House (above) and Senate (below) pages. Click on picture for larger image Pages place legislation on Senators' desks

Pages are high school juniors, at least 16 years of age, who serve as messengers for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Pages are used to run legislative documents between the House and Senate floors, located in the Capitol, and other House and Senate offices spread among six separate office buildings. The page service allows Members to get material quickly that might be needed to support debate on the floor or in committee. Pages also deliver flags that have flown over the Capitol to Members' offices who have requested them on behalf of constituent groups, such as scout troops. It is not uncommon for a page to put in several miles on his or her feet per day. Pages also help answer the phones in the party cloakrooms, and take phone messages to Members on the floor.

Pages are easily identifiable both by their age and by their uniform: they must wear navy blue jackets with white shirts and striped navy and red ties (House) or navy ties (Senate) and very comfortable dark shoes. House pages are required to live in the House Page Residence Hall located two blocks from the Capitol in a converted hotel that is also used for some House committee offices. Senate pages live in the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence Hall, a newly renovated former funeral home, located two blocks from the Hart Senate Office Building. The Capitol Hill Police force provides security for both residences, and the pages are subject to a nightly curfew, proctor supervision, and other dormitory regulations. Pages receive a salary to cover transportation, housing, and clothing costs, and are provided with most of their meals.

In exchange for all the walking, pages get an up close look at the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. While certain educational field trips and recreational programs are planned for them, the emphasis is on work while Congress is in session and on schooling when it is not. All pages must attend school. The House of Representatives Page School is located in an attractive facility on the uppermost floor of the Library of Congress. The Senate Page School is located on the lower level of Webster Hall. Class schedules must avoid conflict with the hours the House and Senate are in session. This means pages start school typically as early as 6:15 a.m. The page schools have their own faculty, curriculum and activities that help make the experience a fully developed and supervised work/study opportunity.

Pages are appointed by individual Members of Congress and competition for the approximately 66 House and 30 Senate positions is fierce. Some appointments are for a full year, others for one semester or for the summer only. Applications must be requested from the Senator or Representative from the applicant's state or district. The Congressional Page Board (comprised of Members of Congress) makes the final decision on which page applicants to accept, based on criteria such as grade point averages, a written essay, and letters of recommendation.

Since its first days, the House employed messengers, mostly young boys between the ages of 10-12. The earliest known mention of the term "page" came in 1827 in the House. It was derived from the English custom of employing youths as personal attendants to persons of rank. Senator Daniel Webster appointed the first Senate page in the 1820's. Nine years old, Grafton Hanson was a descendant of John Hanson, President of the Continental Congress. Girls were first admitted as pages in 1971 by the Senate and 1973 by the House.

The page program has had its share of problems and scandals. A scandal in 1982 involving sexual liaisons between two Members of Congress and two pages resulted in censure of the Members and a revamping of the page program. Once open to youth as young as 14, the program is now limited to high school juniors, has more rigorous academic requirements, and improved supervision.

To read two personalized accounts about the experience of being a page in Congress, visit:
http://www.house.gov/petri/tracey_r.htm
http://www.house.gov/petri/kelly_l.htm
To learn more about the eligibility requirements for congressional pages, visit: Rep. Jim Ramstad's website.