#46: CIVICS 101: The Legislative Branch
Q&A #46: Who are congressional pages? What are their duties and responsibilities? What facilities does Congress provide for them?
Our American Government
Our American Government is a small book published by the House of Representatives for citizens and those who seek a greater understanding of the American interpretation of democracy. It follows a question-and-answer format and covers a broad range of topics dealing with the three branches of our Government, the electoral process, and the role of political parties.
The Savvy Citizen is reproducing the 169 questions-and-answers through a series of posts called Civics 101. Each post will contain the Q&A as well as some additional commentary to add historical context, fun facts, or anything we believe will add to our collective understanding of these topics.
Think of it as your adult Civics class but without the test!
Let’s keep at it.
SECTION: The Legislative Branch: The Congress
Members, Offices, and Staff
Q&A #46: Who are congressional pages? What are their duties and responsibilities? What facilities does Congress provide for them?
Congressional pages are boys and girls who are in their third year of high school, and assist members on the floor of the Chamber.
The page program in the House [was] supervised by the House Page Board and administered by the House Clerk. In the Senate, the party secretaries and the Sergeant at Arms have responsibility for the administration of the program.
The House and Senate each had/have schools for education their pages. The House school [was] located in the Library of Congress and the Senate school is in the lower level of the Webster Residence Hall. The college preparatory curriculum includes additional programs, trips, and resources using facilities in Washington, DC.
Typically, the page schools meet during the mornings so that pages will be available for work during Chamber sessions later in the day.
My Thoughts
The House Page Program ended in 2011. Here’s a blurb from the House Page Program’s website about the decision.
On August 8, 2011, the House Page era came to a close. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California jointly announced the decision to end the program, citing the manner in which technology had made paging obsolete and the ongoing costs of maintaining the program.
“We have great appreciation for the unique role that Pages have played in the history and traditions of the House of Representatives,” Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi said. “This decision was not easy, but it is necessary due to the prohibitive cost of the program and advances in technology that have rendered most Page-provided services no longer essential to the smooth functioning of the House.”
They cited the findings of a report the House had commissioned to study the Page program: Pages’ traditional support role had been “diminished” in recent years, even as the cost of maintaining the Page program exceeded tuition at elite boarding schools and the vast majority of colleges and universities.103
You can read more about the program’s history here.
Here’s a blurb from the Senate Page Program’s website (the Senate Page Program is still active):
Pages must be sponsored by a senator. There are 30 page positions that serve the 100 members of the United States Senate; therefore, not all senators are able to appoint pages. Students who wish to apply for a Senate page position and meet the eligibility requirements should write to their senators and request to be considered for a position. Senators’ offices may provide additional information on their application requirements.
For more background on the Senate Page Program, you can peruse their website here.
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This concludes the Q&As about Members, Offices, and Staff in the Legislative Branch. We’ll now move the Q7A’s covering Congressional Process and Powers - this is more substantive and quite interesting!
Back next time with Q&A #47: Why must tax bills originate in the House?
Meanwhile, don’t forget that we’re organizing the post links on a single page available here.
xo,
Kelley for the Savvy Citizen Team
February 13, 2025