Seen to stifle diversity and benefit the wealthy, unpaid internships leave students caught between the prospect of invaluable work experience and the threatening lack of a paycheck
Congressional internships in Washington, D.C., have traditionally been unpaid. While some Texans in Congress have paid some of their interns in the past, those opportunities were not always well-publicized.
A recent move by Congress to fund its internships came about after nonprofit group launched by a former intern highlighted the inequities that unpaid internships perpetuate. Now, the group is setting its sights on the private sector.
As the new freshman class of Congress makes history as the most diverse class in the history of Congress, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on colleagues to pay the intern class on Capitol Hill. Last week, a congressional committee gave final approval to a new program forcing Congress to set aside funding to mandate Congress to pay its interns. The non-profit bipartisan group Pay Our Interns, which pushed the effort for intern
House Democrats issued guidance to lawmakers Tuesday allowing them to use up to $20,000 a year from a new fund to pay interns and to reimburse them for expenses they incur. The new rules also define the interns in the congressional handbook and lay out the ethical standards they must abide by. The rules are only interim guidance and will be refined as more offices take advantage of the program,
Most interns on Capitol Hill work for free, but that will finally change after years of backlash. On Tuesday, the House Administration Committee gave its final approval for a program that will pay Capitol Hill interns. Congress initially voted to instate the funding six months ago, and both legislative chambers are now set to give stipends to young workers. The new program provides $14 million for intern payments that will be distributed across
House offices now have guidance, however brief, on how to implement paid internships in their offices with the inaugural funding provided specifically for that purpose. The House Administration Committee approved a resolution Tuesday afternoon by voice vote that outlines “interim regulations governing House paid internships.” A spending bill signed into law in in September included $8.8 million to pay interns in the House. Each office was allocated $20,000 in a newly created
At some point in the past few years, Sen. Elizabeth Warren got religion on interns. In 2014 and 2015, the Massachusetts Democrat paid a handful of interns a couple thousand dollars each, totaling less than $50,000 in payments to interns in the two years combined. The vast majority of her interns — usually about 100 per year — were unpaid. But last spring and summer, Warren became the single most
