II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 599 

To establish the Department of State Student Internship Program as a 

paid internship program to provide students with the opportunity to 

learn about a career in diplomacy and foreign affairs, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2021 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish the Department of State Student Internship 

Program as a paid internship program to provide students with the opportunity to learn about a career in 

diplomacy and foreign affairs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of State 

5 Student Internship Program Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF STATE STUDENT INTERNSHIP 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es4 tablish the Department of State Student Internship Pro5 gram (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to 

6 offer internship opportunities at the Department of State 

7 to eligible students to raise awareness of the essential role 

8 of diplomacy in the conduct of United States foreign policy 

9 and the realization of United States foreign policy objec10 tives. 

11 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in the 

12 Program, an applicant shall— 

13 (1) be enrolled, not less than half-time, at— 

14 (A) an institution of higher education (as 

15 such term is defined section 102 of the Higher 

16 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)); or 

17 (B) an institution of higher education 

18 based outside the United States, as determined 

19 by the Secretary of State; 

20 (2) be able to receive and hold an appropriate 

21 security clearance; and 

22 (3) satisfy such other criteria as established by 

23 the Secretary. 

24 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary of State shall estab25 lish selection criteria for students to be admitted into the 

26 Program that includes the following: 


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1 (1) Demonstrable interest in a career in foreign 

2 affairs. 

3 (2) Academic performance. 

4 (3) Such other criteria as determined by the 

5 Secretary. 

6 (d) OUTREACH.—The Secretary of State shall adver7 tise the Program widely, including on the internet, 

8 through the Department of State’s Diplomats in Resi9 dence program, and through other outreach and recruiting 

10 initiatives targeting undergraduate and graduate students. 

11 The Secretary shall actively recruit people belonging to 

12 traditionally under represented groups, including by con13 ducting targeted outreach at minority serving institutions 

14 (as such term is described in section 371(a) of the Higher 

15 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)), to promote 

16 diversity, as defined in subsection (e). 

17 (e) DIVERSITY.—The term ‘‘diversity’’ means those 

18 classes of persons protected under the Civil Rights Act of 

19 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.) and the Americans with 

20 Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

21 (f) COMPENSATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Students participating in the 

23 Program shall be paid at least— 


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1 (A) the amount specified in section 6(a)(1) 

2 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

3 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)); or 

4 (B) the minimum wage of the jurisdiction 

5 in which the internship is located, whichever is 

6 greatest. 

7 (2) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.— 

8 (A) ABROAD.—The Secretary of State 

9 shall provide housing to a student participating 

10 in the Program whose permanent address is 

11 within the United States if the location of the 

12 internship in which such student is partici13 pating is outside the United States. 

14 (B) DOMESTIC.—The Secretary of State is 

15 authorized to provide housing to a student par16 ticipating in the Program whose permanent ad17 dress is within the United States if the location 

18 of the internship in which such student is par19 ticipating is more than 50 miles away from 

20 such student’s permanent address. 

21 (3) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

22 State shall provide a student participating in the 

23 Program whose permanent address is within the 

24 United States financial assistance to cover the costs 

25 of travel once to and once from the location of the 


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1 internship in which such student is participating, in2 cluding travel by air, train, bus, or other transit as 

3 appropriate, if the location of such internship is— 

4 (A) more than 50 miles from such stu5 dent’s permanent address; or 

6 (B) outside the United States. 

7 (g) WORKING WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU8 CATION.—The Secretary of State is authorized to enter 

9 into agreements with institutions of higher education to 

10 structure internships to ensure such internships satisfy 

11 criteria for academic programs in which participants in 

12 such internships are enrolled. 

13 (h) TRANSITION PERIOD.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than three years 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary of State shall transition all unpaid internship 

17 programs of the Department of State, to the max18 imum extent practicable and excluding internships 

19 not administered by the Department, to internship 

20 programs that offer compensation, such as the Pro21 gram and the Foreign Service Internship Program. 

22 (2) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 

23 State may waive the transition requirement under 

24 paragraph (1) for a period of not more than one 

25 year if the Secretary of State— 


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1 (A) determines that such a waiver is nec2 essary; and 

3 (B) submits to the Committee on Foreign 

4 Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

5 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

6 a report providing a justification for such a 

7 waiver. 

8 (i) REPORTS.—Not later than 18 months after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

10 shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

11 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

12 House of Representatives a report that includes the fol13 lowing: 

14 (1) Information regarding the number of stu15 dents, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, insti16 tution of higher learning, home State, State where 

17 each student graduated from high school, and dis18 ability status, who applied to the Program, were of19 fered a position, and participated. 

20 (2) Information on the number of security 

21 clearance investigations started and the timeline for 

22 such investigations, including whether such inves23 tigations were completed or if, and when, an interim 

24 security clearance was granted. 


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1 (3) Information on expenditures on the Pro2 gram. 

3 (4) Information regarding the Department of 

4 State’s compliance with subsection (g). 

5 (j) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section may 

7 be construed to compel any student to participate in 

8 the collection of data or divulge any personal infor9 mation described in subsection (h). Students shall be 

10 informed that their participation in the data collec11 tion contemplated by this title is voluntary. 

12 (2) PRIVACY PROTECTION.—Any data collected 

13 under this section shall be subject to the relevant 

14 privacy protection statutes and regulations applica15 ble to Federal employees. 

Æ 


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