Senate Committee Hearings: Arranging Witnesses







Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress



Selecting witnesses is one of the most important aspects of planning a Senate hearing.
Committees and subcommittees pay careful attention to which viewpoints will be represented,
who should testify, and the order and format for presenting witnesses. A witness must be invited
by a committee in order to testify; standing committees and their subcommittees also may
subpoena reluctant witnesses. For more information on legislative process, see
http://www.crs .gov/products /guides/guidehome.shtml.






Selecting and Inviting Witnesses...............................................................................................1
Subpoena Power........................................................................................................................1
Format and Order of Witness Testimony..................................................................................2
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................2





electing witnesses is one of the most important aspects of planning a Senate hearing.
Committees and subcommittees pay careful attention to which viewpoints will be
represented, who should testify, and the order and format for presenting witnesses. A S


witness must be invited by a committee in order to testify; standing committees and their
subcommittees also may subpoena reluctant witnesses. For more information on legislative
process, see http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml.
To testify, a witness must be invited by a committee. Before officially inviting a witness,
committee staff identify and often interview prospective witnesses. Committees consider people
from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from the executive branch, state and local
governments, academia, business, and interest groups as well as other private citizens. A
committee may invite as many witnesses as it chooses, and may schedule multiple days of
hearings.
Generally, committees strive to ensure that a range of views are represented. For instance, rules of
the Committee on Finance direct staff to try and schedule witnesses so as to attain a balance of
views early in the hearing. In other cases, only witnesses expressing particular points of view
might be invited. Senate rules allow the minority-party members of a committee (except
Appropriations) to call witnesses of their choice on at least one day of a hearing. A majority of the
minority members must make this request to the committee chair before completion of the
hearings (Rule XXVI, paragraph 4(d)). The Committee on Finance explicitly allows every
member of the committee to choose witnesses to testify. On many committees the minority
members work informally with the majority to invite witnesses representing their views.
Once witnesses are identified, the committee chair usually sends each witness a formal letter of
invitation. This letter generally provides the witness with basic information on the proposed
hearing, including its purpose, subject, date, time, and location. In addition, the letter might
indicate a limitation on the length of a witness’s oral testimony.
The committee also might send a witness additional information. This information could include
a list of committee members, the committee’s rules, a copy of the measure under consideration (if
legislation is the goal), and published articles relating to the issue. The letter of invitation might
also request that a witness send the committee biographical information and an advance copy of
written testimony, the latter being required at least one day before a witness testifies (except
before the Appropriations Committee, Rule XXVI, paragraph 4(b)). A committee may reimburse
a witness for expenses related to testimony, and, if reimbursement is expected, the letter of
invitation might address this point. Often, the letter indicates a staff contact. Committee staff will
sometimes meet with witnesses prior to a hearing to answer questions and to review procedure.
Most individuals respond favorably to an invitation to testify, believing it to be a valuable
opportunity to communicate and publicize their views on a question of public policy. However, if
a person declines to appear by invitation, a standing committee may require a witness to appear
through a subpoena (Rule XXVI, paragraph 1). Committees also may subpoena documents.
Subpoenas are used sparingly but are most common at investigative hearings.



The rules of many committees delineate the procedure for authorizing a subpoena. Some
committees delegate this authority to the chair and ranking minority member, while other
committees require majority approval to authorize subpoenas. Still other committees allow
subpoenas to be authorized by either committee leaders or a committee majority, or have other
detailed procedures.
Committees determine the format and order of witness testimony. A common format is that a
witness makes a statement and then responds to questions from committee members. Committees
may also employ a panel format, often for witnesses with divergent viewpoints. It is normally the
practice in this case for all panel members to make statements, then for committee members to
pose questions to the panel or to various panelists. Some observers believe this format stimulates
debate and elicits more pertinent information. Committees sometimes use other formats for
gathering information, such as joint hearings, field hearings, seminars, “roundtable” discussions,
and “video conferencing,” with witnesses who may be located almost anywhere in the world.
The order in which witnesses testify is arranged at the discretion of the committee. Protocol
dictates that a Member of Congress generally testifies before other witnesses, and a similar
privilege often is extended to high-ranking executive branch officials and to former Members and
other high-level government officials. Celebrity witnesses may be judiciously placed in the lineup
to generate media coverage and public attention to an issue. Testimony from academics, interest-
group representatives, and other private citizens may be arranged to ensure that committee
members hear different perspectives in the most desirable order, for instance, to allow one
individual to refute arguments made by another.
Betsy Palmer
Analyst on the Congress and Legislative Process
bpalmer@crs.loc.gov, 7-0381