By BombThrowers -- Chace Paulson —— Bio and Archives November 21, 2017
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I ended up interning 25 hours a week, working 20 hours at my paid job, and taking 16 credits. I was only 17 years old, and I was fighting the urge to fall asleep at my desk because I was getting so little sleep.Interning in Congress is largely considered a rite of passage for university students seeking a future in the political field, but, as Vera’s own experience shows, it comes at a hefty price. Congressional internships are generally unpaid, and city life doesn’t come cheap. Between rent, transportation, food, and professional clothing, interning on Capitol Hill just for a summer can cost students upwards of $6,000. This is the glass ceiling facing many seeking to enter the job market. Congressional internships serve as a pipeline to staffer positions, making the Hill one of the few places where being hired to a full-time position is virtually impossible without prior congressional intern experience. Interns who lack the money to foot the (hefty) bill interning for free entails, will likely find themselves unable to pursue a future career in congressional politics. Internships serve as important introductions in many fields. Studies indicate that college students with prior internship experience are 51.7 percent more likely to receive a job offer by graduation, while only 17 percent of students who did not intern during college will receive an offer. Among those who do intern during college, though, struggling financially has become a discouraging reality. Seventy-seven percent of students will end up working a second job to cover living expenses during their internships – a practice that detracts from their studies and the internship itself.
People say that Democrats like to say, ‘Well, you know, you’re getting paid with knowing that you’re making the world a better place,’ right? While Republicans are under no illusions of that, and believe that you should get paid for your work.
If someone is for the ‘Fight for $15’ but doesn’t pay their interns, we see that as someone that’s not truly invested in helping lower-income people. If they campaign on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but then don’t pay their interns behind peoples’ backs, I would call it phony.Pay Our Interns mainly attributes the lack of paid internships in Congress, on both sides to a hiring cap. Each representative is limited to 18 paid positions and 4 additional positions on his or her staff. With multiple offices in their home district as well as their D.C. office, many members reach the paid employee cap and are unable to pay interns.
What’s one thing that Mike Lee and Bernie Sanders have in common? They both pay their interns. And, if you think about it, both of these people view government way differently; yet, they pay their interns…. That’s why I think this is a bipartisan issue and, thus, we are not just going with one party.The future of Pay Our Interns seems bright. In addition to successfully lobbying politicians and organizations to create paid internship programs, Pay Our Interns is currently working on creating a “scorecard” system for rating organizations’ internship programs in the hopes of making information more accessible and incentivizing organizations to make programs more fair. This article first appeared on the website of Capital Research Center, parent of Bombthrowers.
Bombthrowers is a blog about politics and the war for the hearts and minds of Americans from a conservative viewpoint.
In line with our name, we do not hold back. We have a take-no-prisoners attitude when it comes to fighting for conservative principles. The Left doesn’t play nice, and that’s why they’ve been winning. It’s time for conservatives to rise up and turn the tide.
We’re not afraid to take on anyone, especially the Washington Establishment—Republican or Democrat.
Bombthrowers is a project supported by the Capital Research Center. Its editor-in-chief is Matthew Vadum.