US House to end 180-year-old 'page' program

[rsmith6621]

Bringing the curtain down on a nearly 200-year-old tradition, leaders of the US House of Representatives announced Monday that they were doing away with the chamber's "page" program.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cited the high cost of the program as well as advances in technology that have reduced the need for the teenaged messengers' services.

"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 is necessary," they said in a joint statement.

"Although the traditional mission of the Page Program has diminished, we will work with members of the House to carry on the tradition of engaging young people in the work of the Congress."



http://news.yahoo.com/us-house-end-180-old-page-program-195039742.html

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. The new, improved pages will now be imported on H1B Visas

And should be pretty good at English in a few years of servitude.

[NightWatcher]

2. Those damned sexy kids are distracting the Congresscritters

[RKP5637]

3. Outsourced to China and India. n/t

[spanone]

4. i thought they were on vacation

[Ninga]

5. Good grief. Lets abolish anything that reeks of tradition. We are a stupid, short sighted country.

Bah humbug.

[Jim Warren]

6. Private escort services then I guess.

...

[The Second Stone]

7. How can it not be worth the investment in money to involve

youth directly in Congress? We need leaders for the next generation and it has to start somewhere. How about we reduce the salaries and perks of Congressmembers to pay for it? They get paid way too much.

[RKP5637]

8. Looks like we only need 12 now anyway! Big cost savings. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

9. What's all this fuss about the end of 180-year-old Pages?

I think 180 is waaaay too old to be a page, anyway! What if the Pony Express used 180-year-old horses? That doesn't seem like a very fast way to send messages. No wonder the House is so screwed up! And another thing...what's that? The PROGRAM is 180 years old, not the Pages? Well, that's very different.



:)

With apologies to Gilda, R.I.P.

[Kurmudgeon]

10. What a shame, if not for pages we'd might still have Dennis Hastert and Mark Foley around!

:sarcasm:

[Snarkoleptic]

11. Why don't GOP congressmen use bookmarks?

They bend their pages over.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. Roger the Page Boy.

In England, "Roger" is a verb.