I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8409 

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 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. 

MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and 

Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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 a current student 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 encourage people belonging to 

12 traditionally underrepresented groups in terms of racial, 

13 ethnic, geographic, gender diversity, and disability status 

14 to apply to the Program, including by conducting targeted 

15 outreach at minority serving institutions (as such term is 

16 described in section 371(a) of the Higher Education Act 

17 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a))). 

18 (e) COMPENSATION.— 

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

20 Program shall be paid at least— 

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

22 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

23 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)), or 

24 (B) the minimum wage of the jurisdiction 

25 in which the internship is located, 


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1 whichever is greatest. 

2 (2) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

3 State shall provide housing to a student partici4 pating in the Program whose permanent address is 

5 within the United States if the location of the in6 ternship in which such student is participating is 

7 outside the United States. 

8 (3) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

9 State shall provide a student participating in the 

10 Program whose permanent address is within the 

11 United States financial assistance to cover the costs 

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

13 internship in which such student is participating, in14 cluding travel by air, train, bus, or other transit as 

15 appropriate, if the location of such internship is— 

16 (A) more than 100 miles from such stu17 dent’s permanent address; or 

18 (B) outside the United States. 

19 (4) ASSISTANCE EXEMPT FROM TAXATION.— 

20 For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

21 any amount which (but for this paragraph) would be 

22 includible in gross income of the eligible recipient by 

23 reason of housing assistance described in paragraph 

24 (2) or travel assistance described in paragraph (3) 

25 shall be excluded from gross income. 


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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.—Not later than one year 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

9 of State shall transition all unpaid internship programs 

10 of the Department of State to internship programs that 

11 offer compensation, including the Foreign Service Intern12 ship Program. 

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

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

15 shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

16 House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 

17 Relations of a Senate a report that includes the following: 

18 (1) Information regarding the number of stu19 dents, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, insti20 tution of higher learning, home State, State where 

21 each student graduated from high school, and dis22 ability status, who applied to the Program, were of23 fered a position, and participated. 


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1 (2) Information on the number of security 

2 clearance investigations started and the timeline for 

3 completion of such investigations. 

4 (3) Information on expenditures on the Pro5 gram. 

6 (4) Information regarding the Department of 

7 State’s compliance with subsection (h). 

8 (i) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.— 

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

10 be construed to compel any employee of the Depart11 ment of State to participate in the collection of the 

12 data or divulge any personal information. Depart13 ment employees shall be informed that their partici14 pation in the data collection contemplated by this 

15 title is voluntary. 

16 (2) PRIVACY PROTECTION.—Any data collected 

17 under this section shall be subject to the relevant 

18 privacy protection statutes and regulations applica19 ble to Federal employees. 

Æ 


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