PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Congressional hearing or testimony

How to Cite a Congressional Hearing or Testimony in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a congressional hearing starts with the government, Congress, the chamber, and the committee (United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions). Then come the hearing's title in italics and title case, the publisher (U.S. Government Publishing Office), the date of the hearing, and the URL, with the Congress and session added at the end as an optional element. To cite one witness from the hearing record, use the same entry and name the witness in your sentence. The in-text citation is the government and the chamber, plus the page: (United States, Senate 12).

The format

United States, Congress, Senate (or House), Committee Name. Title of the Hearing. U.S. Government Publishing Office, Day Mon. Year, URL. #th Congress, #st session.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท Updated October 30, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

In PERRLA, choose Federal Testimony & Hearings (under Legal References). Under Choose a type, pick Federal Hearing, then the chamber: Hearing for a Senate Committee or Hearing for a House of Representatives Committee. PERRLA writes United States, Congress, and the chamber for you.

Fill in the Testimony or Hearing Title, the Committee Name without the chamber (Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions), the Congressional Number and the Congressional Number Session (1st or 2nd), the Date of the Hearing or Testimony, and the URL. For a subcommittee, give the full committee first, then the subcommittee: Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health. PERRLA puts the title in italics and title case, adds the U.S. Government Publishing Office as the publisher, and ends the entry with the Congress and session.

Citing one witness from the printed hearing? Use Federal Hearing for that too, the way MLA's own example does, and name the witness in your sentence. PERRLA's reference search doesn't look up hearings, so these go in by hand.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author: the government, chamber, and committee

The committee that held the hearing is the author. MLA names the government first, then each body from largest to smallest, separated by commas, and ends with a period.

United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

For a subcommittee, name the full committee, then the subcommittee: United States, Congress, House, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health. MLA's newer examples leave out Congress (United States, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary). Both forms appear on the MLA Style Center, so either is fine; just be consistent.

2. Title of the hearing

The printed hearing is a whole publication, so its title goes in italics, in title case, followed by a period. Take it from the cover of the printed hearing or from GovInfo.

COVID-19: Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School.

Covers print the title in all capital letters. Switch it to title case. When a title ends in a question mark, the question mark replaces the period.

3. Publisher

The printed record of a hearing is published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, the office named at the bottom of the cover. A comma follows it.

U.S. Government Publishing Office,

4. Date

Give the date of the hearing, day, month, year, with the month abbreviated (except May, June, and July). The cover prints it under the Congress and session.

12 May 2020,

The record is often printed a year or more later: this one says "Washington : 2022" at the bottom of the cover. Use the hearing date: MLA's own hearing example gives the full date the hearing was held (16 June 2009), and GovInfo dates each record by its hearing date too.

5. URL

End with the URL of the copy you read, without https://, and a period. GovInfo (govinfo.gov) has the printed record of most hearings as a PDF.

www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-116shrg45219/pdf/CHRG-116shrg45219.pdf.

The Congress and session can follow at the very end, as an optional element MLA allows for legislative documents. PERRLA adds them when you fill in the Congress and the session: 116th Congress, 2nd session.

6. One witness's testimony

When you use what one person said at a hearing and you read it in the hearing record, the entry is the hearing itself. Name the witness in your sentence, and give the page of the record in your citation.

Nancy Hagans testified that … (United States, Senate 12).

If you read a witness's written statement on its own, like a PDF on the committee's site, MLA makes the witness the author instead: last name, first name, then the statement's title in italics as it's printed on the statement, the date, and the URL. The in-text citation is then the witness's last name and the page.

Examples

A whole Senate hearing

The May 12, 2020, Senate HELP Committee hearing where Anthony Fauci, Robert Redfield, Brett Giroir, and Stephen Hahn testified on reopening workplaces and schools during COVID-19 (S. Hrg. 116-555). Cite the whole hearing when you're drawing on the session as a whole, not one witness.

  • In-text citation(United States, Senate)
  • Narrative citationAt its hearing on reopening workplaces and schools, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions heard …

A House subcommittee hearing

A September 10, 2019, hearing on maternal health bills held by the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (Serial No. 116-58). The full committee comes first, then the subcommittee. The record was printed in 2021, but the entry takes the hearing date.

  • In-text citation(United States, House)
  • Narrative citationAt its hearing on maternal health bills, the House Subcommittee on Health heard …

One witness's testimony at a Senate field hearing

Nancy Hagans, RN, president of National Nurses United, testified about hospital nurse staffing at a HELP Committee field hearing in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on October 27, 2023 (S. Hrg. 118-207). Her spoken testimony begins on page 12 of the printed record, so the citation takes that page, and her name goes in your sentence.

  • In-text citation(United States, Senate 12)
  • Narrative citationTestifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Nancy Hagans said that … (12).

House testimony, quoted with a page number

Carole Johnson, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the agency behind federal nursing workforce programs, was the only witness at this April 19, 2023, hearing on health workforce bills (Serial No. 118-24). Her testimony begins on page 20 of the printed record.

  • In-text citation(United States, House 20)
  • Narrative citationTestifying before the House Subcommittee on Health, Carole Johnson explained that … (20).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation uses the first words of the Works Cited entry. For a hearing, MLA's own example gives the government and the chamber, then the page, with no comma before the page.

  • Parenthetical: (United States, Senate 12)
  • A House hearing: (United States, House 20)
  • A witness named in your sentence: the witness isn't the author of the entry, so the parenthetical still gives it: Nancy Hagans testified that … (United States, Senate 12).
  • Committee named in your sentence: give the page alone: Testifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Nancy Hagans said that … (12).
  • Two hearings from the same chamber: add a short version of the title in italics, its first word or phrase: (United States, Senate, Overworked 12).

Use the page from the printed record you list in your Works Cited entry. A video of a hearing takes a timestamp instead, like ("NEA Hearing" 02:30–03:45) in MLA's own example.

Common mistakes

  • Overworked and undervalued…, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 118th Cong. (2023) (testimony of Nancy Hagans).United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Overworked and Undervalued… U.S. Government Publishing Office, 27 Oct. 2023.That's the legal form APA uses. MLA starts with the committee as the author, puts the title in title case, and adds the publisher and the full date.
  • Hagans, Nancy. Overworked and Undervalued…United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Overworked and Undervalued…The hearing's title belongs to the committee's record, not to one witness. Cite the hearing and name the witness in your sentence. A witness leads the entry only when you cite their own written statement.
  • United States, Congress, Senate, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.The chamber is already in the entry, so the committee's name doesn't repeat it.
  • U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2021,U.S. Government Publishing Office, 10 Sept. 2019,MLA's own hearing example gives the full date the hearing was held. The maternal health record was printed in 2021, two years after the 10 Sept. 2019 hearing, so the print year points your reader to the wrong time.
  • (Hagans 12)(United States, Senate 12)The in-text citation has to match the start of the Works Cited entry, which is the government, not the witness. Name the witness in your sentence.

Quick checklist

  • United States, Congress, the chamber, and the committee, subcommittee last
  • The hearing's title in italics and title case
  • U.S. Government Publishing Office as the publisher
  • The date of the hearing, day, month, year
  • The URL without https://, ending with a period
  • One witness? Same entry, with the witness named in your sentence
  • In text: (United States, Senate) or (United States, House) and the page

Questions students ask

Should I cite the whole hearing or one witness's testimony?

If you read the testimony in the printed hearing, cite the hearing, even when you use only one witness. Name the witness in your sentence and give the page. If you read a witness's written statement on its own, cite the statement with the witness as the author.

How do I cite one witness's written statement in MLA?

Start with the witness's name, last name first, then the statement's title in italics, exactly as the statement prints it (often "Testimony of" and the name), then the date and the URL. The in-text citation is the witness's last name and the page. Use this form only for a statement you read on its own, like a PDF on the committee's website.

Do I include the Congress number and session in MLA?

You can. MLA treats them as optional for legislative documents, added at the very end of the entry after the URL: 116th Congress, 2nd session. The cover of the printed hearing spells them out, like "One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, Second Session." PERRLA adds them when you fill in Congressional Number and Congressional Number Session.

How do I cite a video of a congressional hearing?

Cite the video where you watched it. A hearing on YouTube is cited like any YouTube video, with its title in quotation marks, YouTube in italics, who uploaded it, the date, and the URL. The in-text citation is a short title in quotation marks and the timestamp.

Is a report from the Congressional Research Service a hearing?

No. A CRS report is a report, with the Congressional Research Service as its author, and it's cited like a government report. Bills, resolutions, and laws have their own formats too. Use the hearing format only for what was said before a committee.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, government authors, and optional elements) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's How Do I Cite One Person's Testimony in a Congressional Hearing? (Feb. 2024: the hearing transcript entry with the committee as author, the in-text form (United States, Senate 11), the witness's own statement with the witness as author, and the video excerpt) and Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style (the House hearing example with United States, Congress, House, Committee on Education and Labor, the italic title, the publisher, and the hearing date). Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, re-checked for MLA on GovInfo: each record's cover and contents (S. Hrg. 116-555, held 12 May 2020, printed 2022; S. Hrg. 118-207, field hearing in New Brunswick, NJ, 27 Oct. 2023, printed 2024, Hagans's testimony on p. 12; Serial No. 116-58, held 10 Sept. 2019, printed 2021; Serial No. 118-24, held 19 Apr. 2023, printed 2024, Johnson's testimony on p. 20) and GovInfo's MODS records for the committee, chamber, held date, and publisher.

PERRLA builds the hearing entry for you, with the government, the committee, the italic title, and the publisher in place.

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