What Do Questions Asked by Members of Congress Tell Us? Four Case Studies of Select Committees in the U.S. House

The House of Representatives Rules specify a procedure for questioning witnesses in congressional hearings. However, the rules are vague and open ended and thus representatives have a large amount of freedom when questioning witnesses. This study sought to examine if differences exist in representative’s questions in four select committee hearings: Select Committee on Homeland Security, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and the Select Committee on Benghazi. Furthermore, the study examined whether differences in questions occur when conditions such as party power in the House and Executive change. Ultimately, differences in representative’s questions exist and also vary depending on party control of the House and Executive. This study develops a new methodological approach to classify representative’s questions which researchers can use in future studies on congressional hearings and dysfunction.