United States Senate 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.

The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is empowered with legislative oversight of the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine, interstate commerce, communications, highways, aviation, rail, shipping, transportation security, oceans, fisheries, climate change, disasters, science, nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences, sports, tourism, consumer issues, economic development, technology, competitiveness, product safety, insurance, and standards and measurement. The committee also has jurisdiction over coastal zone management, inland waterways (except construction), the Panama Canal and other interoceanic canals, and commerce aspects of Continental Shelf lands.

The Committee is one of the largest in the Senate with 25 members in the 114th Congress. It is composed of seven subcommittees, and the Committee Chairman is Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and its Ranking Member is Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). Nelson is the only sitting Member of Congress who served as an astronaut. The majority office is housed in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, and the minority office is located in the Hart Senate Office Building.

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 streamline 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 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)

Membership

Majority	Minority
John Thune, South Dakota, Chair Roger Wicker, Mississippi Roy Blunt, Missouri Marco Rubio, Florida Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire Dean Heller, Nevada Ted Cruz, Texas Deb Fischer, Nebraska Dan Sullivan, Alaska Jerry Moran, Kansas Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Cory Gardner, Colorado Steve Daines, Montana	Bill Nelson, Florida, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, Washington Claire McCaskill, Missouri Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Brian Schatz, Hawaii Ed Markey, Massachusetts Cory Booker, New Jersey Tom Udall, New Mexico Joe Manchin, West Virginia Gary Peters, Michigan

Source: 2013 Congressional Record, Vol. 159, Page S296 , 661–662

Subcommittees

Subcommittee	Chair		Ranking Member
Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Roger Wicker (R-MS)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Jerry Moran (R-KS)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Marco Rubio (R-FL)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Space, Science and Competitiveness	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Ted Cruz (R-TX)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Gary Peters (D-MI)
Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security	style="background-color:Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Deb Fischer (R-NE)	style="background-color:Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color" |	Cory Booker (D-NJ)

Chairmen

Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, 1816–1825

Chairman	Party	State	Years
William Hunter	Federalist	Rhode Island	1816–1817
Nathan Sanford	Democratic-Republican	New York	1817–1820
Mahlon Dickerson	Democratic Republican	New Jersey	1820–1825

Committee on Commerce, 1825–1947

Chairman	Party	State	Years
James Lloyd	National Republican	Massachusetts	1825–1826
Josiah Johnston	National Republican	Louisiana	1826–1827
Levi Woodbury	Democratic	New Hampshire	1827–1831
John Forsyth	Democratic	Georgia	1831–1832
William R. King	Democratic	Alabama	1832–1833
Nathaniel Silsbee	Whig	Massachusetts	1833–1835
Robert Henry Goldsborough	Whig	Maryland	1835–1836
John Davis	Whig	Massachusetts	1836–1837
William R. King	Democratic	Alabama	1837–1841
Jabez Huntington	Whig	Connecticut	1841–1845
William Haywood	Democratic	North Carolina	1845–1846
John Adams Dix	Democratic	New York	1846–1849
Hannibal Hamlin	Democratic	Maine	1849–1856
Henry Dodge	Democratic	Wisconsin	1856–1857
Clement Claiborne Clay	Democratic	Alabama	1857–1861
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
Samuel J. R. McMillan	Republican	Maine	1881–1887
William P. Frye	Republican	Maine	1887–1893
Matt Ransom	Democratic	North Carolina	1893–1895
William P. Frye	Republican	Maine	1895–1911
Knute Nelson	Republican	North Dakota	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	1939–1947

Committee on Interstate Commerce, 1887–1947

Chairman	Party	State	Years
Shelby M. Cullom	Republican	Illinois	1887–1893
Matthew Butler	Democratic	South Carolina	1893–1895
Shelby M. Cullom	Republican	Illinois	1895–1901
Stephen Elkins	Republican	West Virginia	1901–1911
Moses E. Clapp	Republican	Minnesota	1911–1913
Francis G. Newlands	Democratic	Nevada	1913–1917
Ellison D. Smith	Democratic	South Carolina	1917–1919
Albert B. Cummins	Republican	Iowa	1919–1924
Ellison D. Smith	Democratic	South Carolina	1924–1925
James E. Watson	Republican	Indiana	1925–1928
James Couzens	Republican	Michigan	1928–1933
Clarence C. Dill	Democratic	Washington	1933–1935
Burton K. Wheeler	Democratic	Montana	1935–1947

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 1947–1961

Chairman	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 G. Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1955–1961

Committee on Commerce, 1961–1977

Chairman	Party	State	Years
Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1961–1977

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

Chairman	Party	State	Years
Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Washington	1977–1978
Howard W. Cannon	Democratic	Nevada	1978–1980
Bob Packwood	Republican	Oregon	1981–1985
John 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
John McCain	Republican	Arizona	2001
Ernest F. Hollings	Democratic	South Carolina	2001–2003
John McCain	Republican	Arizona	2003–2005
Ted Stevens	Republican	Alaska	2005–2007
Daniel K. Inouye	Democratic	Hawaii	2007–2009
Jay Rockefeller	Democratic	West Virginia	2009–2015
John Thune	Republican	South Dakota	2015-present

External links

• Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation website