[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 335-336]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  ORDERS FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004

  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the 
Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., 
Friday, January 23. I further ask consent that following the prayer and 
pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings 
be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their 
use later in the day, and the Senate then begin a period of morning 
business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.


                           Thanking The Pages

  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Madam President, we have had 
a very difficult year that has just been completed. The majority leader 
and those of us who have the honor of serving in the Senate have our 
names appear in print, we are on television, and people see and know 
what we do. But the one reason for our success is these wonderful 
pages. I have served now going on 22 years in the Congress, and they 
are just part of our lives. We take them for granted. They do the most 
menial things but which are so meaningful to us.
  For example, a lot of times I have meetings in Senator Daschle's 
office. My office is up on the third floor. These pages have taken my 
briefcase upstairs 50 times. They bring us water. They make sure the 
people at the desk have the right amendment. They do so many things 
that make us look good, and they get no honor or glory for doing this.
  These pages are juniors in high school. They are going to graduate. 
The reason I mention this is that they are graduating in the morning 
and we likely, Mr. Leader, will never see these young people again. 
Some of them we will, maybe.
  But over the years, as I have indicated, I have developed such a 
great affection for these wonderful young men and women. They sit on 
different sides of the rostrum: Democrats here, Republicans here. But 
to us they are just wonderful young people, and they are representative 
of what our country is all about.
  We are here doing the Nation's business and these young people 
represent the future. I want each of these young people to know, even 
though they get none of the glory, how essential they are to the 
running of this institution.
  I know the leader joins me, and I know he will be a speaker in the 
morning at their graduation.
  There are just a few people there. Here there are people watching. I 
want them to know all over the country that this is a long tradition of 
the Congress to have these young people helping us. We could not make 
it without them.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I would like to reinforce what the 
assistant Democratic leader just said in that the operation of this 
body is dependent on the boys and girls who are here with us. We don't 
have that opportunity very often to publicly say thank you. It is 
important to do that. I will have the opportunity tomorrow to briefly 
thank them and their parents and family members who will be here.
  I will simply add to what the assistant leader has said: It is a lot 
of hard work being a page. We are here a lot of hours in the day. 
Tonight is a reasonable time to get out, 6:20. We start early in the 
morning at 9:30. That is hard work. On top of that, they are going to 
school. So they are putting in hours every day and at the same time 
carrying a heavy workload in high school. At the same time they are 
here and working, they realize later tonight they will be doing 
homework, class work. It is pretty remarkable that they are here all 
day allowing us to carry on the Nation's business and facilitating that 
and helping in ways that, if they were not here, this would not be 
possible, or it would take longer and be a lot less efficient, and at 
the same time they are committing the time and the energy and hard work 
to education, which is a big subject on the floor all the time as we 
work.
  It leads me to say thank you. We all have tremendous respect for you. 
It has been a hard 5 months. We know that. We thank you for that. The 
curriculum itself is fascinating here because at the same time they are 
learning from great teachers through the Senate in terms of formal 
education, they are picking up what makes this great democracy the 
shining light that it is for the world.

[[Page 336]]


  Mr. REID. No objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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