Order Code RS22649
April 24, 2007
Senate Committee Hearings:
The “Minority Witness Rule”
Christopher M. Davis
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
When a Senate committee, other than the Appropriations Committee, holds a
hearing, the minority party members of the panel have the right to call witnesses of their
choosing to testify during at least one day of that hearing. Paragraph 4(d) of Senate Rule
XXVI — known as the “minority witness rule” — states:
Whenever any hearing is conducted by a committee (except the Committee on
Appropriations) upon any measure or matter, the minority on the committee shall be
entitled, upon request made by a majority of the minority members to the chairman
before the completion of such hearing, to call witnesses selected by the minority to
testify with respect to the measure or matter during at least one day of hearing
thereon.
If the minority’s request to call witnesses comes after a hearing has begun, it will
necessitate the continuation of the hearing on an additional day to accommodate minority
witnesses. For more information on legislative process, see [http://www.crs.gov/products/
guides/guidehome.shtml].
The minority witness rule was contained in Section 114(a) of the Legislative
Reorganization Act of 19701 and was subsequently made a part of the standing rules of
the Senate. The committee report accompanying the 1970 act said of the creation of a
minority witness rule:
By custom, committees ordinarily honor requests from their minority party members
to call certain witnesses. [This section] will make this a matter of right. It provides
that during any hearing of a committee, those members shall be entitled, during at
least one day of the hearing, to call as witnesses persons they select. We don’t look
upon this as an authorization for delaying tactics but rather as good legislative
practice.2
Rule XXVI is rarely formally invoked, however. In practice, the rule has largely
served as a “backstop,” which gives the minority party members of Senate committees
1 P.L. 91-510, 84 Stat. 1140.
2 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Rules, Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, report to
accompany H.R. 17654, 91st Cong., 2nd sess., H.Rept. 91-1215 (Washington: GPO, 1970), p. 6.

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procedural recourse should the majority refuse to invite witnesses they request. In the
vast majority of hearings, the majority does invite minority witnesses after consultation
and negotiation with minority Senators and staff.
In comparison to the House of Representatives — which has a similar minority
witness rule — the rules and precedents of the Senate give Senators far more individual
influence over the scheduling and consideration of legislation. That, in conjunction with
the tradition of comity that generally governs the chamber, means that Senators have
rarely found it necessary to invoke Rule XXVI to have their views represented.
Occasionally, however, a majority of the minority party members have invoked Rule
XXVI to have their witnesses heard from at a hearing.3
Majority Prerogatives and Minority Witnesses
While paragraph 4(d) of Senate Rule XXVI gives the minority the right to witnesses
of their choosing during one hearing day, the committee majority maintains control over
the scheduling and logistics of that hearing. In addition, ordinary Senate and committee
rules governing hearings apply equally to any hearing in which minority witnesses testify.
It is up to the chairman of the committee to set the day and location of the requested
testimony under a reasonable schedule. While the committee majority must invite the
witnesses chosen by the minority party, they are not precluded from inviting additional
witnesses of their own choosing.
The committee chairman maintains control over the logistics of how the minority
witnesses will testify (i.e., individually, in panels, etc.) and also determines whether or not
to administer the oath to the witnesses in keeping with its normal practices.
As is the case with other witnesses, a minority witness may decline an invitation to
testify before a Senate committee or subcommittee. The committee can elect to issue a
subpoena for their testimony under the normal procedures of the Senate and the
committee, but is not required to do so.
The scope of testimony under the minority witness rule is generally limited by the
subject of the hearing. A committee is not required to permit testimony by minority
witnesses or questioning by Senators that strays from the announced subject of the
hearing. If the committee chooses, of course, it may broaden the scope of its inquiry or
permit non-relevant debate as it sees fit.
Notwithstanding the rights afforded the minority party under the minority witness
rule, a committee majority always retains the right, applying a “reasonableness test,” to
determine the relevance of testimony and the appropriate length of a Rule XXVI minority
day of witnesses.
3 See, for example: U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Labor and Human Resources, AIDS
Education and Care, hearing, 101st Cong., 1st sess., Feb. 7, 1989 (Washington: GPO, 1987).

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