U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings

In the words of the U.S. Government Printing Office, 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."

There is no single online database covering all U.S. Congressional hearings.

Instead, we have access to separate databases with coverage of different time periods and formats:

• Washington and Lee's subscription to LexisNexis Congressional provides records and many full-text hearings for the period 1824 to date.  Full-text (PDF) access for all hearings from 1824 to current years should be available.
• The U.S. Government Printing Office, via their free GPOAccess database, covers 1995 to date, with both browsing and searching capabilities, with earlier years a bit spotty in coverage.
• GPO's developing Federal Digital System offers access to Congressional committee hearings and other publications, dating back to the mid-1990's.
• Individual committee Web sites (House and Senate) can be a source for hearings, particularly recent ones.   The sites often provide a chronological list of hearings, with links to witness statements, video, and/or audio.   Transcripts, including questions-and-responses, usually are not included.

Leyburn Library's U.S. Goverment Depository Collection includes thousands of paper copies of Congressional committee hearing transcripts, most of them published within the past twenty years.  All are listed in Annie.