I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1109 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 18, 2021 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. BASS, 

Mr. SIRES, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. CARSON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, 

Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. 

MENG, Mr. JONES, Ms. TITUS, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

PAYNE, Ms. LEE of California, and Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

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 in section 102 of the High16 er 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. 

17 (e) COMPENSATION.— 

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

19 Program shall be paid at least— 

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

21 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

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

23 (B) the minimum wage of the jurisdiction 

24 in which the internship is located, whichever is 

25 greatest. 


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1 (2) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.— 

2 (A) ABROAD.—The Secretary of State 

3 shall provide housing to a student participating 

4 in the Program whose permanent address is 

5 within the United States if the location of the 

6 internship in which such student is partici7 pating is outside the United States. 

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

9 authorized to provide housing to a student par10 ticipating in the Program whose permanent ad11 dress is within the United States if the location 

12 of the internship in which such student is par13 ticipating is more than 50 miles away from 

14 such student’s permanent address. 

15 (3) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

16 State shall provide a student participating in the 

17 Program whose permanent address is within the 

18 United States financial assistance to cover the costs 

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

20 internship in which such student is participating, in21 cluding travel by air, train, bus, or other transit as 

22 appropriate, if the location of such internship is— 

23 (A) more than 50 miles from such stu24 dent’s permanent address; or 

25 (B) outside the United States. 


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1 (f) WORKING WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU2 CATION.—The Secretary of State is authorized to enter 

3 into agreements with institutions of higher education to 

4 structure internships to ensure such internships satisfy 

5 criteria for academic programs in which participants in 

6 such internships are enrolled. 

7 (g) TRANSITION PERIOD.— 

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

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary of State shall transition all unpaid internship 

11 programs of the Department of State, to the max12 imum extent practicable and excluding internships 

13 not administered by the Department, to internship 

14 programs that offer compensation, such as the Pro15 gram and the Foreign Service Internship Program. 

16 (2) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 

17 State may waive the transition requirement under 

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

19 year if the Secretary of State— 

20 (A) determines that such a waiver is nec21 essary; and 

22 (B) submits to the Committee on Foreign 

23 Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

24 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 


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1 a report providing a justification for such a 

2 waiver. 

3 (h) REPORTS.—Not later than 18 months after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act and annually by January 

5 31 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 

6 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa7 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen8 ate a report that includes the following: 

9 (1) Information regarding the number of stu10 dents, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, insti11 tution of higher learning, home State, State where 

12 each student graduated from high school, and dis13 ability status, who applied to the Program, were of14 fered a position, and participated. 

15 (2) Information on the number of security 

16 clearance investigations started and the timeline for 

17 such investigations, including whether such inves18 tigations were completed or if, and when, an interim 

19 security clearance was granted. 

20 (3) Information on expenditures on the Pro21 gram. 

22 (4) Information regarding the Department of 

23 State’s compliance with subsection (g) as applicable. 

24 (i) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.— 


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

2 be construed to compel any student to participate in 

3 the collection of data or divulge any personal infor4 mation described in subsection (h). Students shall be 

5 informed that their participation in the data collec6 tion contemplated by such subsection is voluntary. 

7 (2) PRIVACY PROTECTION.—Any data collected 

8 under this section shall be subject to the relevant 

9 privacy protection statutes and regulations applica10 ble to Federal employees. 

11 (j) DIVERSITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

12 ‘‘diversity’’ means those classes of persons protected under 

13 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.) 

14 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 

15 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

Æ 


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