[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11506-11507]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               FAREWELL AND THANK YOU TO THE SENATE PAGES

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I would like to say farewell to a 
wonderful group of young men and women who have served as Senate pages 
over the last 5 months and thank them for the contributions they make 
to the day-to-day operations of the Senate.
  This particular group of pages has served with distinction and has 
done a marvelous job of balancing their responsibilities to their 
studies and to

[[Page 11507]]

this body. Their final day as Senate pages is tomorrow, but I hope we 
will see some--or all--of them back in the Senate someday, as staffers 
or Senators.
  I suspect few people understand how hard Senate pages work. On a 
typical day, pages are in school by 6:15 a.m. After several hours of 
classes each morning, pages then report to the Capitol to prepare the 
Senate Chamber for the day's session. Throughout the day--and sometimes 
into the night--pages are called upon to perform a wide array of 
tasks--from obtaining copies of documents and reports for Senators to 
use during debate, to running errands between the Capitol and the 
Senate office buildings, to lending a hand at our weekly conference 
luncheons.
  Once we finish our business here for the day--no matter what time--
the pages return to the dorm and prepare for the next day's classes and 
Senate session and, we hope, get some much-needed sleep.
  Despite this rigorous schedule, these young people continually 
discharge their tasks efficiently and cheerfully. In fact, as one page 
put it, ``We like working hard. When things get hectic, that's when we 
like it best.''
  This page class had the good fortune to witness some historic 
moments.
  They saw President Bush present the Congressional Gold Medal to 
Dorothy Height, one of the giants of the modern civil rights movement 
in America.
  They were present for important debates in this Chamber over such 
critical issues as the budget and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  They've seen--and had their photos taken--with celebrities, including 
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  Just yesterday, they saw another famous visitor, the actor Mike 
Myers--better known to some as ``Austin Powers, International Man of 
Mystery.''
  I hope the close-up view that these exceptional young people have had 
of the Senate at work these last few months has made this institution a 
little bit less of a mystery. Our government ``of the people, by the 
people, and for the people'' requires the active involvement of 
informed citizens to work.
  I understand that many, if not most, of this semester's pages have 
decided to volunteer on political campaigns--both Republican and 
Democractic--when they return home. I'm told the campaigns run the 
gamut from local school board candidates to United States Senate 
candidates.
  I am sure I speak for all Senators when I say, we applaud your 
continued involvement in the democratic process. We are very grateful 
for your outstanding service to the Senate this semester. And we wish 
you well in all that you choose to do in your future.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the names and 
hometowns of each of the Senate pages to whom we are saying goodbye 
today.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   Senate Pages--Spring Semester 2004

       Andrew Blais, Rhode Island; Katherine Buck, New Hampshire; 
     Sam Cannon, Utah; Erin Chase, South Dakota; Eric Coykendall, 
     Arizona; Julie Cyr, Vermont; Joe Galli, Maine; Watson 
     Hemrick, Tennessee; Jennifer Hirsch, Arkansas; Garrett 
     Jackson, Mississippi; Kara Johnson, Illinois; Ben Kappelman, 
     Montana; Andrew Knox, Vermont; Adam Lathan, Alabama; Betsy 
     Lefholz, South Dakota; Brittney Moraski, Michigan; Alex 
     Ogden, North Carolina; Jaclyn Pfaehler, Montana; Aaron 
     Porter, Tennessee; Ingrid Price, Utah; Laura Pritchard, 
     Virginia; Laura Refsland, Wisconsin; Ryan Smith, Kentucky; 
     Kyra Waitley, Idaho; Nathanael Whipple, California; and 
     Elizabeth Wright, Montana.

                          ____________________