Senate Pages
Floor Speech
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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I am grateful for the respect with which you said those two words, ``New Jersey.'' It is an extraordinary State, and I know you recognize and respect it, sir.
I want to stand at this moment, as we are about to close out the Senate, to recognize perhaps one of the most unrecognized elements of the functioning of the U.S. Senate. There are extraordinary people who work in this institution--people who have dedicated their careers to it and support not just Senators but really this incredible, august body. But, today, I want to mark that this is the last day of a class of pages that is serving today. They are the youngest people on the Senate floor--15, 16 years old--but they have served on the frontlines of history over the last months.
I have seen a lot of young people pass through here, and this class of pages is the least funny pages I have seen.
(Laughter.)
I have asked them for jokes. They have given me things that could be called a joke, but they did not have their intended purpose. I am disappointed. I stand in judgment of them.
(Laughter.)
But despite their lack of humor, what they did show was an abundance of commitment to country, to service, to patriotism.
Most of America doesn't realize what these pages go through to be here. They have an extraordinary challenging time. They actually wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning. They do their homework, they do their class work, and then they come and work a full-time job, often into the evening when the Senate goes on to 8 and 9, getting closer to 10. Ten is a wonderful, wonderful time because if they get past 10, they don't have to go to class in the morning. Is that it? They have no class. Now, I am not saying that they are classless people. I am not saying that if they go past 10 p.m., they have no class.
(Laughter.)
But think about this: They are waking up at 5 in the morning, they are going until 8 or 9, and they start it all over again. It is a difficult job, it is demanding, but yet they have done it with distinction.
Tomorrow, they will graduate, and they will go back to their lives all across the country. It is extraordinary. These young folks come from the North, the South, the East, the West, and they will go back, having had a unique experience. But although they leave this institution, they also leave their spirit, their energy, and their contributions.
I want to say to all of the pages--because I won't have a chance to say goodbye to them at the graduation--I want to say, on behalf of myself and also 99 others, it was an honor to serve with you in the U.S. Senate.
I hope as you continue your careers of service to country, of being the calling of a nation that needs its young people more than ever-- people full of hope, people full of dreams, people full of commitment-- that you consider coming back to this body. There are extraordinary people who serve here who were former pages, everyone from Parliamentarians, all the way to Senators themselves.
But on this day, on behalf of this body, I want to conclude by simply saying thank you.
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