The House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday overwhelmingly voted for a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The measure, voted 38-12, would allow the FDA to reduce nicotine levels, require larger, more informative health warnings on cigarette packs, ban flavored cigarettes and limit advertisements such as those claiming that one product is safer than others.

Cigarette smoking accounts for about one in five U.S. deaths.

“Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and this legislation will help address this enormous public health problem,” said committee Chairman John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, according to the Los Angeles Times. The passage of the bill represents a victory during an election year for Dingell.

The bill had the support of major health groups, many Democrats, and the nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc., but it could still face a presidential veto, no matter the number of people, organizations, or companies supporting it. And the number is pretty high, since the legislation is supported by more than 200 voting members of the House and 56 senators, including presidential candidates John McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. McCain was one of the first to back FDA regulation of Tobacco in 1997, one year after the FDA asserted that it had authority over tobacco products. However, four years later, the Supreme Court rejected the agency’s initiative.

“This bill will put a stop to decades of Big Tobacco marketing, aimed at addicting each new generation of young people to their deadly products,” said Daniel Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, according to the Associated Press.

The 12 members opposing the bill said the FDA has had enough trouble ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply and medicine. “This legislation, if it becomes law, would require the FDA to take on a task that is enormous, complex and completely outside its regulatory experience. It will almost necessitate a diversion from its core functions,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee, quoted by the AP.

The panel supporting the bill estimates that the FDA will collect $85 million from tobacco companies in the first year and eventually assess fees of $712 million by 2018.