Department of State Student Internship Program Act

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 stu- dents with the opportunity to learn about a career in diplomacy and foreign affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of State 4 Student Internship Program Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1109 IH SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF STATE STUDENT INTERNSHIP 1 PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es- 3 tablish the Department of State Student Internship Pro- 4 gram (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Program’’) to 5 offer internship opportunities at the Department of State 6 to eligible students to raise awareness of the essential role 7 of diplomacy in the conduct of United States foreign policy 8 and the realization of United States foreign policy objec- 9 tives. 10 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in the 11 Program, an applicant shall— 12 (1) be enrolled, not less than half-time, at— 13 (A) an institution of higher education (as 14 such term is defined in section 102 of the High- 15 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)); or 16 (B) an institution of higher education 17 based outside the United States, as determined 18 by the Secretary of State; 19 (2) be able to receive and hold an appropriate 20 security clearance; and 21 (3) satisfy such other criteria as established by 22 the Secretary. 23 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary of State shall estab- 24 lish selection criteria for students to be admitted into the 25 Program that includes the following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1109 IH (1) Demonstrable interest in a career in foreign 1 affairs. 2 (2) Academic performance. 3 (3) Such other criteria as determined by the 4 Secretary. 5 (d) OUTREACH.—The Secretary of State shall adver- 6 tise the Program widely, including on the internet, 7 through the Department of State’s Diplomats in Resi- 8 dence program, and through other outreach and recruiting 9 initiatives targeting undergraduate and graduate students. 10 The Secretary shall actively recruit people belonging to 11 traditionally under represented groups, including by con- 12 ducting targeted outreach at minority serving institutions 13 (as such term is described in section 371(a) of the Higher 14 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a))) to promote 15 diversity. 16 (e) COMPENSATION.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Students participating in the 18 Program shall be paid at least— 19 (A) the amount specified in section 6(a)(1) 20 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 21 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)); or 22 (B) the minimum wage of the jurisdiction 23 in which the internship is located, whichever is 24 greatest. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Mar 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1109 IH (2) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.— 1 (A) ABROAD.—The Secretary of State 2 shall provide housing to a student participating 3 in the Program whose permanent address is 4 within the United States if the location of the 5 internship in which such student is partici- 6 pating is outside the United States. 7 (B) DOMESTIC.—The Secretary of State is 8 authorized to provide housing to a student par- 9 ticipating in the Program whose permanent ad- 10 dress is within the United States if the location 11 of the internship in which such student is par- 12 ticipating is more than 50 miles away from 13 such student’s permanent address. 14 (3) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 15 State shall provide a student participating in the 16 Program whose permanent address is within the 17 United States financial assistance to cover the costs 18 of travel once to and once from the location of the 19 internship in which such student is participating, in- 20 cluding travel by air, train, bus, or other transit as 21 appropriate, if the location of such internship is— 22 (A) more than 50 miles from such stu- 23 dent’s permanent address; or 24 (B) outside the United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1109 IH (f) WORKING WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU- 1 CATION.—The Secretary of State is authorized to enter 2 into agreements with institutions of higher education to 3 structure internships to ensure such internships satisfy 4 criteria for academic programs in which participants in 5 such internships are enrolled. 6 (g) TRANSITION PERIOD.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than three years 8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 9 retary of State shall transition all unpaid internship 10 programs of the Department of State, to the max- 11 imum extent practicable and excluding internships 12 not administered by the Department, to internship 13 programs that offer compensation, such as the Pro- 14 gram and the Foreign Service Internship Program. 15 (2) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 16 State may waive the transition requirement under 17 paragraph (1) for a period of not more than one 18 year if the Secretary of State— 19 (A) determines that such a waiver is nec- 20 essary; and 21 (B) submits to the Committee on Foreign 22 Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 23 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1109 IH a report providing a justification for such a 1 waiver. 2 (h) REPORTS.—Not later than 18 months after the 3 date of the enactment of this Act and annually by January 4 31 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 5 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa- 6 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen- 7 ate a report that includes the following: 8 (1) Information regarding the number of stu- 9 dents, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, insti- 10 tution of higher learning, home State, State where 11 each student graduated from high school, and dis- 12 ability status, who applied to the Program, were of- 13 fered a position, and participated. 14 (2) Information on the number of security 15 clearance investigations started and the timeline for 16 such investigations, including whether such inves- 17 tigations were completed or if, and when, an interim 18 security clearance was granted. 19 (3) Information on expenditures on the Pro- 20 gram. 21 (4) Information regarding the Department of 22 State’s compliance with subsection (g) as applicable. 23 (i) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1109 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section may 1 be construed to compel any student to participate in 2 the collection of data or divulge any personal infor- 3 mation described in subsection (h). Students shall be 4 informed that their participation in the data collec- 5 tion contemplated by such subsection is voluntary. 6 (2) PRIVACY PROTECTION.—Any data collected 7 under this section shall be subject to the relevant 8 privacy protection statutes and regulations applica- 9 ble to Federal employees. 10 (j) DIVERSITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term 11 ‘‘diversity’’ means those classes of persons protected under 12 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.) 13 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 14 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1109.IH H1109 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS