Frequently Asked Questions: Law Library of Congress

A congressional hearing is a formal meeting of a congressional committee (or subcommittee) to gather information from witnesses for use in its activities (that is, the development of legislation, oversight of executive agencies, investigations into matters of public policy, or Senate consideration of presidential nominations).

Congress.gov

Congress.gov includes links to individual Senate and House committee web sites, which may provide access to hearing schedules and prepared witness statements.  From the Congress.gov Committees page, click on any individual committee and at the following screen click on the link to the Committee website from the overview box. Individual committee pages on Congress.gov also include links to live and archived video of hearings and meetings.

GovInfo.gov

Congressional hearings are selectively available on the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) website, GovInfo, beginning with the 85th Congress (1995/96).

ProQuest Congressional

ProQuest Congressional is a subscription database that contains transcripts and records of congressional hearings from 1824-present. Researchers can access ProQuest Congressional onsite at the Library of Congress, and at many other academic libraries and law libraries.

Print Copies

Congressional hearings are often published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office.  Printed congressional hearings are available at the Law Library of Congress. Search the LOC catalog to find the location and call number of individual hearing titles. Congressional hearings are selectively available at other libraries throughout the country, including some Federal Depository Libraries.

Committee hearings are available at certain libraries, including the Law Library of Congress, that have the microfiche set corresponding to the following indexes published by the Congressional Information Service (CIS):

• CIS Annual Index (1970 to the present)
• CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index, 1833-1969
• CIS Index to Unpublished US House of Representatives Committee Hearings, 1833-1968
• CIS Index to Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings, 1823-1980

These indexes and the full text of hearings may be searched electronically within ProQuest Congressional, a subscription database available onsite at the Library of Congress and other research libraries.

For more information about federal congressional committee hearings, visit the Law Library's research guide, Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner’s Guide.