I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2370 

To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House of Representatives which shall be available for the compensation of interns, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2019 

Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, 

Mr. BEYER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. 

OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CASE, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. 

CISNEROS, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, 

Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. POCAN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. 

GOMEZ, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. SCANLON, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 

LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, and Ms. KAPTUR) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

House Administration 

A BILL 

To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House 

of Representatives which shall be available for the compensation of interns, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘House Intern Pay Act 

3 of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ALLOWANCE FOR COMPENSATION OF INTERNS IN 

5 HOUSE MEMBER OFFICES. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ALLOWANCE.—There is es7 tablished for the House of Representatives an allowance 

8 which shall be available for the compensation of interns 

9 who serve in the offices of Members of the House of Rep10 resentatives during a calendar year. 

11 (b) AMOUNT PER OFFICE; ALLOCATION OF UNUSED

12 ALLOWANCES AMONG OTHER OFFICES.— 

13 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount of the allowance 

14 under this section with respect to the office of a 

15 Member of the House of Representatives for a cal16 endar year shall be established by the Committee on 

17 House Administration of the House of Representa18 tives, and (subject to the allocation described in 

19 paragraph (2)) shall be an equivalent amount for all 

20 such offices. 

21 (2) ALLOCATION OF UNUSED ALLOWANCES.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—If, by not later than 

23 the applicable deadline described in subpara24 graph (B), an office of a Member of the House 

25 of Representatives does not certify to the Com26 mittee on House Administration that the office 


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1 will use the entire amount of the allowance es2 tablished for the office under this section with 

3 respect to a calendar year, the Committee may 

4 allocate the unused portion of such office’s al5 lowance among the allowances established for 

6 other offices of the House for such calendar 

7 year. 

8 (B) APPLICABLE DEADLINE.—The applica9 ble deadline described in this subparagraph 

10 with respect to a calendar year is such date es11 tablished by the Committee on House Adminis12 tration which is not earlier than January 31 of 

13 the year and not later than June 30 of the 

14 year. 

15 (c) MINIMUM COMPENSATION RATE.— 

16 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Each intern who is com17 pensated under the allowance under this section 

18 shall be paid for each pay period at a rate which is 

19 equal to or greater than the minimum compensation 

20 rate for the pay period. 

21 (2) DEFINITION.—In paragraph (1), the ‘‘min22 imum compensation rate’’ for a pay period is equal 

23 to— 


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1 (A) in the case of pay periods occurring 

2 during the first fiscal year in which this Act is 

3 in effect, $15 per hour; and 

4 (B) in the case of pay periods occurring 

5 during any succeeding fiscal year, the rate ap6 plicable under this paragraph for pay periods 

7 occurring during the previous fiscal year in8 creased by the estimated percentage change in 

9 the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con10 sumers (as published by the Department of 

11 Labor) for the most recent fiscal year preceding 

12 such fiscal year. 

13 (d) BENEFIT EXCLUSION.—Section 104(b) of the 

14 House of Representatives Administrative Reform Tech15 nical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321(b)) shall apply with 

16 respect to an intern who is compensated under the allow17 ance under this section in the same manner as such sec18 tion applies with respect to an intern who is compensated 

19 under the Members’ Representational Allowance. 

20 (e) NO EFFECT ON PAYMENT OF INTERNS UNDER

21 MEMBERS’ REPRESENTATIONAL ALLOWANCE.—Nothing 

22 in this section may be construed to affect the use of the 

23 Members’ Representational Allowance for the compensa24 tion of interns, as provided under section 104 of the House 


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1 of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Cor2 rections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321). 

3 (f) REGULATIONS.—This section shall be carried out 

4 in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Com5 mittee on House Administration of the House of Rep6 resentatives, including regulations to establish the timing 

7 and procedures for the allocation of amounts of unused 

8 portions of allowances under subsection (b)(2). 

9 (g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 120 of the 

10 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019 (2 U.S.C. 

11 5322a) is hereby repealed. 

12 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘intern’’ has the meaning given 

14 such term in section 104(c)(2) of the House of Rep15 resentatives Administrative Reform Technical Cor16 rections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321(c)(2)); and 

17 (2) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep18 resentatives’’ means a Representative in, or a Dele19 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress. 

20 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

22 this section— 

23 (1) for the first fiscal year in which this Act is 

24 in effect, $13,759,200, to be allocated on a pro rata 


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1 basis for each day of such fiscal year which occurs 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

3 (2) for each succeeding fiscal year, the amount 

4 authorized under this section for the previous fiscal 

5 year increased by the estimated percentage change 

6 in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con7 sumers (as published by the Department of Labor) 

8 for the most recent fiscal year preceding such fiscal 

9 year. 

10 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

12 take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

13 shall apply to the pay period which is in effect on such 

14 date and each succeeding pay period. 

Æ 


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