ABSTRACT
Congressional standing committees are continually sending out requests for information and receiving the answers, mostly in writing. Committees also hold formal investigative sessions, called hearings, in which witnesses testify in person and answer questions posed by members of Congress or staffers. The investigative power is the way Congress gets the accurate and up-to-date information it needs to make effective laws. On occasion, Congress will also investigate some disaster, scandal, or political problem, sometimes creating a special committee for the sole purpose. Witnesses are forced to endure the painful and harmful questioning wherever it leads, because Congress possesses the power of "compulsory process," or subpoena. The Supreme Court has held that this right can be invoked during congressional hearings if the purpose is to keep the witness from uttering words that a prosecutor could record and use in a criminal court proceeding later on. Congressional power to investigate is limited by certain procedural protections.
