Page of the United States House of Representatives
[4][5][6] In 1965, Paul Findley (R-IL) appointed Frank Mitchell as the second African-American page to serve in the House of Representatives.
[citation needed] On March 1, 1954, members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (on the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea / West Indies islands chain), opened gunfire from the observation gallery / balcony on the House Chamber during debate and shooting injured five members of the House of Congress.
In this U.S. Capitol shooting incident Congressman Alvin Morell Bentley (R-MI) was seriously wounded by a bullet fired by Lolita Lebrón.
[citation needed] In 1983, it came to light that Representatives Dan Crane (R-IL) and Gerry Studds (D-MA) had engaged in sexual relationships with 17-year-old congressional pages.
An employee in the House of Representatives Doorkeeper's office, James Beattie, was accused of selling and using cocaine, resigned on May 16, 1983, and pleaded guilty to two federal crimes of misdemeanors on July 28, 1983.
Page Board Chairman John Shimkus said "that in late 2005 he learned — through information passed along by Rodney Alexander's office — about an e-mail exchange in which Foley asked about the youngster's well-being after Hurricane Katrina (August 2005), and requested a photograph.
Chairpersons of the Board included Sue W. Kelly (R-NY) (1998–2001), John Shimkus (R-IL) (2001–2006), and Dale Kildee (D-MI) (2007 – 2011).
[2] "We have great appreciation for the unique role that pages have played in the history and traditions of the House of Representatives.
This decision was not easy, but it was 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.
The page's work life revolved around the United States Capitol in the federal capital city of Washington, D.C. Officially a division (and operating under the authority and supervision) of the Office of the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the Page Program since 1827 / 1839, existed primarily to provide supplement support to various House of Representatives offices.
Page responsibilities included taking statements from members of Congress after speeches (for the legislative journal, the Congressional Record), printing and delivering vote reports to various offices, tending members' personal needs while on the floor of the House chamber, managing phones in the adjacent cloakrooms for the party caucases, and ringing the Capitol bells for upcoming votes.
For work purposes, pages were divided into two groups, Republican and Democratic, based upon the party affiliation of their sponsoring Member.
These runners were dispatched to various House offices, typically taking advantage of the underground United States Capitol subway system to transport various documents by overseer or desk pages.
A fair number of dispatches involve the runners going to Congressional offices to bring proposed legislation to the cloakrooms.
Also, they provided assistance to the various other staff, clerks and congressional parliamentarians seated at the front rostrum, as well as the Speaker Pro Tempore.
They were present during the period of Special Orders, a time when a member may speak for one hour on any subject (in view of the overhead recently installed television recording video cameras), which were conducted after the day's legislative business ended.
Miscellaneous tasks included cleaning the phone booths provided in the cloakroom; assisting the cloakroom managers in answering phone calls; during votes, waking up representatives who were napping / asleep; and making sure that every member present remembered to vote.
House pages wore uniforms consisting of a navy blue blazer jacket, white dress shirt, necktie, lapel pin, name-tag, gray slacks for boys and gray skirts or slacks for girls, and black shoes.
Prior to 1983, House pages resided at various locations around the federal capital city of the District of Columbia.
In preparation for that building's demolition, pages resided in a former dormitory / convent for Roman Catholic Church nuns working at nearby Providence Hospital.
