[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 78 (Thursday, June 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H2976-H2980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        A FOND FAREWELL TO PAGES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pride to recently have 
been named chairman of the Page Board; and one of the official duties 
is to say good-bye to the current page class, which graduates this 
Friday, which is tomorrow. So I would like to ask them to come down, I 
want you to fill in these seats, the first three rows of seats right up 
here. Come on down.
  Mr. Speaker, as a reminder of what we are seeing here, we are seeing 
69 pages who hail from throughout the United States and are 
representative samples of what is good and great and stupendous about 
America. They are representative of various Members of Congress who 
have submitted their names. They have endured the arduous year process 
of actually being employees of the Clerk of the House while attending 
school, getting to know each other, living together and, as we just 
heard in the colloquy with the leadership of both sides, the Democrats 
and Republicans, sometimes enduring very long hours and late nights as 
they get an opportunity to see the legislative process unfold. Much 
like sausage, it tastes pretty good, but sometimes the process is 
something to be desired.
  We really appreciate your service; and as I address these comments to 
the Speaker, he knows also that the work that you do is very important 
here and the work that you do here is historical. Many things in 
Washington, D.C. have historical implications. The page class and the 
operation of pages goes back 200 years. So this is not any fly-by-night 
operation that just popped up in somebody's mind. Your service has been 
involved in the founding and the establishment and through the various 
difficult processes of this constitutional republic, and you have been 
here with us working and learning and, hopefully, this is not the 
pinnacle of your career.
  Hopefully, this is just one stop along the way that will help you 
continue to add greatness to this country and greatness to this process 
and the political system, whether that is being a good citizen, being a 
concerned voter, diligent on the issues, or being involved in the 
process. We are going to hear from some of my colleagues who will have 
greater words of wisdom based upon their experience as maybe former 
pages who were involved in the process.
  But I want you to know that as the chairman of the Page Board that we 
appreciate your service and we wish you Godspeed.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), the 
senior member of the Page Board who has been around for many, many 
years.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Indeed, 
I have been a member of the Page Board for many, many years. Tip 
O'Neill appointed me to the Page Board in, I think, 1980. I have served 
as chairman and as ranking minority member. It is interesting, on the 
Page Board, if I am correct, I think every vote we have ever cast on 
the Page Board has been unanimous. You really have helped unite us. You 
serve us so well, and we want to serve you very, very well.

[[Page H2977]]

  There is a program in this country, a very good program called Close 
Up, and people come from all over the country and see Congress close 
up, but no one has seen Congress as close up as you pages. You have 
seen us at our best and at our worst. We are human beings here. But you 
have seen something, democracy at work. You have seen us work out 
things, like the education bill, in a very bipartisan way; you have 
seen other bills not so bipartisan, but you have seen us work. We all 
come down here with a valid election certificate. As I say, you have 
seen us at our best and our worst.
  The pages really work on three different kinds of arenas here: on the 
House floor and all of the environs of the House floor; the school, and 
it is a great school. A former Congressman, Bill Whitehurst from 
Virginia, a Republican, and I worked so hard together back in the early 
1980s to get the school accredited. It is a great school with a great 
faculty over there. And your other arena really is the dorm. You do a 
good job in all three of those arenas. As a matter of fact, this year, 
the Page Board has not had to really meet really for any serious 
problem. You are among the best group of pages that I have had the 
experience of working with since I have been on the Page Board since 
1980, and since I have been in Congress since 1977.
  But we know that you operate well in all of those arenas, and I hope 
you operate very well today, because today you took your final test at 
school, I think it was your math test. I wish you well on that. I was 
always glad when I got my math test over with; it was one that 
challenged me the most. But I am so proud of each and every one of you.
  I had two sons who were pages, and they later entered the Army and 
left the Army as captains. One just got his master's degree, MBA, from 
the University of Michigan about 2 weeks ago; and the other one today, 
and I am going to fly up there as soon as I leave here, is getting his 
master's from Harvard.
  So this is not the pinnacle, but this is a great step in your life. 
Put down that you were a page on all your resumes, because it means 
that you have set goals for yourself. You had to take the means to 
achieve those goals. You have had to say yes to yourself to certain 
things; but more importantly, as you grow up and for all of us too, as 
we continue to grow, you have been able to say no to yourself. Certain 
things are not proper at a certain stage of one's life or a certain 
time and certain things are never proper, but you have learned to say 
no, and that is part of your growth. I am so very proud of you, as I 
was proud of my two sons when they served here as pages. I wish you 
well. Godspeed.

                              {time}  1315

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I include for the Record the names of the 
pages.

               List of Pages of the 106th-107th Congress

     Jessica Adams
     Narvell Arnold
     Camille Baldwin
     Erika Ball
     Ashleigh Barker
     Erin Baumann
     Jane Bee
     Kristin Blanchet
     Christopher Bohannon
     Seth Brostoff
     Michael Byers
     Ilona Carroll
     Alesia Cheatham
     Eric Colleary
     Joshua Cornelssen
     Jason Davis
     Kelly DiBisceglie
     Adam Estes
     Jennifer Evans
     Lauren Favret
     Corey Fitze
     Brian Footer
     Dane Genther
     Ann Grant
     Erin Grundy
     Ryan Gualdoni
     Allison Hamil
     Leon Harris
     Ashley Harrison
     Brian Henry
     Christian Huisman
     Sarah Hulse
     Audra Jones
     Benjamin Kaiser
     Sarah Kozel
     Jeff Leider
     Christina Lemke
     Bradley Loomis
     Claire Markgraf
     Benjamin Melitz
     Nickolas Mentone
     Brett Moore
     Gregory Muck
     Richard Nguyen
     Charzetta Nixon
     Amber Polk
     William Pouch
     Barry Pump
     Sean Ready
     Jana Reed
     Bethany Ruscello
     Julia Sargeaunt
     Kristin Saybe
     Sarah Schleck
     Sarah Seipelt
     Brittany Sisk
     Ben Snyder
     Christopher Sprowls
     Martha Stebbins
     Paul Stone
     Ryan Tanner
     Carin Taormino
     Robert Terrell
     Chapman Thompson
     Stephanie Vermeesch
     Robert Wehagen
     Sarah Williford
     Jason Williquette
     Bradley Wilson

  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New 
Mexico (Mrs. Wilson), a new member of the Page Board.
  Mrs. WILSON. Madam Speaker, I am a recent addition to the Page Board, 
so I have not gotten to know this class as well as I probably will get 
to know the next. But on behalf of the Members of the House, I want to 
thank all of you very much for your service.
  I know some of the nights have been long. Those page runs back and 
forth between the far corners of Rayburn and Cannon to the floor late 
at night may have sometimes seemed routine, but in the midst of the 
routine things here, there is the great work of the Nation going on, 
and we thank all of you for having been part of it.
  I am very much a believer that you learn by doing and that you learn 
by serving. You all have taken advantage of a wonderful opportunity to 
come here and go to school, and serve for a year and learn for a year 
about how our Nation's government works and runs, and sometimes does 
not run. I hope you have enjoyed the experience, and that you can build 
on what you have learned here and go back to your communities and 
continue your service.
  For those who may be watching at home and looking to see whether 
their son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter are here, whether 
they see their faces here, they know this but many do not, that there 
are 70 high school juniors that serve here in the Congress every year. 
They go to school here in the Library of Congress, one of the great 
monuments to learning and knowledge that this country has. At the same 
time, they are employees of the House.
  You are a very special group of students, and you are all part of a 
very unusual high school experience which will be part of your lives 
forever. You will be asked in college and beyond college, what was it 
like to be a page? And I hope you have some special memories to share 
with people who ask, particularly young people who ask, because you are 
now not only graduates of the Page School but role models for others 
who will follow.
  You are a very special group, and I hope you have special memories, 
special memories beyond the cafeteria food, and special memories that 
are better than the O'Neill Dorm. You are the last class to endure the 
dorm in the O'Neill Building.
  I hope you have special memories that are more than late nights. I 
have seen more than a few of you back there in the corner with calculus 
books and Spanish books trying to prepare for class the next morning at 
6:45, when it is far too late in the evening here. But I hope that 
maybe you have some other special memories of friendships made here, of 
raising and lowering the flags on this great building, that inspire you 
to continue to serve this wonderful country.
  Many of you probably come from small towns across America. Maybe some 
of you have never had a chance to travel or to go abroad or to live in 
a big city before you came here, but I hope that in this last year you 
have learned that your Nation needs you, that your community needs you, 
and that there is a nation beyond the towns that you came from that 
wants you to serve. I want to thank all of you for your time here.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Hoyer), who is a lover of the institution and follows the operations of 
the House, and has a great fondness and affection for the work that you 
do.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Graduates, I suppose is the appropriate term, of the class of 2001 
Page School, congratulations. I am no longer on the Page Board, but I 
was pleased to hear the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee) and others 
say that this has been a model class. I served on the Page Board, and 
from time to time we had individuals who were perhaps models, but not 
the kinds of models we wanted, but they were very, very few.
  I am always disappointed that we do not have the networks covering 
this ceremony, disappointed because the networks will cover tonight and 
almost every night young people who are not doing positive things, 
either for themselves, for others, or for their community. You, on the 
other hand, are doing very, very positive things.
  I wish that ABC and NBC and CBS and CNN and all the national networks 
would cover each and every one of you by name and say, this is Clare 
and she has done a great job, and then mention each one of you by name.

[[Page H2978]]

  I was President of the Maryland Senate back in the 1970s, before you 
were born. I have done so much before you were born that I feel old at 
these times. But as President of the Maryland Senate, with the Speaker 
of the Maryland House, we ran the page program.
  The page program was not as extensive as this. It was not a year-long 
program. The Maryland General Assembly meets for 90 days a year. But 
some of the top students in Maryland from each of the counties were 
selected to serve 1 week early and 1 week late. It is a 10-week 
session, actually about a 14-week session, and you get to serve early, 
when it is not so busy, and you get to serve late, when it is very 
busy.
  You have, of course, gotten the spectrum: a residential program, as 
was said; going to school a year; and serving on the floor with all of 
us. You are a critical part of the work process of the House of 
Representatives. We need you here to do some of the work that you do so 
that we can facilitate the legislative policymaking process of this 
House. But much more importantly, in my opinion, you have, as has 
already been referenced, been given an experience that is relatively 
unique, that an incredibly small percentage of your age group will ever 
get.
  Our Framers created this House as the people's House, essentially as 
the bedrock of our democracy, elected every 2 years to be the direct 
voice of the people of the United States of America, correctly viewed 
around the world as the most vibrant, vital democracy in the world. 
What a privilege that is.
  It has been said that of those to whom much is given, much is 
expected. What I try to say to the page classes is that you have been 
given an opportunity that few others have been given. You know and I 
know that your parents and friends and others sometimes are pretty 
negative on the House, the Senate, democracy, Washington, your State 
capital, your county seat. It is, as Mr. Shimkus said, the making of 
sausage, which is not always pretty.
  Therefore, if you are really exposed to it and understand it a little 
better, and I think you have gotten this, I hope you have gotten it, 
the Pages that were in Annapolis, in Maryland, I think got it, you have 
a much more positive view of how conscientious the Members are who have 
been selected by their neighbors to come here and represent them, how 
seriously they take their responsibilities and duties.
  Yes, they differ and they argue, and as a result, it can look very 
contentious, and in fact is, just as are some of the disagreements you 
have in the dorm or in the classroom or maybe even at home. Now, none 
of my children, of course, ever had any differences of opinion with me 
or their mom at home, but perhaps you do. Life tends to be contentious 
because we have different opinions.
  But you have been given an opportunity to see democracy firsthand. I 
think you have, therefore, a particular responsibility to go home to 
your parents, to your friends in the community, to your classmates at 
school, to your classmates as you go on, to the people with whom you 
will work, to your community at large, and hopefully bring the message 
back that their democracy does in fact work and they can make a 
difference.
  You have special knowledge. I hope you feel a responsibility to 
impart that knowledge, that observation, your opinions as to what this 
institution does and how best it reflects your communities, because 
that, in my opinion, is the real value of the page program. You are 
special assets to America with special knowledge, special insight. As 
some of us have tried to impart that to you, hopefully you in turn will 
impart it to others.
  Congratulations for all you have done, and with high expectations for 
all that you are going to do, God speed. Thank you.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Maryland for his comments. They are always well thought and 
impassioned.
  Madam Speaker, I want to mention that the Pages on a daily basis 
live, work, and go to school here at the Capitol. Their day begins with 
school, starting at 6:45 a.m., and ends with the completion of 
legislative business on the House floor. And as we know, that could be 
anywhere from 5 o'clock in the afternoon to 5 o'clock the next morning.
  By serving as a page throughout the academic year, you have 
sacrificed your time with your family, friends, school activities, and 
the like. I think the Speaker ought to know the sacrifices that you do 
incur.
  You are very special to this institution, and you are a wonderful 
addition because you bring youth, vitality, and energy, and actually 
help Members understand that there are things that are greater than 
ourselves; that is, the future of this Nation. And having you here on 
the floor, it is important for us to see that every day.
  There is no one who understands that introduction any more than my 
friend, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), who is an alumni. You 
will join the long alumni line, as my colleague has.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).
  Mr. KOLBE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I 
appreciate the opportunity to address this wonderful class of pages 
here.
  I do stand before the House as a former member of the Page Board, but 
more importantly, as one of the handful of Members of this body who 
themselves served as a page here in the Congress.
  Now, you will have to forgive me. As most of you know, I was a page 
over in that other body across on the other side of the Capitol. But 
nonetheless, that experience was one of those formative experiences of 
my life. I look back on my younger days and I think of experiences that 
really changed me, and this was one of those experiences.
  So I would just make a few comments, and rather than about your 
service, which others have spoken of and which is so important, rather 
about the fact that you serve as ambassadors and role models in your 
communities, which is so important. I would rather speak for a moment 
about you and what you learn and what you take from this experience, 
because I think, more than anything else, you have an opportunity to 
learn something about yourself during the course of this year.
  For many, for most, it is probably the first time away from home on 
an extended period of time. You are here in the Nation's Capital, a 
great city in which to live and to work and to have the experience of a 
year.
  You had no idea last September when you came who you were going to be 
rooming with. Here you have been thrust together with people that come 
from all over the country: from high schools and communities large and 
small, from little rural farming communities, from large cities in our 
land. You are placed altogether, and in a very real sense, you are a 
microcosm of our country because you represent all these different 
districts of our country.
  You have an opportunity in the course of this year to really learn 
something about yourself: to learn about some of your shortcomings, but 
you also learn about your endurance and learn about what you can do, 
and you grow in this process. In the process of growing and of 
maturing, you become a better person.
  You also become a person who can carry, as the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) said, the message about this program and about the 
House of Representatives and about your government out into the world 
as you go forth from here.

                              {time}  1330

  So from this experience, you will go back to your schools, finish 
your high school career. You will go on to colleges. In this group, as 
I look at them, I know that we are going to have successful Members of 
the United States Congress, well one or two maybe; but most of you will 
be businessmen and businesswomen, professionals, lawyers and doctors. 
Maybe you will be artists. Maybe you will do something that is in no 
way connected with government or politics.
  But you will be citizens of this country; and as citizens of this 
country, you understand you have a responsibility. You have a 
responsibility to care about the country, and you have a responsibility 
to care about those around you.
  So if I could urge you to do one thing, it is to maintain the 
friendships that you have made here, and I think you will find that the 
most valuable part of this experience. Maintain those friendships, keep 
that e-mail flowing

[[Page H2979]]

between each of you, as I know you will be the moment you leave here on 
Saturday. Keep that e-mail flowing. Keep in touch, come back, get 
together, join together once in a while, and watch yourselves grow as 
you go through your professional careers and your fellow classmates go 
through their professional careers, and you get married, you have 
families, you have your own children. Probably somebody is going to 
have a child that will be a page here someday in the not-too-distant 
future.
  So this has been a wonderful experience for you. Yes, we have gotten 
a lot out of it. You help us a great deal. But most of all, you have an 
opportunity to learn a great deal about yourselves; and as I have 
watched you grow during the course of this year, I know you have 
learned a great deal about yourselves.
  So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for what you have done for 
us. Thank you for the friendship that you extend to us. Thank you for 
that warm smile you give us when we come on the floor, for the help 
that you give us every day. Thank you for what you do in your 
communities with your own families and your own schools. Thank you for 
the role models that you play in those communities. You are going to 
continue to do that. I am very grateful to you for it.
  I want to say I wish you well. Godspeed. Good luck.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), my friend.
  I wanted to mention that I graduated from West Point. It is supposed 
to be a leadership school. One of the best pieces of advice I ever 
received was you go through 4 years of interacting with a lot of 
different people. The advice was, take what you saw, what was good and 
remember that; and the interactions that you did not think was very 
good, kind of pledge not to respond that way, not to use that type of a 
model. Use the good role model.
  I think that is sound advice because we all are very diverse 
individuals who come from diverse backgrounds with diverse 
personalities. I mention that as an introduction to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Foley) who I am going to ask to come up who I know has a 
vested interest in taking time out to make sure he talks with you and 
visits with you and he gets to know you. That is a personal trait that 
you should emulate. He has been successful, and I know it is from his 
heart. So I am glad he joined us again.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley).
  Mr. FOLEY. Madam Speaker, I, of course, am delighted to be here 
today, and I do take a special interest in each and every one of you. 
You never know when you may run for President in the United States, so 
I may need some help in a lot of different districts. I am just kidding 
and I would ask that be stricken from the record, because that may 
appear in my hometown paper as a rather ambitious statement from this 
gentleman from West Palm Beach, Florida. And having been through the 
last election, I simply do not want to repeat it, nor cause any more 
controversy for Palm Beach County.
  Kristin, as I walked up, she had tears in her eyes, as many of you 
do, boys and girls alike, because this is both an exciting day in your 
life and I am certain a sad one. You came here, and as other classes 
do, frightened, nervous, excited, scared, confused, bewildered, and yet 
motivated that you have been selected to be the best and brightest of 
your hometowns.
  Throughout the year, you have had to take some kidding, some 
grilling, some jokes, and I will not get into it. You all know who have 
been the subject of my inquiry. I did not know they made boots that 
size. How much hair gel have you used today, Robert? Ryan was the other 
one. I did not recognize that color hair when you left here on Friday. 
I will leave that name off. I did not know you wore an earring. Does 
your dad know, or mom? No, not really.
  Those little things that you did while you were away from home for 
the year are really incidental to what you have learned and 
accomplished. You persevered, I am certain, lonely to leave your 
friends, but knowing you have been given a special chance to serve your 
country.
  I always know when a former page is writing me because they 
oftentimes do not put a return address on the front of the envelope. 
They merely sign their name largely on the left-hand margin as Members 
of Congress appear on the right. That is their franking privilege that 
they hope will be used in the future.
  Some of you are, in fact, ambitious and want to serve in politics, as 
the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) said. Some of you are already 
using House stationery.
  Christopher, thank you for your note and invitation to the 
graduation. He signed it ``future colleague,'' Christopher Sprowls from 
Florida. I am certain Mr. Trandahl, as our fine Clerk, will not get to 
see that particular note so we cannot charge you with a violation of 
House rules. But a lot of you get a kick out of the pins and the perks 
and the privileges.
  One of our earlier speakers before the page program began complained 
a bit about the confusion in the last night of the tax deliberation. 
Kind of interesting. I do not think I remember seeing any Members 
around here at 3:00 in the morning, but I do remember quite a few 
pages.
  Aaron, I think, was sleeping in one of the phone booths, as I recall, 
vigorously pursuing the academic excellence that they have all 
achieved. I said ``Aaron, is it comfortable in there?'' I have never 
tried to sleep in the booth.
  I make light because I have to, because otherwise I would cry, too. I 
have to make these little jokes and little digs at you all because, in 
my heart, I know it is a sad day because I know you leave us and a new 
class will come and will repeat the cycle of the page life. At the same 
time, you never do forget, particularly for me when I first arrived in 
1994, those that were in that class that still correspond and still 
keep in touch.
  I have celebrated their graduation from college. I have celebrated 
their life as they started their occupations, some yet continuing in 
college, going to law school and other things.
  I hope I will be able to get to see the Speaker since Robby is no 
longer at the desk letting me in as he used to so frequently. ``Yes, he 
is in there, Mr. Foley. You can go in now.'' Thank you, Rob. I always 
appreciated those courtesies, bud.
  But to all of you, congratulations. Congratulations. Obviously I 
think you are going to miss Ms. Sampson. You are going to miss Mrs. 
Ivester. You are clearly going to miss Mr. Harroun and Mr. Oliver. I 
know so many times those beaming faces when those four individuals, and 
there are others, teachers included, would confront you with one of 
your latest creative comments or ideas of how to better run the page 
program of the House.
  I know that I speak for the entirety of the House of Representatives 
that your service here is important. I know at times you felt like 
runners merely sent to do errands, but you really are a tremendous part 
of the life on Capitol Hill.
  I know Peg is back there in the corner, and she was crying earlier. I 
witnessed that. In fact, I got a report from Gay in the front, she said 
I think Ms. Sampson is crying. So you have got all these friends back 
here behind you. I know I am not supposed to gesture, but I have to 
suggest, and I know Jeff Trandahl was with us and is still, the Clerk 
of the court who has to supervise and maintain operations and good 
guidance over you.
  But God bless you. Good luck. Work hard. Go home and be, not only 
representatives of this Congress now, but also representatives to 
inspire in your friends that there is a better way to serve this 
Nation, that serving in Congress and a free democracy is a joy, a 
privilege and a pleasure.
  I thank you for taking time away from your homes, your families, your 
loved ones, your boyfriends, girlfriends and classmates to be part of 
this wonderful, miraculous challenge of being a page.
  Willy, good luck. God bless you all. Take care. Thank you.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Foley). I do not know if he did a Freudian slip. He called 
the Clerk of the House the clerk of the court. Maybe it was probably 
true for some of his dealings with you all, as I am beginning to 
understand.
  Probably another former alum who probably understands the clerk of 
the

[[Page H2980]]

court is probably the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) who I 
would like to talk about his experience and how it relates to what he 
is doing now.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom 
Davis).
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Madam Speaker, when the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Foley) talks about sometimes it looks like you are just 
feeling like you are just running errands, that is what we feel some 
days as Members going back and forth as well. I just wanted to say 
congratulations and thank you for a job well done over these past few 
months.
  I was a page up here from 1963 to 1967. In those days, you could stay 
more than 1 year, and I stayed for my complete tenure during high 
school. The day after 8th grade I started, and the day before I went to 
college I finished. It paid pretty well in those days. You could live 
at home, and my family was right across the river in Northern Virginia.
  But you learn a lot of things. One is to try to bring some balance to 
a very busy life, and I hope you have learned something about time 
management with this. This may confront you throughout your life, in 
college, in your careers. If you can just take away from here that 
understanding of how important it is to organize and get things done, 
it is going to put you in great stead as you move through life.
  I hope you have a great appreciation and love of for this 
institution, which is what I had when I left. Whether you decide to go 
into politics or decide to be a refrigerator repairman, it does not 
make any difference as long as you understand the complexities of 
government, understand what Members face, what the staffs face and how 
the system works, it will give you this appreciation, will make you a 
better citizen.
  Maybe it will inspire some of you, from what the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Foley) was saying it already has, to perhaps run for 
office someday. My appreciation led me to run for office, first at 
lower levels of government and then finally coming back here as a 
Member.
  You have been here through some very, very interesting times. Think 
of it, over a 4-year cycle, you are the ones who got to see a change in 
the Presidency, you got it see the counting of the electoral votes here 
in the House, and I do not think we had anything since 1877 that is 
anything close to this, and you got to witness that. You got to see a 
swearing in of a new Congress and the changes that that brought, 
passage of some landmark legislation. You have gone through a lot of 
late nights, some very stressful times and the excitement, the ups and 
downs that you get in a job like this.
  I do not know how many of you spent the night in a phone booth. It is 
not a very good place. But I can tell you where I come from, Republican 
Party used to meet in a phone booth. So we are pretty used to that as 
well.
  I just hope that your experience here will inspire you to continue to 
stay active in government and continue to stay active in helping your 
fellow citizens. That is ultimately what this is about. This is the way 
that we give back to our communities and try to make a limited number 
of dollars to go a long way to help the most people in the community. I 
hope you will dedicate a good part of your lives to doing that, whether 
it is in the political or the volunteer or the professional side as you 
move on.
  I want to say, I hope this experience will help you get into the 
college of your choice next year. It is a nice resume enhancer. Good 
luck and Godspeed to all of you, and thank you for a job well done.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia. A 
great representative of what your institution brings to service in this 
country is the service that the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) 
has done in his time as a Member of Congress.
  We are looking forward to you filling some of our shoes in the 
future. You are our investment in this experiment that we call a 
constitutional republic. We want to thank you for your service. Now we 
want you to go out and help make this country a better place.

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