Field Hearings: Fact Sheet on Purposes, Rules, Regulations, and Guidelines Page: 2 of 4
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Field Hearings: Fact Sheet on Purposes, Rules, Regulations, and Guidelines
Field hearings are congressional hearings held outside Washington, DC. They date at least to
the Civil War, when committees sometimes traveled to the front lines to observe conditions
and war preparedness.
Purposes of Field Hearings
Members and committees hold field hearings for a variety of reasons. A field hearing brings
Congress directly to the scene of an important national issue. For example, in the 111th Congress,
a Senate committee held a field hearing in El Paso, TX, on violence along the U.S.-Mexico
border, and a House subcommittee held a field hearing in Los Angeles, CA, on the effects of high
housing foreclosure rates in the region. A field hearing can serve other purposes. It can
" raise public visibility of an issue;
" provide an opportunity to evaluate a government program "on site";
" reinforce a Member's relationship with his or her constituents; and
" attract local, and sometimes national, media attention.
Chamber Rules
The formal authority for field hearings is found implicitly in chamber rules. House Rule XI,
clause 2, states in part that a committee is authorized "to sit and act at such times and places
within the United States, whether the House is in session, has recessed, or has adjourned, and to
hold such hearings as it considers necessary." Similarly, Senate Rule XXVI, paragraph 1, states
that a committee "is authorized to hold such hearings to sit and act at such times and places
during the sessions, recesses, and adjourned periods of the Senate" as it sees fit. Otherwise,
chamber rules do not distinguish field hearings from those held in Washington.
Committee Rules
House and Senate committee rules are generally silent on field hearings specifically, but, in the
rules for the 111th Congress, some committees included related provisions. For example, the rules
of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence both require that members be notified 48 hours prior to a field hearing. (For
hearings held in Washington, DC, the notice requirement is 24 hours.) Rules of the House
Committee on Education and Labor provide another example, specifying that field hearings
(including those of subcommittees) may only be scheduled when authorized by the chairman of
the full committee.
Regulations and Guidelines
Funding for committee travel and other administrative issues raised by field hearings are covered
by regulations established by the House Administration Committee and the Senate Rules and
Administration Committee. In the House, regulations printed in the House Administration
Committee's Committees' Congressional Handbook cover matters specific to field hearings. TheCongressional Research Service
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Heitshusen, Valerie. Field Hearings: Fact Sheet on Purposes, Rules, Regulations, and Guidelines, report, December 8, 2009; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815753/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.