Signorielli said she had to prepare her testimony quickly, as she was asked to participate only one week before the hearing. I was only allotted two minutes to speak, but I was given considerable latitude in my written testimony. They cut you off when your time is up, so it's important to have your statement within the time frame. Then I had another minute to sum up. I didn't know until the last minute where it would be held.
People do keep walking in and out during the hearings and it's a little disconcerting.
The members of Congress may be called out to vote and their staff people are hurrying in and out. I did have the impression that the people I was talking to had background knowledge of the subject and knew what was going on. Bilinsky said he was invited to testify by a member of Delaware U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden's staff, probably as a result of several letters he has written to the senator on the issue of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine. If you don't know the procedure, it can be a little depressing that not all of the members of the committee are there throughout your testimony. There were quite a lot of people in the room when the hearing started but not so many near the end.