After a bill is assigned to a congressional committee, a hearing is frequently scheduled. The primary function of the hearing is to provide committee members with information that may be useful in their consideration of the bill. In many instances, transcripts of the hearings are published.
Although committee hearings do not contain congressional deliberations, they may contain information supplied by non legislators as to what the non-legislators thought the bill under consideration should accomplish. In addition, the views of some of the committee members may be gleaned from their statements made while questioning a particular speaker.
Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure: Hearings Before Subcomm. On Criminal Justice of the House Comm. On the Judiciary, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 92-93 (1977) (testimony of Prof. Wayne LaFave).
