Delivered: Oversight Hearing Video Transparency

1,139 Hearings Now Open to American Taxpayers

WASHINGTON, DC – House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced the successful completion of a year-long hearing video pilot project that has made 1,139 Oversight hearings accessible to taxpayers online. Last January, Issa launched the video initiative with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) as an important step towards a more transparent House of Representatives. Click here to view the Oversight Committee video archive and click here to watch Issa launch the pilot project.

“The completion of this project is yet another step forward in making the business of Congress more open and accessible to the American people,” Issa said. “I look forward to building off the proven Oversight video transparency model, harnessing technology to arm citizen-watchdogs with information that makes Congressional hearings more than just transcripts.”

“This project was an important step for government transparency, and I want to thank Chairman Issa and everyone who helped make it a success,” added Speaker Boehner. “We pledged that our new majority would lead a more open and accountable House, and we’re going to build on these efforts and keep working to better connect the American people with what’s happening in their Congress.”

The 1,139 Oversight Committee hearing videos date back to the 103rd Congress (1993-1994) and include 205 from the 112th Congress (2011-2012). The video archive represents the first Congressional implementation of closed-captioning to ensure that government is open to hard-of-hearing and deaf Americans. Click here to learn more about increasing accessibility through closed-captioning.

“I thank Speaker Boehner for leading this open government initiative and for giving us the opportunity to take part,” continued Issa. “I thank Ranking Member Cummings for his support and the House Broadcasting Studio for their assistance and dedication to video transparency.”

The pilot project was conducted in partnership with California-based non-profit Public.Resource.Org and its President and Founder Carl Malamud.

“It was pleasure to work with the staff of the Oversight Committee this year on this important pilot project,” said Malamud. “We carried out this public-private partnership at no cost to the government and were pleased to see the proceedings of the People’s House become more broadly available to all Americans.”

By the Numbers: Oversight Committee Hearing Video Archive

• 1,139 – Oversight hearing videos delivered back to taxpayers

• 1.6 – Terabytes of video from 112th Congress (2011-2012) in the Oversight hearing archive

• March 17, 1993 – date of oldest Oversight hearing video

• December 16, 2011 – date of most recent Oversight hearing video

• 205 – Oversight hearing videos from the 112th Congress

• 155 – Oversight hearing videos closed-captioned

###