A Committee’s main role is to work on legislation and perform oversight on issues within its jurisdiction.
We have oversight and legislative responsibilities for:
Oversight of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Forest Service
National Energy Policy
Coal production
Energy related aspects of deepwater ports
Energy regulation and conservation
Energy research and development
Extraction of minerals from oceans and Outer Continental Shelf lands
Hydroelectric power, irrigation, and reclamation
Mining education and research
Mining, mineral lands, mining claims, and mineral conservation
National parks, recreation areas, wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers, historical sites, military parks and battle fields, and on the public domain, preservation or prehistoric ruins and objects of interest.
Naval Petroleum Reserves in Alaska
Nonmilitary development of nuclear energy
Public lands and forest
Renewable energy resources including biofuels, wind, solar and geothermal sources of energy
Territorial policy (including changes in status and issues affecting Antarctica, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Marshall Islands)
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- U.S. Forest Service
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Chairman presides over the Committee and is a member of the party in power within the Senate (the majority party). The Ranking Member is the Committee’s top leader from the minority party. The Chairman and Ranking Member generally are the senators from each party who have served on our Committee the longest. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) chairs our Committee, and our Ranking Member is Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
For the 118th Congress, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has 19 members – 10 Democrats and 9 Republicans. That ratio is proportional to the number of Senators from each party within the entire Senate.
A session is a time when Congress is conducting business. There are two regular sessions – the first beginning in January after a general election, and the second starting the following January. These sessions usually end in the mid- to late-fall.
A recess period is when Congress is not meeting during one of its sessions. Except in summer, recesses usually last one week and often occur around a major holiday.
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Recess hours often are shorter. During these hours, you may call 202-224-4971 (or fax 202-224-6163) if you would like to get in touch with the Committee.
Our Committee has a proud history of bipartisanship; therefore, we share one front office and phone number (202-224-4971) in Room 304 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.
Room 304 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building is our reception room, for both the majority and minority staff. A receptionist will notify staff and direct you where to meet them for your appointment.
Please fax a copy of the request to the front desk at 202-224-6163. The request will be distributed to appropriate staff members. You may also mail the invitation or hand deliver it to Room 304 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.
Please note if you would like to invite staff from the majority side of the Committee, the minority side, or both.
We encourage constituents to first contact the two senators from their state with questions and comments. If the comment or request is Committee-specific, you can write us an e-mail from the link on our homepage.
The full Committee meets once or twice a week, often on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One or more of our subcommittees (there are four) hold afternoon hearings typically once a week.
The Committee Calendar contains detailed information on the status of introduced bills, nominations, hearings and other Committee activities. You can link to it from the right side of our website’s homepage.
There are several ways to do this. We may be biased, but we think the best method is to familiarize yourself with this website, as we post updates, bill summaries, legislative text, news releases, fact sheets, testimony, hearing records, video webcasts and so on. Another first-rate tool for tracking legislation is the Library of Congress website, http://thomas.loc.gov.
After a bill, resolution, or nomination has been referred to our Committee, it is added to the Committee Calendar (which can be viewed by clicking here or on the “Legislative Calendar” button on the left side of our website’s homepage).
There is no one track for an item in the legislative process, and since our Committee has one of the largest jurisdictions in the U.S. Senate, not all items are acted upon each Congress. Typically after introduction, Committee staff works with Senators who have sponsored the bill; conducts research; reviews local, state and federal law; engages the public and stakeholder community; and tries to resolve any outstanding issues. If more information is needed, a hearing may be held. After a hearing, the Committee may take up the bill in a business meeting (often called a mark up) and report it to the full Senate for consideration.
To keep track of a legislative item, you may visit the Library of Congress’s legislative research tool by clicking here.
Because the Committee is not an independent entity, and all of our work comes from a Senator or a group of Senators, we encourage constituents to first contact the two senators from their state. We are not able to respond to individual comments, suggestions or concerns.
For pending legislation, if you are with an organization or an interested stakeholder and would like to provide a written statement for the record, we accept statements via our mailing address, fax (202-224-6163) and email (fortherecord@energy.senate.gov), two weeks from the date the hearing took place. If you are sending an email, please include your name and full address on your statement as well as the date and hearing title in the Subject line.
Please note that the Committee does not have jurisdiction over state regulatory or enforcement agencies or issues involving federal agencies. The Committee also does not handle individual cases; these constituent issues should be resolved by the senators that represent you.
Basically, yes. All legislation “dies” at the end of a Congress. That being said, any Senator may introduce a bill in a Congressional session, either in its original form or with changes, regardless if it has been introduced before.
A nomination is an appointment by the President to executive or judicial office that is subject to Senate confirmation. When the nomination reaches the relevant Committee, a majority of the Committee’s senators must vote in favor of the nominee. After a nomination passes Committee approval, it is then sent to the Senate floor for further consideration by the full Senate.
“To report” is a legislative term which means that the Committee has passed, or voted “to report” a bill or a nomination to the full Senate for further consideration.
A business meeting (also called a mark up) is when a Committee meets to discuss, debate, amend and vote on legislation or a nomination. In our Committee, all of our business meetings occur at the full Committee level, not in Subcommittee.
Legislative text can be found at this link provided by the Library of Congress.
Upcoming hearings will appear on the homepage of our website. The website will always have the most up-to-date information regarding the Committee’s Calendar and schedule of hearings and business meetings.
When the Committee (or a subcommittee) holds a hearing outside of Washington, D.C., that is called a field hearing. Field hearings, when scheduled, almost always occur during a recess period and often are not webcast due to logistical and staffing considerations.
All of our hearings and business meetings are open to the public and the press. As of December 2022, visitors to Senate buildings are required to be escorted inside by Senate staff. If you would like to learn more about attending a hearing, please contact the committee front office at 202-224-4971. Archived webcasts of past hearings are available on our website.
Witnesses are invited by the Committee, and all decisions regarding hearings and witnesses are made by the Chairman, the Ranking Member, Committee staff, members of the Committee and their staffs.
All hearings are webcast live. To watch a hearing, click “Live Webcast” on the top of the Committee’s homepage on the day of the hearing.
A webcast will not “go live” until a hearing has officially started, and this occasionally may take a few minutes after the scheduled start time.
To watch archived webcasts of hearings, please click on “Hearing Schedule” on the left side of the Committee homepage. Navigate to appropriate hearing, and use the player box to view the archived recording.
Due to logistical and staffing complexities, the Committee seldom webcasts field hearings.
For a hearing or business meeting that is expected to be well-attended, those wishing to attend are advised to arrive 30 minutes to an hour before the designated start time and be prepared to wait outside the hearing room. Witnesses and their aides are allowed to enter the hearing room before the start time of the hearing.
Seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Once our hearing room has reached capacity, (as determined by the Fire Department and U.S. Capitol Police), no one else will be allowed to enter unless another person leaves the hearing room and is not returning.
For especially crowded hearings, the Committee will arrange for an overflow room, provided one is available. Archived webcasts of past hearings are available on our website.
To reduce the amount of paper used during hearings, the Committee provides copies of written testimony only to Senators, their staffs and the media. All testimony is available to the public on the Committee website shortly before the hearing begins.
Hearings that took place at least six months ago can typically be found in pdf format at GovInfo. Please feel free to contact the Committee's front office at 202.224.4971 if you have any questions.
Yes, but mostly during the summer. Normally, summer interns are assigned by the Chairman and/or Ranking Member’s personal offices and usually come from the home states of the respective Chairman and/or Ranking Member.Applications for Fall 2024 internships will be accepted until July 29th at 11:59pm. To apply, please submit a single PDF containing a cover letter and resume to senate_employment@saa.senate.gov. Please include the job referral number 230600 in the subject line.
Other times of the year we tend to host legislative fellows from academic societies, professional groups and federal agencies.
Please note that due to the amount of resumes we receive, the Committee is unable to respond individually to submissions. If Committee staff has any questions or needs further information they will contact you.
Electronically, to clerk@energy.senate.gov. The Committee keeps resumes on file in the event that a position becomes available, but due to the amount of resumes we receive, the Committee is unable to respond individually to these submissions. If Committee staff has any questions or needs further information, they will contact you.
