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.