1) Introduction: Why Congressional Footage Matters in 2025
Congressional hearings and floor proceedings are primary sources. For legal researchers, policy analysts, and government relations professionals, video paired with accurate transcripts provides authoritative context on legislative intent, committee priorities, and stakeholder positions. Rotunda maintains a comprehensive, searchable video library of all 2025 House and Senate hearings with word-level accurate transcripts. Find any moment, clip it instantly, and create a public permalink for citations—all by highlighting the moment and hitting share.
- Complete coverage: Searchable, clippable video library of all 2025 House and Senate hearings.
- Word-level accuracy: Every video mapped to transcripts at word-level precision.
- Instant citations: Highlight any moment, hit share, and get a public permalink for citations.
- Live coverage: Watch hearings with live video feed and real-time transcript—clippable and citable as they happen.
2) Understanding Congressional Footage Types
Hearings
Formal committee sessions with witness testimony and member questioning. Ideal for legislative history, agency oversight, and stakeholder statements.
Debates
Floor debates capture legislative intent and contemporaneous arguments. Useful for statutory interpretation and policy framing.
Markups
Working sessions where bill text is amended. Essential for tracing specific language changes and sponsor/committee rationale.
Testimony
Witness statements (opening and responses) offer expert perspectives and factual narratives that inform committee findings and future regulation.
When it matters: Use hearings and markups for legislative history; debates for intent and precedent; testimony for expert records and stakeholder positions.
3) Where to Find Congressional Video
Rotunda provides a complete, searchable video library of all 2025 congressional hearings in one place. No need to hunt across multiple committee websites or official streams—every House and Senate hearing is captured, transcribed at word-level accuracy, and ready to search, clip, and cite.
- Complete archive: All 2025 hearings with video and transcript synchronized.
- Live coverage: Watch ongoing hearings with live video and real-time transcript.
- One platform: Search, monitor, clip, and share across all events from a single interface.
4) How to Search and Access Congressional Transcripts
Every hearing in Rotunda's library is transcribed at word-level accuracy, with each word mapped precisely to the video timeline. Our natural language search lets you query in plain English across all hearings, with powerful speaker and date filters to narrow results.
- Natural language search: Query in plain English—ask questions or describe what you're looking for, no complex syntax required. See: Search.
- Speaker filtering: Find moments by specific members of Congress, witnesses, or agency officials.
- Date range filtering: Narrow your search to specific time periods or find recent mentions of your topics.
- Word-level precision: Jump directly to any spoken word—transcripts are mapped to video with exact timestamp accuracy.
- Live and archived: Search works on both live hearings in progress and the complete historical archive.
5) AI‑Powered Topic Monitoring
- Real‑time transcription: Live hearings display synchronized video and transcript that updates in real time as the hearing progresses.
- Topic monitoring (Swarms): AI continuously scans live and archived hearings for topics you track, triggering instant alerts when relevant content appears. See: Swarms.
- Continuous monitoring: Set up your topics once and let AI watch all hearings automatically—you'll get notified within minutes when something relevant happens.
6) Rotunda vs Competing Platforms: What Sets Us Apart
Rotunda combines comprehensive coverage with instant usability. Unlike traditional research databases or monitoring tools, we focus on making congressional footage immediately actionable:
- Complete 2025 coverage: Searchable video library of all House and Senate hearings with word-level accurate transcripts.
- Instant clip-to-cite workflow: Highlight a moment, hit share, get a public permalink—all in seconds, not minutes.
- Live video + live transcript: Watch hearings in real time and clip moments as they happen, with the same instant-share workflow.
- AI topic monitoring: Swarms continuously scan all hearings (live and archived) for your topics, sending alerts within minutes of relevant content.
- No recipient barriers: Public permalinks work for anyone—no login required to view your clips.
Traditional tools offer either static archives or basic keyword searches. Rotunda delivers live coverage, AI monitoring, word-level precision, and instant citations in a single platform.
7) Workflow: From Identifying to Citing Congressional Clips
- Identify: Track upcoming hearings via Schedule or subscribe to Swarm alerts for your topics of interest.
- Follow live: Watch hearings in real time with synchronized video and live transcript—both clippable and citable as they happen.
- Search: Query across all hearings or use in-page search to find key phrases, bills, or speakers with word-level precision.
- Highlight & Share: Simply highlight the moment you need in the transcript and hit share to instantly create a clip with a public permalink. See: Clipping.
- Cite: Use the public permalink in memos, filings, or presentations—recipients can watch the exact moment with full context.
The entire process—from finding a moment to creating a citable clip—takes seconds, not minutes or hours.
8) Legal Research Applications and Best Practices
- Legislative history: Search for specific bill numbers or language across all hearings and markups. Create clips of key sponsor statements or committee discussions to document legislative intent.
- Witness testimony analysis: Use natural language search to find all instances where a witness, company, or agency is mentioned. Compare statements across multiple hearings by filtering by speaker or date.
- Bill tracking: Set up a Swarm to monitor a bill number or related topic. Get instant alerts when it's mentioned in any hearing, with direct links to the video moment.
- Citation best practices: When creating clips, include enough context (30-60 seconds) before and after the key moment. Use the public permalink to ensure permanent access.
Pro tip: For critical citations, create multiple clips at different context lengths—a short clip for the exact quote and a longer one for full context.
9) Tips for Efficient Review
- Start with natural language search: Query in plain English across all hearings, then jump directly to relevant moments with word-level precision.
- Filter by speaker: Narrow results to specific members, witnesses, or officials to find exactly who said what.
- Use date filters: Focus on recent mentions or specific time periods to track how issues evolve over time.
- Expand context: When you find a key moment, easily expand the clip to include 30-60 seconds before and after for full context.
- Set up Swarms: Let AI monitor your topics continuously—you'll get alerts the moment relevant content appears in any hearing.
10) Integrating Footage Analysis into Memos, Policy Papers, and Testimony
- Public permalinks: Every clip you create gets a permanent, shareable URL that anyone can access—no login required for recipients.
- Instant citations: Highlight a moment in the transcript, hit share, and paste the permalink directly into your memo or brief. Recipients see the video with synchronized transcript.
- Team collaboration: Share permalinks across your organization via email, Slack, or any communication tool—the link works everywhere.
- Full context: Recipients can watch your clip and easily expand to see more context before or after the highlighted moment.
11) Tracking Hearings: Schedules and Alerts
- Complete schedule: Browse all upcoming House and Senate hearings with committee details, topics, and witness lists. See: Schedule.
- Instant alerts: Set up Swarms for your topics—get email alerts within minutes when relevant content appears in any hearing, live or archived.
- Never miss coverage: All hearings are automatically captured and added to the searchable library, whether you watch live or review later.
12) Sharing and Attribution Best Practices
- Public access: Congressional hearing footage is public domain, and Rotunda's permalinks make it easy for anyone to access your cited moments.
- Proper attribution: Include hearing title, committee, date, and the permalink to your clip for complete transparency.
- Context matters: When creating clips for citations, include enough surrounding content to preserve the speaker's full meaning and avoid misrepresentation.
- Professional use: Public permalinks are ideal for legal briefs, policy papers, presentations, and internal team collaboration.
13) References and Authoritative Sources
- Congress.gov — official legislative information and committee details.
- Committee websites — hearing notices, witness lists, and official records.
- Citation standards — Bluebook, MLA, and APA guidance for properly formatting legislative references.
14) Glossary of Terms
- Markup: Committee session to amend bill text line by line.
- Testimony: Statements from witnesses and their responses to member questions.
- Word-level accuracy: Each word in the transcript is precisely mapped to its moment in the video, enabling instant navigation to any spoken word.
- Clipping: Creating a shareable video segment by highlighting a moment in the transcript and generating a public permalink.
- Public permalink: A permanent, shareable URL for a clip that anyone can access without login, perfect for citations.
- Swarm: Rotunda's AI topic monitoring that continuously scans hearings and sends instant alerts when your tracked topics appear.
- Live transcript: Real-time transcript that updates as a hearing progresses, synchronized with the live video feed and immediately clippable.