Republicans pledge YouTube postings of Oversight committee hearings

House oversight panel hearings will be broadcast in HD

New House Republican leaders will use the YouTube website to distribute a committee's oversight hearings.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a video posted to YouTube on Jan. 5 the committee’s oversight hearings will be on YouTube in high-definition (HD) video. The program is a partnership with YouTube, Issa said.

Issa said the “Oversight in HD” videos "is part of our mission is to shape a government where you can see – hassle free – what Washington actually does with your money.” Issa posted his video on the same day that House Speaker John Boehner (R- Ohio) oversaw the passage of a new set of transparency rules for legislation.

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House adopts transparency rules

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In addition to providing broadcast-quality videos of future committee hearings, the program’s HouseResourceOrg YouTube channel includes a collection of videos of past committee hearings under former chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D- N.Y.) dating from 2009 and 2010. The former hearings previously were available to the public on the committee’s website.

Boehner said the YouTube video project hopes to fulfill the GOP’s “Pledge to America” principles of open and transparent government. "Increasing transparency by making more high-quality government video available and easy-to-find represents a significant step in doing just that, ” he said.

The YouTube video channel for the House oversight panel hearings is sponsored by House.Resource.Org, which is affiliated with Public.Resource.Org, a non-profit group that has agreements with federal agencies to distribute federally-produced film and video products. Public.Resource.Org also operates the popular FedFlix project on YouTube offering historic film documentaries and educational films.

Watch Issa's video below.





About the Author

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer covering government 2.0, homeland security and other IT policies for Federal Computer Week.

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