Congressional Committee Hearings

Thomas J. O'Halloran, photographer. *Dr. Mills drawing diagrams on a blackboard in congressional hearing.* 1957. Harris & U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress, usually open to the public, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law. In addition, hearings may also be purely exploratory in nature, providing testimony and data about topics of current interest.

Learn more about Congressional Hearings at govInfo

Subscription Databases for Finding Congressional Committee Hearings

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents Library External This link opens in a new window
This collection features the complete Congressional Record bound volume set from its inception in 1873 as well as the three predecessor titles: Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837) and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873). Also available are the Congressional Record Dailies from 1994-current, as well as the precedents of the House of Representatives from the 1st-94th Congresses, known as Cannon’s, Hind’s and Deschler’s Precedents.
Coverage: 18th century to present
ProQuest Congressional External This link opens in a new window
Explore government in action with the most comprehensive web-based resource available for congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.
Coverage: 18th century to present
ProQuest Legislative Insight External This link opens in a new window
ProQuest® Legislative Insight is a Federal legislative history service that makes available thoroughly researched compilations of digital full text publications created by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws. These include the full text of the Public Law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints. Also included are Presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.
Coverage: 18th century to present
U.S. Documents Masterfile: 1774-2021 External This link opens in a new window
Public Documents Masterfile is a comprehensive index of federal, state, local, and some international public documents, spanning over 200 years of publication. The database provides searching across millions of records using: Titles; Authors; Subjects; SuDocs numbers; Publication dates; Index terms; Monthly Catalog entry numbers; and Microfilm locations.
Coverage: 18th century to 2016

Free Resources for Finding Congressional Hearings

govinfo: U.S. Government Publishing Office

BROWSE hearings
govinfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which is a Federal agency in the legislative branch. It provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Coverage: 85th Congress, 1957 to present - Selective
govinfo: U.S. Government Publishing Office

SEARCH hearings
govinfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which is a Federal agency in the legislative branch. It provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Coverage: 85th Congress, 1958 to present - Selective
U.S. House of Representatives

Coverage: varies
U. S. Senate

Coverage: varies
Google Books External

"On Google Books, you can read books and magazines, download them, cite them, and translate them. Some books are provided by publishers, while others are scanned as part of the Library Project." (from the google books site)
Coverage: varies
HathiTrust External

"HathiTrust is a growing, global partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future. The mission of HathiTrust is to contribute to research, scholarship, and the common good by collaboratively collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating, and sharing the record of human knowledge." (HathiTrust website)
Coverage: varies
Internet Archive External

"The Internet Archive offers over 15,000,000 freely downloadable books and texts. There is also a collection of 550,000 modern eBooks that may be borrowed by anyone with a free archive.org account." (Internet Archive website)
Coverage: varies

Online Media Resources for Congressional Hearings

Video of Congressional Hearings via C-Span External

“C-SPAN is a public service created by the American Cable Television Industry…to provide access to the live gavel-to-gavel proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and to other forums where public policy is discussed, debated and decided––all without editing, commentary or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points of view.” (C-Span website)
This link takes one directly to the section for House, Senate or joint hearings. Once one types in a term or terms in the search box, a page with filters for person, organization, series, location or event type appears.
Coverage: 1987 to present
Audio Resources for Congressional Hearings via C-Span Radio External

“C-SPAN Radio 90.1 WCSP-FM in Washington, DC offers commercial-free public affairs programming 24 hours a day. You’ll hear live coverage from Washington of important congressional hearings and key speeches from national leaders.” (C-Span Radio website)
This site also provides a schedule of current and upcoming hearings.

Print Collections of Congressional Hearings at the Library of Congress

At the Library of Congress print collections for Congressional Hearings are found in the Law Library of Congress and the Main Reading Room. More information about using those collections is found below.

Law Library Collection
Congress established its Law Library in 1832, recognizing its need for ready access to reliable legal materials. The Law Library has grown over the years to become the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes spanning the ages and covering virtually every jurisdiction in the world.
Coverage: 46th Congress, 1880 to present
Main Reading Room
The Main Reading Room is the principal point for gaining access to the Library's general collections of books and bound periodicals. It is open to researchers age 16 and above.
Coverage: 78th Congress-96th Congress, 1943-1980. Hearings are organized first by Congress (e.g. 81st Congress), then by House or Senate and finally, alphabetically, by the name of the Congressional committee (e.g. Agriculture, Appropriations).

The Government Depository Collection at the Library of Congress

The Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room keeps the latest ten years of U.S. Government Documents in print or on microfiche as part of the U.S. Federal Government Depository Collection. A SuDoc number is necessary in order to request these. GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications can help you find the SuDoc numbers.

Visit the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room