Statement by Chairman Doc Hastings and

Ranking Minority Member Howard Berman

House Ethics Committee

October 5, 2006

Earlier today, the House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to establish an Investigative Subcommittee regarding any conduct of House Members, officers and staff related to information concerning improper conduct involving Members and Current and Former Pages.

Given the seriousness of this matter, Congressman Howard Berman and I will serve as the chairman and ranking minority member of the subcommittee in order to personally direct this investigation. Representatives Judy Biggert and Stephanie Tubbs Jones will serve with us on the subcommittee and we will be assisted by a team of skilled professional investigators.

Like all Americans, we are both appalled at the revelations of highly improper communications between former Representative Mark Foley and a young man who came to know Mr. Foley while working here in the Capitol as a congressional page.

Appointment as a page in the House is an honor and privilege for any young man or woman, and provides an extraordinary education into the workings of the legislative branch of government. All of us who serve here as Members of Congress appreciate the important role that pages play in the work of the House.

We owe all House pages and their parents our best efforts to make the Page experience as educational, fulfilling – and safe – as possible. In recent days, the adequacy of those efforts has been called into question.

Simply put, the American people, and especially the parents of all current and former pages, are entitled to know how this situation was handled – and we are determined to answer their questions. Congressman Berman and I will do so as quickly as possible, and we pledge to you that our investigation will go wherever the evidence takes us.

Admittedly, this is a busy time for any Member of Congress, but Howard and I have agreed that we have no higher priority in the days ahead and are committed to act accordingly.

Indeed, shortly following the meeting of the full Ethics Committee, our new investigative subcommittee met for the first time and unanimously approved nearly four dozen subpoenas for documents and testimony. Many of the individuals we plan to talk with are Members, officers and staff of the House. For that reason, we sincerely hope most of the subpoenas we authorized today will prove unnecessary, because we believe that most of those individuals share our desire to get quick and truthful answers to the questions being asked by so many Americans.