Federal Intern Protection Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 653) to amend title 5, United States Code, to protect unpaid interns in the Federal Government from workplace harassment and discrimination, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 653, the Federal Intern Protection Act of 2017, sponsored by my colleague from the Oversight Committee, Ranking Member Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is well served by interns who provide invaluable assistance to agencies across the Federal Government. Our interns work alongside us and other Federal employees helping conduct agency business on behalf of the American people.

Internship programs also help to identify and develop the next generation of Federal employees. In exchange, interns gain invaluable work experience in a field that they might hope to enter upon graduation and credit they can apply at their institution of learning.

Unfortunately, there are no existing provisions in Federal law that protect interns working at Federal agencies against harassment or discrimination.

In the case of O'Connor v. Davis, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a decision finding an intern could not bring sexual harassment claims under Federal law.

The court reasoned that since the intern was not a Federal employee, that person was not covered by existing law. It concluded that: ``It is for Congress, if it should choose to do so . . . to provide a remedy. . . .''

Mr. Speaker, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard testimony showing the damage this loophole can have at Federal agencies. In a 2015 hearing on Environmental Protection Agency mismanagement, witnesses described allegations of sexual harassment against interns. According to testimony, ``one former intern stated that because of this harassment, she changed her mind about not only about working for EPA but also for working in the Federal sector at all.''

This is simply unacceptable.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Intern Protection Act of 2017 ensures that interns working for the Federal Government receive anti-discriminatory and anti-harassment protections. Specifically, the bill prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicapping condition for interns working at Federal agencies. These protections are already in place for Federal employees.

I thank my friend and colleague, the ranking member, Mr. Elijah Cummings, for his leadership and commitment in protecting interns who work for the Federal Government.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill. I thank Mr. Cummings for his hard work on this measure. I also thank the committee for their broad, bipartisan, unanimous support and hard work in bringing this practical measure. I urge adoption of it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 653, the Federal Intern Protection Act. In fact, it is hard to believe we need this legislation at this point in the 21st century, but we do.

Under current law, Federal employees are protected from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, and sex. Unfortunately, interns don't qualify. They have no such protections.

I appreciate the wonderful work of our distinguished ranking member, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, on this important measure. I am not surprised, and neither are my colleagues, that he would pick up on this and see the need for this protection to be extended to young men and women who want maybe to pursue a career or part of their career in the Federal Government. They need these protections like the employees they are working with side by side.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, I want to laud my friend from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for his perspicacity in ferreting out this issue. It is a very important one.

The use of internships in the Federal Government is a very underutilized tool when compared to the private sector. Many private sector companies will use internships for recruiting the talent it needs for the future. In many cases, 70 to 80 percent of those who intern for private sector corporations end up being hired because they have a carefully monitored program from orientation and recruitment to the tasks at hand during the pendency of the internship. The Federal Government does no such thing systematically.

At the very beginning, if we are going to use internships as creatively as the private sector to recruit the next generation of Federal employees, since one-third of the current workforce is eligible for retirement over the next several years, we have to follow the lead my friends, Mr. Cummings of Maryland and Mr. Russell of Oklahoma, have just given us, and that is to make sure it is a safe workplace. Otherwise, who would be attracted to it?

This piece of legislation is critical to our making Federal internships a meaningful tool in their recruitment and retention, so long as that workforce is protected by the same norms and same regulations as any Federal employee.

I thank my friend, Mr. Cummings, for bringing this to our attention, and I thank Mr. Russell for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his kind words. I thank Mr. Russell also for his very kind words.

The bill before us, the Federal Intern Protection Act, would close a loophole in Federal employment law that currently leaves unpaid interns open to discrimination and sexual harassment with no legal recourse. It is interesting. As I listened to Mr. Connolly, he is absolutely right: it is surprising that they don't already have this protection.

Last year, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing at which we heard testimony about sexual harassment and retaliation in an EPA regional office. During the hearing, both Chairman Chaffetz and I expressed our disgust at the exploitation of these young women and demanded action to prevent this abuse in the future.

Unfortunately, the act of harassing unpaid interns on the basis of race, religion, age, or, in this case, sex is not prohibited by Federal law. Under current law, victims rely on the discretion of managers to prevent this behavior, which is something that doesn't always occur.

As one witness testified before our committee: ``Even after finding out about the numerous harassment victims, the direct reporting manager continued to feed the harasser a steady diet of young women.''

That is a very sad commentary. As I have often said, we are better than that.

We saw at our hearing that allowing this kind of behavior to go unchecked can have serious consequences on the lives and careers of those who are interested in government service. What we want to do is encourage young people to come into government service. We want them to come in and do what will feed their souls by making life better for the general population. The last thing we want to do is anything that would cause them to say this is something they don't want to do.

Many interns are willing to work for the Federal Government without receiving any pay. That is the other piece: so many of these young people come looking for experience, looking for opportunity. They simply want a chance to get their foot in the door. We must protect them from this kind of despicable behavior. Our bill will afford Federal interns protections in the same manner and to the same extent as Federal employees.

I want to take this moment to thank the chairman for moving this bill expeditiously through our committee, where it was adopted unanimously, and for bringing it to the floor today.