# What Comes from Congressional Hearings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 20, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612 "2026-03-20T13:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/1 "2026-03-20T13:45:53Z")
Mods, if this isn’t the correct forum, please move. Over and over, I see officials of some sort being questioned in Congressional hearings, and quite often they are being exposed for various reasons that sometimes appear illegal, or at least unethical. Does anything ever come from these hearings? What use are they if the officials in question just avoid answering or even admit to some oversight? ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/2 "2026-03-23T11:23:03Z")
Was this a really dumb question? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/3 "2026-03-23T13:12:58Z")
It wasn’t dumb. For something to come from Comgressional hearings you need to have a functioning legislature. We don’t have one of those right now. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/4 "2026-03-24T00:19:30Z")
In theory, a hearing might uncover a problem that might lead to a legislative effort to correct it. But in practice, they are simply performative, at least currently. But congress critters have nothing better to do anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/5 "2026-03-24T00:30:23Z")
They serve as a form of deterrence or informal punishment, too. Even if no legal penalties or demotion/firing comes of it, being grilled by a room full of senators about your mistakes, on TV, isn’t fun. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/6 "2026-03-24T00:41:25Z")
Then why are the questionees so happy, and the questioners so ineffectively angry? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/7 "2026-03-24T01:36:31Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Even if no legal penalties or demotion/firing comes of it, being grilled by a room full of senators about your mistakes, on TV, isn’t fun. And it is worth noting that lying to Congress is a crime. … One of the biggest advantages to congressional hearings is public exposure. Sometimes it leads to famous moments - “have you no sense of decency, sir?”; or Watergate and the tapes. _That_ in my opinion is the biggest gain if the Democrats take the House. We can finally get real, public investigations into Trump and his corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/8 "2026-03-24T01:43:54Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > We can finally get real, public investigations into Trump and his corruption. We already know, from information that is already publicly-available, that Trump is corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/9 "2026-03-24T01:49:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > We already know, from information that is already publicly-available, that Trump is corrupt Yeah, but I’d still like to see publicly held hearings. Maybe subpoena the president to testify about Epstein. That sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/10 "2026-03-25T04:17:21Z")
And the public exposure does nothing but show us that public exposure does absolutely nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-from-congressional-hearings/1028612/11 "2026-03-25T05:00:01Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > And it is worth noting that lying to Congress is a crime. A fact that has been ignored for decades when the people being questioned are privileged enough. I recall an example big enough that is made the news, when back in 1994 (so it’s not just a recent issue) multiple tobacco company CEOs [lied to Congress](https://senate.ucsf.edu/tobacco-ceo-statement-to-congress) about what they knew about tobacco’s effects to Congress. They were of course not punished in any way. Something a number of people at the time pointed out _was_ a crime, and demonstrated just how little that meant.