House page program ends, a victim of budget ills and new technology

The House will eliminate the teenage pages who have carried legislators' messages since the First Continental Congress, as e-mail, smartphones and budget woes combined to kill off a tradition older than the House itself.

The decision was announced in a joint statement issued by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The page program, which takes about 70 high school juniors a semester, costs more than $5 million a year.

The blue-jacketed pages were familiar extras in the Capitol's dramas: In the early days, they tended fireplaces and delivered cocktails to members working late. More recently, they distributed drafts of thick legislation or passed notes to members on the House floor.

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Anthony Faiola 09 Aug, 2011

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