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THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Congressional Research Service

LAWS AND RULES GOVERNING CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE
BROADCAST OF HEARINGS

This report sets forth the provisions of law and rules governing the broadcasting of committee bearings in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Included is the relevant text from the rules of those committees which have broadcast provisions. These texts are provided for Senate and House standing committees, select and special committees, and the joint committees of Congress.

Statutory authority for the broadcast of hearings is found in the legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-510, 84 Stat. 1140), which authorizes the broadcast either by radio or television, or both, of open committee hearings in the Senate in sections 116(a) and 242(a) and in the House in section 1163).

Provisions of P.L. 41-517 Authorizing Senate Committee Broadcast of

Section 116(a) of the 37 legislative Reorganization Act, containing Senate committee broadcast provisions, reads:

$80. 226. (a) Section 13343) of the legislative Reorganisation Act of 194, as enacted by section 112(a) of this act, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Whenever any such hearing is open to the public, that hearing may be broadcast by ratio or television, or both, under such rules as the committee may adopt.

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In summary,

the section provides that hearings open to the public held by any Senate committee may be broadcast by radio or television, or both, under such rules as the committee may adopt. The Senate Committee on Appropriations, which is exempted from section 116(a), is governed in this matter by section 242 (a) of the 1970 Act, which

states:

SEC. 242. (a) Each hearing conducted by the Committee
on Appropriations of the Senate shall be open to the pub-
lic except when the committee determines that the testimony
to be taken at that hearing may relate to a matter of
national security, may tend to reflect adversely on the
character or reputation of the witness or any other indi-
vidual, or may divulge matters deemed confidential under
other provisions of law or Government regulation. When-
ever any such hearing is open to the public, that hearing
may be broadcast by radio or television, or both, under
such rules as the committee may adopt.

Thus, P.L. 91-510 authorizes all Senate committees, select and special as well as standing, to broadcast open committee hearings.

Under prior Senate practice its committees were already permitted

P.L. 91-51.0

to broadcast their hearings by radio and/or television. embodies that practice in rulemaking law, with the additional proviso that committees may adopt rules to regulate the practice.

As originally reported to the Senate in 1967, S. 355, the legislative reorganization bill of 1967, provided that a hearing might be broadcast "in the discretion of the chairman with the approval of a . majority of the members of the committee..." That language was stricken

from the bill by an amendment adopted February 9, 1967. (Congressional Record, Feb. 9, 1967, pp. 3224-3225.) The effect of the amendment was

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to lodge authority for agreeing to have a committee's hearings broadcast in the committee rather than in the chairman, although the committee might subsequently delegate that authority to its chairman.

During discussion of this amendment it was pointed out that under it "a majority vote would not have to be obtained prior to each hearing broadcast. In other words...the committee itself can adopt rules in advance, for a month or for the whole session, if it wishes. Each committee could adopt rules for the broadcast of proceedings of those committees, without the necessity of obtaining a majority vote before

each broadcast."

During the same discussion, the floor manager of the bill declared it to be the intent of the provision as amended that "the decision as to whether the rights [to have hearings broadcast] were granted for a day or a week or for the session should be within the province of the committee; and the decision as to whether it will be delegated to the chairman by the committee or left to the majority of the committee to work its will, should be a part of the internal operation of the committee, and not one of the areas in which the Senate itself should prescribe hard and fast rules."

Senate Committee Rules Governing the Broadcast of Hearings, 93d Congress For the 93d Congress the published rules of nine Senate committees contain provisions relating to the broadcasting of their hearings: Appropriations, Commerce, Finance, Government Operations, Interior and Insular Affairs, Post Office and Civil Service, Public Works, Select

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Presidential Campaign Activities, and Select Standards and Conduct. Those of the Select Committee on Standards and Conduct flatly prohibit broadcasting. Those of Appropriations and Goverancut Operations cortain essentially no more than is provided for in subsection 116(a), although Appropriations provides that any objection to broadcast be referred to the full committee for a decision. The Committees of Finance, Commerce, Public Works, Post Office and Civil Service, and Presidential Campaign Activities have delegated the decision on broadcasting to their respective chairmen, although Finance also permits broadcasting upon written request of a member. The Committee on Commerce has delegated the decision to the chairman and ranking minority member. One committee in the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary, has no written rules, while thirteen committees have no broadcasting provisions in their rules (Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Agriculture and Forestry, Armed Services, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, District of Columbia, Foreign Relations, Labor and Public Welfare, Rules and Administration, Veterans' Affairs, Select on Nutrition and Human Needs, Select on Small Business, Special on Aging, and Special on Termination of the National Emergency).

The following are the rules of Senate committees for the 93rd Congress regarding broadcast of hearings:

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SENATE COMMITTEE RULES FOR THE 93RD CONGRESS
REGARDING BROADCAST OF HEARINGS

RULE

No rule

1-26-73
(amended
3-8-73)

No rule