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: the United States Coast Guard and coastal zone management; communications; transportation and highway safety; inland waterways, except construction; interstate commerce; marine and ocean navigation, safety, and transportation; marine fisheries; merchant marine and navigation; non-military aeronautical and space sciences; oceans, weather, and atmospheric activities; the Panama Canal and other interoceanic canals; science, engineering, and technology research and development and policy; sports; standards and measurement; and transportation and commerce aspects of Continental Shelf lands.

It also studies and reviews matters relating to the regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances, other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services, and housing, and the regulation of interstate common carriers, including railroads, buses, trucks, vessels, pipelines, and civil aviation.

Warren Bell appointment to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
In late December 2006, President George W. Bush made a recess appointment to install television sitcom producer Warren Bell on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Bell had been nominated for the position in September 2006, but members of the Commerce Committee - including Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) - which confirms nominees to the CPB, had stalled his nomination. The recess appointment will last for a year unless Bell or another is permanently confirmed to the position. 

Bell had worked in television for 17 years, including his current position as the executive producer for "According to Jim." He has no public television experience. He has also written for the conservative publication National Review, including his description of himself as "thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues." Bell has stated that he is "not an ideologue" and that he would keep his politics separate from his role as a board member. 

External articles

 * Matea Gold, "A feud over Bush's pick: Warren Bell draws criticism as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting appointee," Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2006.
 * Winter Casey, "Former Tech Lobbyist Joins Senate Panel," National Journal "Tech Daily Dose" blog, March 4, 2009.

Contact
Committee Web site
 * Majority staff office - (202) 224-1251
 * Minority staff office - (202) 224-0411