House Shuts Down Its Page Program

[The Straight Story]

House Shuts Down Its Page Program

WASHINGTON — In the more than 175 years since young people began coming to Washington to work as Capitol messengers, the experience of being a Congressional page has marked the start — and on occasion the scandalous end — of many a political career.

Now the ubiquitous teenage pages, with their navy blue blazers and earnest looks, will disappear from the House side of the Capitol — a victim, House leaders said Monday, of budget cuts and improvements in technology, like BlackBerrys, that have rendered their document-ferrying and message-taking duties obsolete.

The announcement came in a “Dear Colleague” letter to lawmakers from Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, and the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, who said they decided to terminate the program after a review by outside consultants raised concerns about its costs and effectiveness.

The news caught alumni of the program, including current and former members of Congress, by surprise. Many called it short-sighted. (The pages will not disappear from the Capitol entirely; the Senate will still have them.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/us/politics/09page.html?_r=1

[spanone]

1. this will go down as the worse house of representatives in our history

[Renew Deal]

2. Being a page is more than just being a note taker.

But I am sure there is some cost to it. It seems like this cost may be worth it.

[kick-ass-bob]

3. HOLY fuck. Does everything HAVE to be cost efficient in the short term?

These are the future of Washington in a lot of cases. They use the program to get a feel for the politics and how our government works, and they get rid of them? This is a huge piece in these kids' lives and can shape them to become leaders in the future.

Good God, now we will just get more idiots who don't know how to do anything up there like the teabags.

Ridiculous. I guess we'll just have blackberries running the country in 30 years. :mad:

[Bragi]

5. Yes, except for wars, which don't have to be cost-efficient /nt

[Bragi]

4. Yet another fantabulous bi-partisan consensus!

Really, what could be wrong with saving a few bucks by shutting down avenues for bright, civic-minded young people to participate in government.

[HopeHoops]

6. Well, the Republicans will just have to stroll down K St. to 14th now.

[RC]

7. The Republicans just killed another Jobs Program.

[DainBramaged]

8. Yup, blindly follow where many men have failed before....

stupid Pukes