Hello,
I'm not sure where I should post this question.

There was a hearing of the House Ways & Means Committee in which hundreds of American citizens, including myself, wrote letters to the Committee regarding our opinions of the nature of the hearing and our personal struggles re: unemployment.

The letters we sent have become "Statements for the Record." They have been posted on the House Ways & Means Committee website for that particular hearing, and are available for viewing by anyone.

May I use excerpts of the letters without the consent of those who wrote them? If so, must I include names or not?

I wish to use some of the statements of others in correspondence to Congress, and to major media sources. I would like to use the names of the people from whose letters I use, but if I can't do that, coould I use first name and just the initial of the last name?

Am I allowed to do this without their permission, since the statements are on public record, or would this be some kind of infringement upon people's rights?
Thanks.

Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.

I've already tried the above. No luck.
I can't afford to pay an attorney $200 for the answer to the question, which is why I posted it here. I'm unemployed, trying to help other unemployed Americans. I can't afford to pay an attorney.