U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida) resigned his position on Sept. 29, amid allegations that he had exchanged sexually explicit emails with teenage congressional pages. As former co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and vocal backer of legislation intended to fight child pornography and online sexual predators, the revelation proved especially embarrassing to Foley and the Republican leadership in Congress. As the Justice Department prepares to investigate whether or not criminal charges might be warranted in the scandal, let’s take a quick look at the unique and historic House Page Program.
House pages are high school juniors hired to serve as paid helpers for members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Once accepted, they live, work and study as pages in Washington, D.C. Pages live in the House Page Residence Hall and study in the House Page School. Their work responsibilities and studies are administered by the Office of the Clerk of the House, under the direction of the Majority and Minority leadership and the U.S. House of Representatives Page Board. Under federal law the Page Board is charged with ensuring that the page program is "conducted in a manner that is consistent with the efficient functioning of the House and the welfare of the pages."
The House Page program dates back over 150 years, and while there are currently 435 representatives recommending young persons for the coveted page positions, only about 66 positions are usually available. According to the Congressional Research Service, Senator Daniel Webster appointed the first Senate page in 1829. The first House pages began their service in 1842. The first women were appointed as pages in 1971.
All students applying to be pages must be sponsored by a Member of Congress (representative or senator) from their home state. Thus, the first step to becoming a page is to ask a Member of Congress for sponsorship. Page eligibility is limited to juniors in high school with at least a 3.0 GPA. All applicants must be at least sixteen years old on the date they begin their page term.
House pages are paid at an annual rate of $18,817. Automatic, monthly deductions are taken from their salaries for federal and state taxes, Social Security, and a residence hall fee of $400, which includes five breakfasts and seven dinners per week.
Pages serve principally as messengers. They carry documents between the House and Senate, Members’ offices, committees, and the Library of Congress. They also prepare the House and Senate chambers for each day’s business by distributing the Congressional Record and other documents related to the day’s agenda, assist in the cloakrooms and chambers, and when Congress is in session, sit near the dais where they may be summoned by Members for assistance.
During the school year, they are educated in the House Page School located in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. The page school, which is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, offers a junior-year high-school curriculum, college preparatory courses, and extracurricular and weekend activities. Classes are usually held five days a week, commencing at 6:45 a.m., prior to the convening of the House.
Many former pages, like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, have moved on to distinguished careers in government and industry.
