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Since 1839, the United States Congress has employed young people as pages who serve as messengers and perform administrative tasks. Currently, the House of Representatives has 72 pages, while the Senate has 30. These pages are high-school juniors from around the country, and competition to become a congressional page is fierce. The most important requirement for becoming a page is a nomination from the candidate's member of Congress in either the Senate or the House. The congressperson's ranking can determine whether or not he or she can even make a nomination. Senior members have
priority if they wish to nominate a page. In addition, the majority party in Congress seems to assign more pages than the minority party. Page applicants must be in their junior year of high school for the year they wish to serve and must be at least 16 years old at that time. Pages must be U.S. citizens with a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Applicants usually need to write an application essay, submit a list of extra-curricular activities, along with letters of recommendation. Before new pages start work, they must present a certification of immunization and a general health assessment from their doctor, and they must be covered by health insurance. Details about the application process, salary, living arrangements, and dress code for Senate pages are in this PDF file from the
Senate Office of the Sergeant at Arms. An outline of the application process for House of Representative pages is available from the Congressional Page Association, which is run by former pages as part of the House Page Alumni Association. Congressional pages rotate through a variety of assignments on Capitol Hill. They can answer phone calls and take messages for members of Congress. They deliver a variety of documents and packages for congresspeople and their offices. The documentarian pages are often seen on C-SPAN because they sit near the front
of the House of Representatives. Several assignments call for pages to interact frequently with members of Congress. Some pages have even gone on to become congresspeople themselves.
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