[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11600-11601]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THANKING THE SENATE PAGES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today is the last day of service for our 
current page class. On behalf of all Senators, I thank them for the job 
they do every day for us--running these documents all over the Capitol, 
rushing around here to make sure amendments are filed appropriately 
and, for me, often filing cloture motions. They do a lot. The glass of 
water I have here, as for every Senator, they know whether they want 
sparkling water, water with ice, cold water, warm water.
  These are wonderful, intelligent young men and women. It would have 
been a wonderful experience to be a page when I was a boy. I hope my 
vision of the time they have had is appropriate in that they really do 
have the time I think they are having.
  They have seen this body, the greatest deliberative body in the 
history of the world, debate some very difficult issues. They have seen 
us succeed at times, maybe not succeed at other times. But I hope they 
always believe we approach our job with sincerity, of having different 
views but always striving to make our country stronger.
  It is lost on no one that more than a few of our Senators who have 
served here and served in the House have been pages. Chris Dodd from 
Connecticut was a Senate page. I talked to him about it today. That was 
the beginning of his career.
  Mr. President, I have in my office right across the hall pictures of 
my two first grandchildren--two beautiful little girls, little babies. 
They could not sit up. They were so small, they were propped up against 
something. One of them was born in September and the other was born in 
November. Ryan and Mattie--beautiful little babies. But I have in front 
of that picture a picture of my two oldest grandchildren in their 
Senate page uniforms. They were Senate pages. Being Senate pages 
changed their lives, and I am not exaggerating. It was a wonderful 
experience for my two grandchildren.
  I hope the experience for every one of these pages is half as good as 
for my granddaughters. When I say it changed their lives, I am not 
joking. Take Ryan as an example. She did not read newspapers. She was 
not really interested in what was going on in Government. But she now 
is. She reads, watches the news, and sees people come through the 
Senate whom she used to work with.
  It does not hurt my feelings--and it should not hurt the other 98 
Senators--to accept the proposition that their favorite Senator is 
Robert Byrd. Now, Robert Byrd is frail and not as strong and vigorous 
as he was when I first came to the Senate. But the pages, when my 
granddaughters were here, voted for which Senator they liked most, and 
it was Robert Byrd.
  Well, I am confident that as a result of these young men and women 
being here, they will have a new enthusiasm for public service. I know 
the Presiding Officer and I believe in government. Government is good. 
When people are in trouble, where can you go for help? Mr. President, 
9/11 said you can look to your God, whoever that might be, you can look 
to your family, and you can look to government. There are very few 
places to go other than that. And for government, we need good people, 
in appointive office and in elective office. I do not think there is a 
higher calling than public service. I personally feel so fortunate 
every day to be a public servant. Do we make all the money that people 
can make on the outside? No. But we make enough money. We make plenty 
of money. So I hope these young men and women find ways, big and small, 
to serve and honor the country that we love and they love.
  I have the honor in the morning of being able to speak at the pages' 
graduation. I look forward to doing that. I am going to do that at 10 
o'clock in the morning.
  But, Mr. President, for today, I wish to enter the names of all of 
this semester's pages in the Record in honor of their service. The 
first two names I read off tonight are a couple Nevadans: Danae Moser, 
Sparks, NV; Andrew Solomon, Gardnerville, NV. Alyssa Abraham, Franklin, 
TN; Brittany Ashenfelter, Redfield, IA; Joanna Beletic, Arlington, VA; 
Genny Beltrone, Great Falls, MT; Andrew Carter, Madison, WI; 
Christopher Cary, Parkville, MO; Phoebe Chaffin-Busby, Little Rock, AR; 
Allie Dopp, Bountiful, UT; Ronson Fox, Waipahu, HI; Jennifer Goebel, 
Plano, TX; Adrienne Gosselin, Nashua, NH; Mary Margaret Johnson, 
Madison, MS; Taylor Johnson, Orrington, ME; Jocelynn Knudsen, Missoula, 
MT; Olivia Konig, Great Falls, VA; James Lee, Fairfax, VA; Ashley 
Lewis, Canton, MI; Mark Loose, Anderson, IN; Joshua Moscow, Lexington, 
KY; Danae Moser--again, I repeat in alphabetical order--Sparks, NV; 
Hamid

[[Page 11601]]

Nasir, Anchorage, AK; Evan Nichols, Eaton Rapids, MI; Cody O'Hara, 
Florence, KY; Reed Phillips, Alexander City, AL; Augusta Rodgers, 
Winona, MN; Sarah Rosenberg, Chicago, IL; Brandon Skyles, Buckley, WA; 
Andrew Solomon--I repeat--Gardnerville, NV; Jacob Waalk, Monroe, LA; 
Ryan Wingate, Montpelier, VT.
  I look forward to seeing these fine young men and women at 10 o'clock 
in the morning, Mr. President.

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