Sec. of State Clinton will face questions from the public in House hearing next week

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, she will take questions from committee members, and possibly anyone on the planet with access to a computer.

Clinton testifies on March 1, which will mark the first use of a system by which the committee will consider asking questions e-mailed by the public. Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Thursday announced the "Your Seat on the Dais" feature, and said the committee would review questions that are submitted and use some of the questions during the hearing.

Ros-Lehtinen said questions would be asked "on behalf of the submitter" during the hearing.

She also announced that the committee has set up a "whistleblower" feature that allows anyone to alert the committee to "any instances of waste or misconduct of which they may be aware."

"It is my hope that these new features will result in increased involvement and feedback from the American people in our Committee proceedings, and I welcome any ideas on how we can further improve and build on these new features going forward," Ros-Lehtinen said.

Ros-Lehtinen can be expected to press Clinton on the situation in Egypt and Libya, as well as issues related to the United Nations. Ros-Lehtinen earlier this month led efforts on the House floor to pass a bill requiring the U.S. government to seek a refund of $179 million in overpaid U.N. dues, but the bill failed to get enough votes for passage under a suspension of House rules.