117th Congress In Review: 2021-2022 Tech Hearing Data
Congress held thousands of hearings in 2021 and 2022. Here's where it focused on technology.
Congress held over 3,000 hearings in 2021 and 2022 (the 117th Congress). We compiled and manually coded data on all of these hearings — and here are the technology issues on which Congress focused. Brought to you by Global Cyber Strategies.
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Methodologically Speaking…
The 2021-2022 hearing data was compiled from the websites for the House and Senate committees and other Congressional committees and commissions, such as joint committees and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. It was then manually coded to identify hearings focused mainly on technology issues, including digital technology development, cybersecurity, data privacy, network connectivity, artificial intelligence, 5G, semiconductors, spectrum, and social media’s power — as well as topics like clean energy technology and new transportation technology. The coding attempts to be comprehensive in identifying tech-related hearings.
This coding includes hearings to confirm individuals to technology positions in the executive branch, such as the US National Cyber Director and assistant secretary-level positions that focus on technology. It excludes hearings where technology could be one of the discussed topics — like in a general foreign policy hearing — but was not a core focus area for the hearing overall.
The One-Liner
The House held a higher number and percentage of technology-focused hearings than the Senate in 2021 and 2022, and in 2022, both the House and Senate held fewer total hearings and fewer technology-focused hearings than they did in 2021.
Key Findings — Topics Covered
During the 117th Congress’ technology-focused hearings, one of the most frequently covered topics was cybersecurity.
The House held approximately 140 technology-focused hearings in 2021 and 2022, and approximately 37 (26%) of those focused on cybersecurity issues.
The Senate held approximately 88 technology-focused hearings in 2021 and 2022, and approximately 21 (24%) of those focused on cybersecurity issues.
Other frequently covered topics in House and Senate technology hearings included:
Privacy in the digital age
Data
Social media
Cryptocurrencies
Digital assets
Broadband
Ransomware
Key Findings — Overall
Overall, in 2021 and 2022, about 7% of Congress’ approximately 3,339 hearings focused on technology. They covered issues ranging from social media, disinformation, and extremism to cryptocurrencies to the Chinese government’s technological repression. As mentioned, this hearing count includes hearings from committees in both the House and the Senate, as well as other Congressional committees and commissions.
The House held approximately 1,847 hearings in 2021 and 2022, about 8% of which focused on technology issues.
The Senate held approximately 1,463 hearings in 2021 and 2022, about 6% of which focused on technology issues. While the Senate held fewer overall hearings than the House, both its absolute number and its percentage of technology-focused hearings were also lower than the House’s respective counts.
Key Findings — 2021 vs. 2022
The total number of hearings the House held declined from approximately 1,020 in 2021 to approximately 827 in 2022 (about a 19% decrease). The number of technology-focused hearings the House held declined from approximately 85 in 2021 to approximately 55 in 2022 (about a 35% decrease). While the absolute numbers of total hearings and technology-focused hearings both declined from 2021 to 2022, the percentage decline in technology-focused hearings was almost twice as steep.
The Senate results are comparable. During the 117th Congress, the Senate’s total number of hearings declined from approximately 811 in 2021 to approximately 652 in 2022 (about a 20% decrease). Its number of technology-focused hearings declined from approximately 51 in 2021 to approximately 37 in 2022 (about a 28% decrease).
From a methodological standpoint, it’s worth noting that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held numerous hearings in 2021 and 2022, the vast majority of which were classified and had no public description. It is plausible that a few of those focused on technology issues.
In short, both the House and the Senate held fewer hearings in 2022 than in 2021 and fewer technology-focused hearings in 2022 than in 2021.
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