THE congress of any country is deliberative. It is governed by established rules and precedence made in previous congresses. All decisions of a legislature are carried by the plenary. All plenary actions are recorded in the Journal and verbatim transcripts are in the Records of Congress. The Order of Business refers to the daily agenda of the body. In all these, traditions are part and parcel of the very institution.

Congressional rules have been there since time immemorial. That is what the pioneer congressional staff learned when Congress opened in 1987. Those commenting that resource persons and witnesses are the same do not understand what the difference is. The spelling alone makes a distinct difference. The role of both clearly states the obvious. A resource person is like an amicus curiae in the judiciary. A resource person is a subject matter expert, while a witness is an individual involved in an illegal activity subject to a congressional inquiry.