The committee has served as the principal guide for the House in matters relating to the promotion of commerce and to the public's health and marketplace interests, with the relatively recent addition of energy considerations among them.

The committee maintains principal responsibility for legislative oversight relating to telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health, air quality and environmental health, the supply and delivery of energy, and interstate and foreign commerce.

It legislates on a wide variety of issues, including:[3] Resolutions electing members: H.Res.

40 (Menendez) To manage the wide variety of issues it encounters, the committee relies on the front-line work of six subcommittees, one more than during the 111th Congress.

[5] New Chairman Fred Upton restored them as separate subcommittees at the start of the 112th Congress, and they have been retained to this day.

However the growing demands of the new nation required that Congress establish a permanent committee to manage its constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States."

From this time forward, as the nation grew and Congress dealt with new public policy concerns and created new committees, the Energy and Commerce Committee has maintained its central position as Congress's monitor of commercial progress—a focus reflected in its changing jurisdiction, both in name and practice.

In late 2008, Henry Waxman initiated a successful challenge to unseat Dingell as chairman.

His challenge was unusual as the party caucus traditionally elects chairmen based on committee seniority.