Highlights from the “Evolution of Congressional Internships”
Every year, approximately 40,000 interns from around the country serve in the US Congress — playing a crucial role in the institution's operations, from constituent services to legislative research.
On February 20, POPVOX Foundation, in collaboration with the Capitol Hill Intern Association, hosted a virtual event examining how they have evolved and their importance in offering young people invaluable exposure to the legislative process and potential careers in public service.
POPVOX Foundation Deputy Director of Governance and Innovation Taylor J. Swift was joined in the conversation by:
The Honorable Jane L. Campbell, president and CEO of the United States Capitol Historical Society
Guillermo Creamer Jr., co-founder of Pay Our Interns
Dr. James Jones, director for the Center of Politics and Race in America at Rutgers University
The History of Congressional Internships and Pay
Hon. Campbell, a former Senate staffer and the first woman mayor of Cleveland, traced the roots of Congressional internships from their informal beginnings in 1824 to today’s more structured format. Early Congressional internships were frequently offered to wealthy campaign contributors or friends of the lawmaker, resulting in significant demographic disparities. Campbell noted that of 1,500 Congressional interns in 1957, only six were Black and two were Hispanic. In the 1980s, several organizations established programs to support interns from diverse backgrounds, including the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. These programs offered paid opportunities and housing to help reduce barriers to entry.
President John F. Kennedy’s call for young people to “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” sparked a notable increase in internship interest, and formal recognition and expansion of paid internships over the decades that followed. Campbell explained that in 1965, the House passed a resolution providing funds for Members to hire interns during the summer. In 1971, virtually every House office offered paid internships, averaging about $300 a month. In 1974, the Lyndon B. Johnson Congressional Internship Program was created and paid interns $500 per month (approximately $2,700 in today’s dollars). By the 1980s, roughly 80% of Senate offices paid their interns.
This trend reversed during the “Contract with America” movement in the mid-1990s, when Congress undertook extensive budget cuts and eliminated most paid internships. For generations, the perception of unpaid internships took hold throughout Capitol Hill, creating barriers to entry that made it difficult for many prospective interns to participate due to financial constraints.
Intern responsibilities also shifted over time, from being mainly message carriers in the mid-1900s to supporting full-time staffers with day-to-day office operations — oftentimes answering phones, sitting at the front office desk, and guiding Capitol tours.
Advocacy for Fair Compensation
Guillermo Creamer, Jr., co-founder of Pay Our Interns, explained how his own experience with the challenges of an unpaid internship led to the founding of an organization that pushes for fair intern compensation. Creamer explained that “as former unpaid interns ourselves, [we] wanted to ensure that this movement was being pushed by those that understood the struggles that existed.” Pay Our Interns published white papers identifying which Congressional offices were paying interns: at the time, nearly twice as many Republican offices offered paid internships in comparison to Democratic offices, despite many Democratic lawmakers championing a $15 minimum wage.
Pay Our Interns then worked with lawmakers in 2018 on an $8.8 million allocation ($20,000 for each House office) for intern pay. As of 2023, the House now provides $24.3 million for paid internships, providing each office with the opportunity to access $48,600 per year to pay interns.
Empirical Insights and Future Directions
Dr. James Jones, Director of the Center for Politics and Race in America at Rutgers University, described his research on disparities in internship opportunities and compensation, offering a critical examination of how these factors influence diversity and representation within Congress.
Gathering comprehensive data on Congressional internships and pay is a complex task due to the decentralized management of these programs across individual Congressional offices. Jones noted that “in other workplaces, these types of data are readily available and oftentimes they are mandated by law to report important demographic information because of Congress. However, Congress has exempted itself from these reporting requirements.”
Jones' research identified a pattern of overrepresentation of white students in paid internship positions, while Black and Latino students were underrepresented. He also noted that a substantial portion of paid interns came from private universities.
In the 117th Congress, Jones shared this research in testimony to the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress for a hearing focused on enhancing pathways into Congressional service. That hearing led to the recommendation of establishing a House Intern Resource Office (HIRO) — a proposal that was then incorporated into the FY 2023 appropriations bill, with $350,000 allocated for the creation of this office, and implementation now underway by the Chief Administrative Officer. The HIRO will serve as a centralized entity in the House of Representatives to provide institution-wide resources and improve data collection on House internships.
Swift flagged that there is currently no similar effort in the Senate nor a budget line-item for Senate committee intern pay. The Senate has a separate $7 million fund to pay its interns, but the use of the fund is up to the discretion of each Senate office.
Open Conversation and Audience Q&A
Panelists covered the varying standards of internship pay, acknowledging that while there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, the goal should be to ensure interns can live and work comfortably, especially in high-cost areas like Washington, DC. The conversation highlighted the disparity between private sector practices, where interns are often well-compensated, and the public sector, which struggles with budget constraints. The discussion underscored the need for a standardized approach that considers the living costs, ensuring equitable access for all aspiring interns, regardless of their financial background.
The question about how technology has altered the roles and responsibilities of Congressional interns led to an examination of the evolving landscape of internships. Panelists discussed the transition from traditional, often administrative tasks to more dynamic roles that include digital media management, legislative research, and virtual constituent engagement. They highlighted the importance of equipping interns with digital literacy skills and the opportunity for interns to bring fresh perspectives and tech-savvy approaches to traditional legislative processes.
Ultimately, the panelists all concluded that there are myriad ways to improve Congressional internships, ranging from better pay transparency and reporting standards to increased efforts to engage students from a variety of backgrounds to intern on Capitol Hill.
