matt Ransom	Democratic	North Carolina	1880–1881
	Roscoe Conkling	Republican	New York	1881
	Samuel J.R. McMillan	Republican	Minnesota	1881–1887
	William Frye	Republican	Maine	1887–1893
	Matt Ransom	Democratic	North Carolina	1893–1895
	William P. Frye	Republican	Maine	1895–1911
	Knute Nelson	Republican	Minnesota	1911–1913
	James P. Clarke	Democratic	Arkansas	1913–1916
	Duncan U. Fletcher	Democratic	Florida	1916–1919
	Wesley L. Jones	Republican	Washington	1919–1930
	Hiram W. Johnson	Republican	California	1930–1933
	Hubert D. Stephens	Democratic	Mississippi	1933–1935
	Royal S. Copeland	Democratic	New York	1935–1939
	Josiah W. Bailey	Democratic	North Carolina	1939–1946

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 1947–1961

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	Wallace H. White, Jr.	Republican	Maine	1947–1949
	Edwin C. Johnson	Democratic	Colorado	1949–1953
	Charles W. Tobey	Republican	New Hampshire	1953
	John W. Bricker	Republican	Ohio	1953–1955
	Warren Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1955–1961

Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 1958–1977

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	Texas	1958–1961
	Robert S. Kerr	Democratic	Oklahoma	1961–1963
	Clinton P. Anderson	Democratic	New Mexico	1963–1973
	Frank E. Moss	Democratic	Utah	1973–1977
	Wendell H. Ford	Democratic	Kentucky	Jan. 10–Feb. 11, 1977

Committee on Commerce, 1961–1977

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	Warren Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1961–1977

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 1977–present

	Chair	Party	State	Years
	Warren Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1977–1978
	Howard Cannon	Democratic	Nevada	1978–1981
	Bob Packwood	Republican	Oregon	1981–1985
	John C. Danforth	Republican	Missouri	1985–1987
	Ernest F. Hollings	Democratic	South Carolina	1987–1995
	Larry Pressler	Republican	South Dakota	1995–1997
	John McCain	Republican	Arizona	1997–2001
	Ernest F. Hollings	Democratic	South Carolina	2001^[b]
	John McCain	Republican	Arizona	2001
	Ernest F. Hollings	Democratic	South Carolina	2001–2003^[c]
	John McCain	Republican	Arizona	2003–2005
	Ted Stevens	Republican	Alaska	2005–2007
	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Hawaii	2007–2009
	John D. Rockefeller IV	Democratic	West Virginia	2009–2015
	John Thune	Republican	South Dakota	2015–2019
	Roger Wicker	Republican	Mississippi	2019–2021
	Maria Cantwell	Democratic	Washington	2021–present

Historical committee rosters

117th Congress

Main article: 117th United States Congress

Majority	Minority
Maria Cantwell, Washington, Chair Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Brian Schatz, Hawaii Ed Markey, Massachusetts Gary Peters, Michigan Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Jon Tester, Montana Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona^[a] Jacky Rosen, Nevada Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico John Hickenlooper, Colorado Raphael Warnock, Georgia	Roger Wicker, Mississippi, Ranking Member John Thune, South Dakota Roy Blunt, Missouri Ted Cruz, Texas Deb Fischer, Nebraska Jerry Moran, Kansas Dan Sullivan, Alaska Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Mike Lee, Utah Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Todd Young, Indiana Rick Scott, Florida Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Subcommittees

Subcommittee	Chair		Ranking Member
Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation		Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ)		Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Communications, Media and Broadband		Ben Ray Luján (D-NM)		John Thune (R-SD)
Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security		Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)		Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change and Manufacturing		Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)		Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
Space and Science		John Hickenlooper (D-CO)		Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight and Ports		Gary Peters (D-MI)		Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Tourism, Trade, and Export Promotion		Jacky Rosen (D-NV)		Rick Scott (R-FL)

Source:^[8]

116th Congress

Main article: 116th United States Congress

Majority	Minority
Roger Wicker, Mississippi, Chair John Thune, South Dakota Roy Blunt, Missouri Ted Cruz, Texas Deb Fischer, Nebraska Jerry Moran, Kansas Dan Sullivan, Alaska Mike Lee, Utah Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Cory Gardner, Colorado Todd Young, Indiana Rick Scott, Florida Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee	Maria Cantwell, Washington, Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Brian Schatz, Hawaii Ed Markey, Massachusetts Tom Udall, New Mexico Gary Peters, Michigan Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Jon Tester, Montana Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona Jacky Rosen, Nevada

Subcommittees

Subcommittee	Chair		Ranking Member
Aviation and Space		Ted Cruz (R-TX)		Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet		John Thune (R-SD)		Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection		Jerry Moran (R-KS)		Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Science, Oceans, Fisheries, and Weather		Cory Gardner (R-CO)		Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Security		Dan Sullivan (R-AK)		Ed Markey (D-MA)
Transportation and Safety		Deb Fischer (R-NE)		Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

115th Congress

Majority	Minority
John Thune, South Dakota, Chair Roger Wicker, Mississippi Roy Blunt, Missouri Ted Cruz, Texas Deb Fischer, Nebraska Jerry Moran, Kansas Dan Sullivan, Alaska Dean Heller, Nevada Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma Mike Lee, Utah Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Cory Gardner, Colorado Todd Young, Indiana	Bill Nelson, Florida, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, Washington Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Brian Schatz, Hawaii Ed Markey, Massachusetts Tom Udall, New Mexico Gary Peters, Michigan Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada Jon Tester, Montana

Source^[9]

Notes

1. Kyrsten Sinema is formally an independent but caucuses with the Democrats.
2. At the beginning of the 107th Congress in January 2001 the Senate was evenly divided. With a Democratic president and vice president still serving until January 20, the Democratic vice president was available to break a tie, and the Democrats thus controlled the Senate for 17 days, from January 3 to January 20. On January 3 the Senate adopted S. Res. 7 designating Democratic senators as committee chairmen to serve during this period and Republican chairmen to serve effective at noon on January 20, 2001.
3. On June 6, 2001, the Democrats took control of the Senate after Senator James Jeffords (VT) changed from the Republican Party to Independent and announced that he would caucus with the Democrats.

References

1. "U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation - About". U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation.
2. "Rules of the United States Senate". U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Retrieved May 31, 2019.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. "Rules Of The Senate | U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration". www.rules.senate.gov.
4. S.Res. 30 (118th Congress)
5. S.Res. 31 (118th Congress)
6. Mizelle, Shawna (February 2, 2023). "Rick Scott sees retribution in McConnell decision to pull him off Senate Commerce Committee | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
7. "Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees 1789-present" (PDF). Retrieved September 23, 2020.
8. "Chair Cantwell Announces Subcommittee Leadership for the 117th Congress". U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation. February 19, 2021.
9. "U.S. Senate: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation". www.senate.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2017.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation website (Archive)
• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.