Lawmakers renewed their efforts Monday to require government regulation of cigarettes with a legislation that was co-sponsored by President Barack Obama while in Senate last year. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up a legislation today that will put tobacco under the Food and Drug Administration’s control.

The legislation last year passed the House but faced a veto threat from then-President George W. Bush and didn't get a vote in the Senate. The plan to re-introduce the legislation was announced Monday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who's fought for years for government regulation of tobacco products.

"Tobacco has never been, and should never be, a partisan issue," Waxman said. "I believe most members of Congress share my desire to pass meaningful and truly effective tobacco legislation to reduce youth smoking."

The bill re-introduction was delayed until Tuesday and Waxman planned to bring the bill to a vote Wednesday in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs. He said he was optimistic it would become law during this session of Congress. An earlier version of the bill passed the Senate in 2004.

The bill looks to restrict the method employed by tobacco companies to market the product and require them to disclose the ingredients in their cigarettes. They are also calling for larger warning labels to be added to the packages and giving the FDA the authority to remove harmful chemicals and additives from cigarettes.

The bill would prohibit candy-flavored cigars and cigarettes, and would give the FDA authority to ban menthol. The legislation would also look at ways to restrict tobacco companies from using terms like low tar" and "light" which suggest a health benefit that scientists say does not exist.

The proposal of the FDA controlling tobacco has brought out its share of criticism and opponents of the legislation contend the FDA is not up to the job. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute and a deputy FDA commissioner during the Bush administration said, "I believe it's going to gut the agency's resources and distract it from its core mission,"

Patricia McDaniel, a sociologist at the University of California at San Francisco said consumers could be misled into thinking that tobacco is safe if it is regulated by the government. McDaniel said, “There’s a lot of opportunity for the FDA to do some pretty remarkable things: adding more visible warning labels, banning misleading descriptors, some authority over ingredients and allowing the FDA to prohibit certain types of marketing," she said.

"But there are a lot of unknowns. And there are questions about whether the FDA is the agency to regulate tobacco, especially now with the trouble it's having regulating food and drugs."

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families said, "Cigarettes and cigars are drug-delivery systems, delivering an addictive drug -- nicotine -- in a product that kills when used as directed," said Zuckerman, whose group supports the bill.

"How can the FDA justify regulating, rather than banning, those products? On the other hand, if the FDA regulates tobacco products, it can stop misleading advertising and help prevent the sale of tobacco products to children. That will save lives."