It functions are now under the jurisdiction of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
In all Congresses the principle record subjects are tariffs and the regulation of shipping and revenue collection.
Prominent textile manufacturer Samuel Slater and other Rhode Island citizens also memorialized the Senate about the 1824 tariff.
In December 1825, the chairman, Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey, proposed that the committee be split into separate committees—one for commerce and one for manufactures.
Dickerson, a protectionist, believed that it was "improper to blend two subjects so distinct from each other as Commerce and Manufactures" and he was supported in his proposal by fellow Senator James Lloyd of Massachusetts, a free trader, who thought that low tariff advocates on the existing committee were a distinct minority.