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Congress has investigatory powers under the US Constitution. This means they can SUBPOENA (ie., force under pain of jailing for contempt) anyone under their jurisdiction to testify in their hearings. As long as the hearings are not judicial in nature (ie., to find legal fault and hand down punishment) which would violate the judiciary's constitutional sphere of power, they can investigate whatever the fuck they want under the cover of "in aid of legislation". Supposedly, these investigations will give them the factual findings they need to craft laws.
Given the US Constitution's very broad Commerce Clause (as interpreted by the US Supreme Court), this power is quite broad.
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