Turning Over a Page

Until I was 13, I lived in our nation’s capital. Most of the kids in my school knew about the Congressional Page programs (one for each of the House and the Senate), where a teenager was given a change to work on “the Hill” (Capitol Hill), doing work and taking high school classes in one of the most coveted internships of all. One of the attorneys in the firm to which I am “of counsel” – Matt Sugarman – served his joyful time on the Hill, filled with memories that helped shaped him into the fine lawyer he is today.

Currently, the Senate program works like this: “In order to become a US Senate Page, one must first be nominated by a Senator, generally from his or her State. A candidate must be a 16 or 17 year-old high school junior (11th grade), with at least a 3.0 GPA. Summer pages can be either incoming or outgoing juniors and still have a GPA requirement of a 3.0. Processes for selection vary from senator to senator. Typically, a senator's office will require the applicant submit a transcript, resume, and various essays. The process is similar to that of selecting an office employee, and may include interview of final applicants by a board of review.” Wikipedia.

But today, I would like to focus on the House side of the equation (with similar qualifications, except students can apply at 16 before their junior year), a program with deep historical roots: “The earliest known instance of boys being employed as ‘messengers’ can be traced to the First Continental Congress in 1774. The term ‘Pages’ was not used until the 20th Congress (1827–1829), and House records from the time indicate that three ‘Pages’ and eight older ‘messengers’ worked in the Capitol. Members sponsored boys—many of whom were destitute or orphaned—and took a paternal interest in them. In 1842, the House tried to cap the number at eight; each was paid the princely sum of $2 per day. Their ranks expanded as new states entered the Union and new Members were added. In the years after the Civil War, several dozen Pages typically served in each Congress. Pages still are appointed and sponsored by individual Members, though at a ratio that favors the majority party. In modern Congresses, there have been approximately 70 House Pages.” PageProgram.House.Gov.

Of course as time went on, girls joined the boys (in 1973), and instead of catering to the destitute, it became a program that rewarded talented and ambitious young people with strong interests in our system of government, eventually implementing a combination of a political appointment (the selected pages work along party lines) with higher academic standards. A number of Congressmen and women actually began their political careers in the Page Program: “The list of alumni include Microsoft titan Bill Gates and seven current members of Congress. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) was a page from 1936 to 1941, while his father served in the House.” Washington Post, August 8^th.

The program operated like a boarding school, but the school uniform became the navy blazer: “Before the 1980s, Pages were responsible for arranging their own room and board and often lived unsupervised in local boarding houses and apartments. Reforms in 1982–1983 changed this: a Page Board was established with oversight of the program; an official Page Residence Hall opened with a professional staff and cafeteria facilities; the school curriculum was improved; and a comprehensive health care plan was added. Until 2001 the House Pages lived in the O’Neill Building (formerly the Old Congressional Hotel)… Since then, they have roomed in a new Residence Hall facility within walking distance of the Capitol.” PageProgram.House.Gov. “In the early days, they tended fireplaces and delivered cocktails to members working late. More recently, they distributed drafts of thick legislation or passed notes to members on the House floor… But now, documents move as attachments. Notes buzz on iPhones.” The Post.

The honor of being a page also came with compensation, often valuable for students saving for college: “Pages made $1,804.83 a month, minus taxes and a 35 percent room and board fee. [Speaker John] Boehner [R-Ohio] and [House Minority Leader, Nancy] Pelosi [D-California] said the program cost the House about $69,000 to $80,000 per page per school year.” The Post. The House program ran up a tab of about $5 million per year. And so, between technology changes and budgetary woes, this summer’s class of House pages was in fact the last: “The House will eliminate the teenage pages who have carried legislators’ messages since the First Continental Congress, as e-mail, smartphones and budget woes combined to kill off a tradition older than the House itself.” The Post. The Senate Page Program will continue… for now.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the times, they are a-changin’.