Bills and amendments. As introduced, reported on, and acted upon by either or both houses, a bill provides information on the original intent and language of its sponsor as well as evidence of deliberate exclusions and inclusions in the bill. Bills are numbered consecutively for the two sessions of each Congress. These are transcripts of the testimony of witnesses before House and Senate Committees. Hearings can be used to illustrate that certain issues and considerations were made known to Congress through the hearing process.
Hearings are an early step in the legislative process.
Hearings are not held for all bills. Neither are all hearings published. For those which are published, there can often be a lengthy delay before publication. Some information from hearings is available electronically, but this is usually only the pre-submitted statements, not the verbal questions and answers from the hearing. Prepared for the use of a given committee, committee prints can be research studies, compilations of materials or statutes, legislative histories, background information, or working drafts of a bill.