U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate in charge of all senate matters related to the following subjects:
- Coast Guard
- Coastal zone management
- Communications
- Highway safety
- Inland waterways, except construction
- Interstate commerce
- Marine and ocean navigation, safety, and transportation
- Marine fisheries
- Merchant marine and navigation
- Nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences
- Oceans, weather, and atmospheric activities
- Panama Canal and other interoceanic canals
- Regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances, other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services, and housing
- Regulation of interstate common carriers, including railroads, buses, trucks, vessels, pipelines, and civil aviation
- Science, engineering, and technology research and development and policy
- Sports
- Standards and measurement
- Transportation
- Transportation and commerce aspects of Outer Continental Shelf lands
It also studies and reviews matters relating to science and technology, oceans policy, transportation, communications, and consumer affairs, and reports on those findings.
The current chairman is Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and the ranking Democrat is Fritz Hollings of South Carolina.
Subcommittees
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Competition, Foreign Commerce, and Infrastructure
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Product Safety
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space
- U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine
History
The original progenitors of this committee were:
- Committee on Commerce and Manufactures (1816-1825)
- Committee on Commerce (1825-1946, 1961-1977)
- Committee on Manufactures (1825-1855, 1864-1946)
- Committee on Interstate Commerce (1885-1946)
- Committee on Interoceanic Canals (1899-1946)
- Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (1946-1961)
- Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences (1958-1977)
Chairmen
Chairmen of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, 1816-1825
Chairmen of the Committee on Commerce, 1825-1927
Chairmen of the Committee on Interstate Commerce, 1887-1947
- Shelby M. Cullom (R-IL) 1887-1893
- Matthew Butler (D-SC) 1893-1895
- Shelby M. Cullom (R-IL) 1895-1901
- Stephen Elkins (R-WV) 1901-1911
- Moses E. Clapp (R-MN) 1911-1913
- Francis G. Newlands (D-NV) 1913-1917
- Ellison D. Smith (D-SC) 1917-1919
- Albert B. Cummins (R-IA) 1919-1924
- Ellison D. Smith (D-SC) 1924-1925
- James E. Watson (R-IN) 1925-1928
- James Couzens (R-MI) 1928-1933
- Clarence C. Dill (D-WA) 1933-1935
- Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) 1935-1947
Chairmen of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 1947-1961
- Wallace H. White, Jr. (R-ME) 1947-1949
- Edwin C. Johnson (D-CO) 1949-1953
- Charles W. Tobey (R-NH) 1953
- John W. Bricker (R-OH) 1953-1955
- Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA) 1955-1961
Chairmen of the Committee on Commerce, 1961-1977
Chairmen of the Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, 1958-1977
Chairmen of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 1977-present
