[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10241-10244]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             COMMEMORATING HOUSE PAGES ON THEIR GRADUATION

  (Mr. KOLBE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege today to speak about our 
pages. It is the last day of their service to us. I am going to yield 
to the chairman of the page board first, but as she speaks, I wonder if 
all the pages would come down and join us here in the well so that your 
families and others and everybody can see you here. I would like for 
all the pages to come down here to the well.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly).
  Mrs. KELLY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Today is 
a special day for our pages. It is graduation day. It is a time to 
reflect on their past year of service to this body, on the school, on 
building relationships, on dorm life, and the range of experiences and 
emotions they have felt in their time in Washington. For many of you, 
this was a challenging experience. But I hope it was a special time for 
you as well. You are part of a select club, a small group of people who 
have served in Congress as congressional pages. Some of the Members of 
that club stand before you today as Members of Congress themselves. You 
are a special group of people. You have been given the opportunity to 
witness history's greatest experiment in democracy firsthand. During 
your time here, you have not heard this as much as you should have, but 
thank you. Thank you very much.

                              {time}  1345

  We thank you. I thank you from all of the Members and the staff of 
this House. You have been a very special part of this institution. You 
have witnessed firsthand the fact that Members of Congress tend to 
become wrapped up and focused on the day's floor activity and the tough 
debates which frequently characterize the House of Representatives.
  Do not think for a moment, however, that we have not noticed the 
essential work that you perform every single day. You are a special 
part of this place, you lend character to this place, and you are a 
daily reminder to all of us of why our work is so important, because 
you are our future leaders.
  Over the course of the last year, as I have gotten to know each of 
you, I have seen something special in you. Many of you have told me how 
much you have learned about while you are being here. Remember this, 
knowledge is power only when you turn on the engine, so do not be 
afraid to turn on the ignition as you go on through life.
  We are grateful for your service here. Your future and the future of 
this Nation is limited only by your ability to dream and the courage to 
pursue your dreams. I wish all of you the best of your future and the 
best of luck in all of your dreams.
  Mr. KOLBE. I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly), who 
has served in a very distinguished capacity as chairman of the page 
board. We recognize that the gentlewoman has another event that she has 
to get to, but we certainly appreciate her taking the time to speak to 
the pages and of the pages this afternoon.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my great privilege to yield to the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert.)
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor to be down here, not 
just as Speaker of the House, but I spent a great deal of time before I 
got into politics as a teacher. I taught economics and U.S. history and 
world history and sociology and government and all of those things that 
we talk about here day in and day out.
  Every time that we see a new set of faces come in, pages in this 
Congress, we also see a new challenge for each of you, a challenge of 
learning what this government is about, actually living the lives of 
what people do inside this House day in and day out.
  It is certainly a lot different than what you read in the textbooks. 
It is a lot different from what you hear in lectures, because this 
really is the essence of this place. As we struggle here, day in and 
day out on issues that some of us care very, very dearly about and some 
of us other issues that we struggle on, trying to get things done, that 
is the essence of what this government is about.
  It is the essence of what this country is about, that we can come 
here and we can sit on two different sides of an aisle, and we can 
disagree and we can fight, but at the end, we have a product, we have a 
law. We have something that guide the people in this country, and for a 
year you have been a part of that. You have seen the struggles. You 
have seen the fights. You have heard the debates.
  You know that is something that I think you will take with you for 
the rest of your lives. We appreciate the work that you do. We 
appreciate the challenges you have taken. You know we appreciate your 
families giving you up for a year to have this experience here. We 
depend on you. We appreciate you. We thank you for what you have done, 
and we just ask you to go on and live the rest of your lives as best 
you can.
  You have seen what people can do. You have seen the very best and 
sometimes you have seen the toughest side of life here, but if you put 
your mind to it, you can do anything in this country. This country is 
an open door. It is an open book, all you have to do is write your page 
down. Thank you for being part of it. God bless you all.
  Mr. KOLBE. I thank the Speaker for his kind remarks.
  It is my privilege to yield to a very distinguished gentleman, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), my colleague, my ranking member of 
the subcommittee that I chair.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Kolbe) for yielding.
  This has been an extraordinary experience for all of you young 
people. Some of the best young people in America are chosen to come 
here to see firsthand American democracy in action. You have heard 
Members from time to time talk about this as the people's House, and 
that is what it is. A group of extraordinary human beings got together 
in 1787 in Philadelphia in what Catherine Drinker Bowan in a book the 
Miracle at Philadelphia called appropriately a miracle and created a 
government, a way that people could resolve their differences and set 
policies for their future.
  It perhaps does not seem quite extraordinary from the vantage point 
of the 21st century as it was in the 18th century, such a construct was 
unknown in the world. Now, in the world, there is a shining example for 
every Nation in the world, and it is the United States of America. It 
is that Constitution that was written in 1787.
  It is an extraordinary document, and this House was created 
specifically to represent the people, directly to represent their 
passions, their fears, their hopes and their vision, and it does so. 
And as all of you live in communities and you see sometimes the people 
have great aspirations and sometimes they have feelings that are not so 
great, that are small, and, perhaps, not worthy of themselves or their 
community, and you see that reflected here as well sometimes.
  But over the decades and, yes, the centuries that this House has been 
the repository of the hopes and visions of the American people, it has 
for the most part acted well and, as a result, is the example 
throughout the world of what a democratic institution ought to be.

[[Page 10242]]

  Now, the body across the way, in which you have not served, the 
United States Senate, was created, as you know, as a representative of 
the States, of those 13 independent Nations that got together and 
formed a Nation, and, in effect, it gave up some of their sovereignty 
but made a deal in the process to make sure that the States were 
represented in the United States Senate.
  In the last century, of course, we amended the Constitution, they are 
directly elected, not by the State legislatures, it is this House 
elected every 2 years that was designed to reflect the will of the 
American people. And you, as the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) 
said a little earlier, had been given an extraordinary privilege.
  Think of all the millions of young people your age in America today 
and think of how few of you got the opportunity to visit here, be here 
and work here every day that we were in session. And you got to learn 
firsthand how well this extraordinary experiment in democracy, in 
people working together to resolve problems and set policies can and 
does work. Because you had been given a significant privilege, you also 
have a very serious responsibility, and that responsibility is to go 
home and talk to your friends, your fellow students, people who you 
will work with, your parents, your sisters, your brothers, your aunts, 
your uncles and other relatives, and tell them about their democracy. 
And, hopefully, you will go from here excited about what you have 
learned and excited about this process and urge people to participate 
in their democracy, by voting certainly, but by participating as well 
on behalf of the party or candidate or policy of their choice, because 
that is what makes this an extraordinary body.
  It reflects the sentiments of citizens, but it can reflect the 
sentiment of citizens only to the extent that they participate and 
articulate those sentiments and let the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Kolbe), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Davis) and myself and the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Kanjorski) know those sentiments and the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee). And because you have firsthand knowledge that 
millions and millions of Americans will never have, you have had a 
special privilege, but also, as I said, a particular responsibility.
  I would be remiss if I did not say to James Kelly from my district, 
who, in a few short years, will either vote to hire me again or fire me 
again, how pleased I have been to have him here. And I know every 
Member feels as keenly about each of you whom they had the privilege of 
representing as I do about Jim Kelly.
  This is a graduation of sorts. I see some tears, and there will be 
more, but those ought to be tears not just of sadness. You will have 
made friends that you will keep for all of your lives and information 
and knowledge that you will never lose. Use it well.
  Thank you for your service, not only to us, not only to this 
institution, but to your country as well. Congratulations. And 
Godspeed. Thank you.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Hoyer) for his extraordinarily eloquent remarks.
  It is my privilege now to yield to an individual who can speak 
firsthand about the page program, in fact, I think he served certainly 
longer than I did here, he was here 4 years as a page. I only was here 
3, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski) was here for 2. 
Okay. So the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) holds the record. And 
we appreciate the gentleman coming today and speaking to the pages. I 
yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to address this 
first page school class of the millennium here today. And although I 
served 4 years, it was in the other body, so it seemed like about 10 
years. And this is a much faster and brisker pace over in the House of 
Representatives than we have down the hall.
  I know it has been an extraordinary privilege and honor for all of 
you to serve here, and I hope that it has been worth your while in 
terms of the lessons you learned, the discipline you have had to 
achieve to move forward, and we appreciate you doing this.
  This is probably the most difficult time to become a page because you 
are trying to balance your academics with working as a page on the 
floor, and it is very difficult with late night sessions coming back 
and forth. We understand the sacrifices that you have made, many of you 
coming from high schools where you had interests in sports and other 
activities, and you gave those up to come here to Washington to pursue 
this. We are very much appreciative of that.
  You will make lifelong friendships here. My best friend today was 
someone who served with me as a page. I am going to see him this 
weekend out in California. He went on to be mayor of his town and we 
ended up marrying sisters, who would have thought when we were sitting 
here in the page school class. So you join a long list of page alumni, 
including many Members of this body, some Members of the other body. 
Bill Gates was a page, but not only that, every other segment of 
society, teachers, homemakers, attorneys, look around.
  The important thing is when you leave here, the lessons that you have 
learned here, you take what you have learned and you use it to become 
better citizens and you have a better understanding of government. And, 
most importantly, even if you do not pursue any role in politics, you 
can pursue helping others, that is what this is all about, that is why 
we serve here, to try to help our country and to help other people.
  And I hope you will take that with you, that is what inspires us to 
get up every morning and go through those long hours. And I think that 
is what has inspired you to come here and give up what you had back 
home and get up early in the morning and go to the school all day and 
then work the rest of the day and study at night.
  I am just most appreciative for what you all have done here over the 
last session. The best of luck to you as you pursue your dreams in this 
very most exciting time in history and thank you very much for what you 
have done.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to recognize another former page, who 
has had the distinction of having served at one of the most dramatic 
moments in history for pages and he is memorialized forever in that 
photograph in the cloakroom as he was carrying stretchers down the 
front steps of the Capitol after the attack by some of the independent-
minded people from Puerto Rico in 1954. And with, I might add, our 
former and beloved colleague who is no longer with us, Bill Emerson. It 
is my privilege to recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. 
Kanjorski).
  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe). Today really was an interesting 
day, because it allowed me to relive my youth in a way. I had the great 
pleasure of having a night conversation and lunch with my sponsored 
page Becky Hoffman, who is part of this class. And her grandmother and 
her grandfather are very old and dear friends of mine are in the 
gallery watching this ceremony.
  I went over and thought how being a page some 47 years ago had 
changed my life. And as my friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Davis) said, it allowed me to form my best friend relationship through 
my entire life, Bill Emerson, who I met here on my first day as a page, 
was a roommate with him for 2 years while I was here. And he continued 
on for his 3rd year, and then we had the honor to come back and serve 
in the Congress together for about 7 years prior to his untimely death.

                              {time}  1400

  My class and my Congress that I served in was exceptional because out 
of that class of pages we produced three Members of Congress. I know 
that after having been here, maybe you all think, gee, that is the last 
thing in the world I would ever want to be; but

[[Page 10243]]

I hope you have taken the charge that Mr. Hoyer has given you, and that 
you have had this window of opportunity to see from within, as the 
Speaker said, the real activity of the legislative process and 
democracy in action. I hope it spurs you on to develop an ambition to 
be in public service, particularly to be participants.
  I know you are the best and brightest from all over the country, and 
you are going to go to great attainment in your life. If I could give 
you a little advice for when you go back to your schools: you will be 
different. You are more mature, more worldly; there will be some 
jealousy toward the experience you had. You have to treat that gingerly 
so that your peers learn something from you and do not have envy for 
what you had. Take the opportunity to bring them along in your peer 
groups in your various high schools. Do that. Do not be foolish enough 
to think about this experience as having made the touchdown, as being 
the most important game of your senior year in high school and as the 
high point of your life. Page activity is very important, but do not 
let it ever be the high point in your life. You are just beginning now 
to go on to attainment and to great success, and you should look 
forward every day in your life to doing bigger and better things, and 
every one of you can.
  I would just like to say that over the last 47 years since I started 
here as a page with Bill Emerson and Bob Bauman, we were both in the 
83rd Congress, the last Republican Congress before these three 
Congresses when the Republicans were in power, I formed a friendship 
for life, I learned what I wanted to do, and I had an experience that I 
have carried with me, and I want to pass it on to you. These Members 
that you deal with day in and day out and you see and you witness, and 
the Members of the Senate, you have already met four or five future 
Presidents of the United States. They are here among us. How to discern 
who they will be is another matter, and that will test how perceptive 
you are; but they are here.
  I was thinking back how fortunate I was in 1953 and 1954. I got to 
meet almost every President of the United States who subsequently 
became President when they were either a Member of this House or a 
Member of the Senate. So you have had that same enjoyment. You have 
probably met and have served with a lot of future cabinet officers, 
governors, all kinds of individuals. You, if you are interested in 
public service, can be like Bill Clinton, the President of the United 
States. You are about the same age as he was when he met with President 
Kennedy when he was your age in Washington. He looked around, he looked 
at his classmates, and he decided that he too would like to be 
President of the United States. He tells an interesting story, because 
30 years later from that day, almost within 3 or 4 days, he took the 
oath of office as President of the United States. Every one of you have 
that opportunity. But most of all, every one of you have the 
opportunity to serve, to distinguish yourselves and honor your 
classmates, and the institution of being a page.
  I cannot think of all the great pages, but the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Davis) mentioned Bill Gates. Well, he is the wealthiest, 
I am sure, of the former pages. But people like Daniel Webster, people 
like Senator Arthur Vandenberg, one of the original charter writers of 
the United Nations charter, and on and on we could go. It is quite a 
tradition. Now that you are part of it, you have an obligation to use 
it wisely, treasure it, and not to embarrass it. We are honored to have 
served with you, and I am sure I speak for all 435 Members of the 
House. You have done a great job. Go on now and do an even greater job 
in life.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his wonderful 
remarks. I am sure I speak for all of the pages when I say that one of 
the favorite Members is the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), who 
never fails to stop by the page desk and inquire about the pages and 
spend a little time talking to them. It is my privilege to yield to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley).
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. First let me pay back 
the compliment you have just given me and ask the pages to salute him 
for his dedication to the page program.
  Mr. KOLBE. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I wish I was in Bill Gates's class. I would 
be planning my estate taxes and issues like that, because obviously, he 
has done very well. It is not just about wealth; it is about this 
country. I hope I can get through this, because this is a sad day. We 
watched the kids come here, excited, exuberant, happy about serving 
their country; and we see them leave as mature young people who are 
ready to carry out life's dreams.
  In this class we had several Andrews and several Adams and multiple 
Christophers, several Lindseys. Some came with dyed hair, Christopher; 
some have used the Nation's supply of gel; Spike, as I call him. Some 
of you have changed outfits and changed looks, but the thing that I 
think unites us all is that you are outstanding young people.
  Oftentimes, you read the newspaper and you look at the TV news and 
you hear about the bad kids in life. Happily for America, that is only 
about one-half of 1 percent. Regrettably, we do not read about the good 
kids, the kids that are here today that are sacrificing being away from 
their friends and family back home, the time that they could spend in 
high school, the favorite years of your life in your hometown, in your 
home community, with your boyfriends and girlfriends and family.
  But instead you chose to venture to our Nation's Capital, the seat of 
government, the center of the world. You have served, and I know at 
times you have been frustrated. I have seen some of you dragging in at 
10:30 at night while some of us continue to talk to the cameras above, 
talking to our residents back home on C-SPAN, and you say, are they 
ever going to stop? Will they cut special orders sometime soon? And yet 
you get up the next day full of exuberance.
  As I am running in the morning, in fact, I run on Thursdays with Kay 
Bailey Hutchison, I said, Kay, you better watch your job, because 
Parker Payne may be running for Senator some day in this class. He is 
already threatening, so I think you and I should keep running and keep 
working to make sure that you are the Senator from Texas.
  But you will have elected officials in this class. You will have 
entrepreneurs; you will have doctors and lawyers and scientists. But 
the one thing that is sure, as was mentioned, you will have lifelong 
friends. You will have bonded together; and 10, 15, 20 years from now 
you will look back and think of that special time you had when you were 
sharing dormitory space and thinking about how your senior year would 
be and how the prom would be. Tonight we will send you off back to your 
families and back to your parents, many of whom I have met; and I know 
that they are proud today and that they have helped raise you. And I 
think you have to recognize how proud you are of them, for thinking of 
you and to recognize your maturity to allow you to leave home. Your 
fathers were ready to get rid of you when your mothers were probably 
weeping daily as the time approached to head to Washington.
  But in all sincerity, I am going to stop soon, because I see some of 
you crying already; and I will start too, because I am sad. But knowing 
you are going off a better person makes me all the more happy.
  In conclusion, let us make sure that we thank some people here that 
have also made your experience both memorable and wonderful, and I am 
sure Jim is going to do that; but Ms. Sampson, Harroun and all the 
staff, for their stewardship, guidance and leadership of this class, we 
should salute them as well.
  God bless you, kids. You are great, you are fabulous, and I love you. 
Thank you.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his very kind 
remarks. If I might, just in conclusion, make a few of my own.
  About 3 weeks ago, we held a reunion here in Washington, it was the 
40th page school reunion for my class. Among those in that class are 
two that are known to most of these pages here.

[[Page 10244]]

One, of course, is one of the most beloved former pages, Donn Anderson, 
who served this House as the Clerk of the House for many years and has 
been the staunchest supporter of the page program. Also in that same 
class was Mr. Ron Lasch who serves as a floor assistant for the 
Republican majority here and has been a stalwart person for a number of 
years on behalf of our party in the House of Representatives. Both of 
them believe so strongly in this institution, and I hope that is part 
of what you will take away from here.
  There is no doubt, as I had that reunion, while I know what you are 
thinking; you are thinking, certainly I could never look that old some 
day, but maybe some of you will, although most of you will probably be 
in much better shape 40 years from now. But what I remember, what I 
think was evident at that reunion for all of us is this was a very 
life-changing experience. Several people have talked about the 
friendships that you will make and that you will have for a lifetime, 
and you will. It is incredible how bonded our class has become over the 
years. For all of us, this was very much a life-changing experience. It 
has brought us closer to each other through the trials and 
tribulations; and yes, I am sad to say we have lost 4 members of our 
class now. But it has brought us closer together. And as we watched our 
families grow, we have shared those experiences with each other. That 
is very much the human part of what this program is all about.
  I am often asked as a member of the page board, why do we need a page 
program? Why do we not just hire messengers? It would be so much easier 
to do that than to maintain a staff and a place for the pages to live 
and a school and all of that. There is no question there are easier 
ways to handle the invaluable services that you provide for us. But I 
do not think there are very many Members of this House of 
Representatives that have ever wanted to give up this program, because 
we all understand that it is an opportunity every year to give a 
handful, a small handful, but a wonderful handful of young people an 
opportunity to understand their government in a way that their friends 
and classmates and others across this country will never, ever be able 
to have.
  But you can share that experience with them. That is really the 
message that I want to leave with you today as you go forward from this 
experience. You go forward as ambassadors, really, for our government, 
for the institutions of democracy that make this country such a great 
place. Your responsibility, having completed this year as pages, is not 
to be elected to office, though there will be some of you that will be 
elected. I will guarantee somebody in this class that will be serving 
some day in the House of Representatives or the United States Senate, 
and others of you will serve in State legislatures and city councils 
and school boards, other kinds of equally important tasks in life. Your 
job is not to be elected and your job is not to make as much money as 
Bill Gates; very few of us could ever hope to accomplish that. But your 
job is to serve, to serve your community, your country, your family in 
the best way possible. You have been given a great opportunity, and I 
know that each and every one of you will make the very most of this 
opportunity.
  So I hope that you will go out from here and help others understand 
what our government is about, and how wonderful it is, because these 
institutions of democracy, for all of their failings, is still the very 
best that we have been able to devise. You have done us a great service 
during this last year. Sometimes we do not even realize how the work of 
the House of Representatives depends on what you are doing every day, 
and it becomes a part of us, and yet you are so important to the 
operation of this House. So we will miss you. On Monday there will be a 
new batch of pages in here, and we will all be busy trying to orient 
them and get to know them. But we will miss you, and we hope that you 
will stay in touch with us and with others that you have gotten to know 
back here; and we look forward to the great service that you will be 
providing for your country in whatever capacity that might be, and 
there will be very many different kinds of things.
  At this point, Mr. Speaker, I will enter into the Record a list of 
all of the pages.

       Max Abbott, Dominic Adams, Sarah Baca, Thomas Bazan, 
     Christopher Bower, Geoffrey Brown, Diane Bruner, Michael 
     Buck, Eric Cercone, Adam Cheatham, Christopher Clark, David 
     Cook, Andrew D'Anna, Ashley Daugherty, Ashley Foster, 
     Katherine Fortune, Kara Frank, Amy Gaddis, Adam Gellman, Dana 
     Hall, Kristopher Hart, Laura Heaton, Androni Henry, Rebecca 
     Hoffman, William Hooper, Jay Kanterman, James Kelley Stevens, 
     Kelly, Susanna Khalil, Jule Kolbe, Julia Koplewski, David 
     Kroontje and Adam Kwasman.
       Ray LaHoud, Andrew Lerch, Yun Hsin (Amy) Leung, Brad Lyman, 
     Alison Lowery, Renee Mack, Megan Marshburn, Jeffrey Mannion, 
     Marcella Martinez, Lindsay Moon, Clinton Morris, Nancy 
     Nicolas, Casey Osterkamp, Parker Payne, Ashley Percy, 
     Christopher Perr, Jessica Porras, Tessa Powell, Lindsey 
     Ransdell, Jennifer Reed, Moriah Reed, A.J. Rosenfeld, Chase 
     Rowan, Danielle Ruse, David Schweinfurth, Samuel Sinkin, 
     Megan Smith, Nouvelle Stubbs, Erin Sweeney, Christine 
     Tancinco, Anika Tank, Margaret Theobald, Lindsay Thomson, 
     Amber Walker, Lauren Weeth, Julie Wise and Jessica Wood.

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I would, in conclusion, also just like to 
mention my own page, as others have done, Adam Kwasman from Tucson. He 
has been a great page this last year and has become a great friend of 
mine, but each and every one of you have become great friends of mine. 
Some I have gotten to know, obviously, better than others. But I admire 
what you have done, we appreciate the service, we thank you for that, 
and we wish you Godspeed. Thank you.

                          ____________________

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