Lawmaker Curses Out Teenage Pages in Capitol Rotunda

A freshman Republican congressman is in hot water after a profanity-ridden tirade against a group of Senate pages. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin was apparently quite unhappy with a group of pages, the 16- and 17-year-olds who assist with Senate operations, that he came upon in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday night. The Senate worked late that night, and as the Hill explains, when that happens, pages often rest in the rotunda. According to a transcript written by a page immediately after the incident and shared with the Hill, Van Orden yelled at the teens to "wake ... up" and "get ... out of here," among other things, except with profanities in the middle of those sentences and pretty much every other sentence included in his rant.

There were a total of eight curse words in the remarks the Hill reported, in which Van Orden also reportedly called the group pieces of (you can imagine what) and other names, and said they were "defiling the space." He did not deny the tirade when asked about it, telling the Hill, "The history of the United States Capitol Rotunda, that during the Civil War it was used as a field hospital and countless Union soldiers died on that floor, and they died because they were fighting the Civil War to end slavery. And I think that place should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect for the dead. If anyone had been laying a series of graves in Arlington National Cemetery, what do you think people would say?" (No soldiers are buried under the Capitol building.)

He further complained to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Capitol "should never be treated like a frat house common room." Other lawmakers, however, expressed outrage. Later Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor, "I was shocked when I heard about it, and I am further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people." Schumer said he did not think anyone in the Senate shared the "disrespect," and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed with him and said "everybody on this side of the aisle" felt the same way. Others criticized Van Orden's presence at the rally outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his past harassment of another teen over an LGBTQ+ book display in a library. (More US Congress stories.)