Josh Harder Internship Requirements: A Comprehensive Guide

The Office of Representative Josh Harder offers internships in both its Washington, D.C., and District offices. These hands-on programs provide motivated undergraduates, graduate students, recent graduates, and even high school students with invaluable real-world experience in government and politics. Interns gain a deeper understanding of the federal government while strengthening their communication, writing, problem-solving, and time-management skills.

General Internship Information

Locations and Timing

Washington, D.C. Office: Fall internships are in-person.
District Office: Internships are available throughout the fall, spring, and summer terms.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an internship with the Office of Representative Josh Harder, applicants must be enrolled (graduate programs are included) in one of the partnering institutions during the semester for which they are applying.

How to Apply

After interviewing applicants, the participating legislative offices will send their top candidates for placement. Once accepted as an intern, onboarding paperwork will be sent, and attendance at an orientation at the office will be required.

Encouragement of Diversity

The office strongly encourages applications from women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented communities.

Internship Details

No Prior Experience Required

The internships do not require any prior experience. To provide interns with the necessary information, an orientation is held at the office, and informational handouts are provided before the official start date.

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Skills Development

Over the course of their service, interns will gain a deeper knowledge of the federal government and strengthen their communications, writing, problem-solving, and time-management skills.

Application Requirements

In the cover letter, applicants should include their availability (days and times), desired start and end dates, and any requirements their school has for receiving credit.

Types of Internships

Casework Intern (District Office)

The paid casework intern in the district office will have an emphasis in working alongside the Casework team and serve as a liaison with federal agencies. The Casework intern will have to be able to commit to a minimum of 25 hours per week.

Constituent Services Intern (District Office)

Constituent Services Interns may be asked to do a variety of things, including day-to-day office work such as answering phones, writing letters, and working on special projects. In addition, interns may be assigned to assist in various constituent casework or work on District-based projects of importance.

Nomination Information

What is a Nomination?

Members of Congress may nominate applicants who meet the eligibility requirements established by law. Senators from his/her state; and/or apply directly to the Vice-President of the United States.

Nomination File Deadline

The deadline to complete a nomination file is the end of October each year.

Required Documents for Nomination File

Congressman Harder’s Nomination Application.
Professional Photo with the name written on the back. (No selfies)
Official SAT or ACT Scores (SAT: 4417, ACT: 7249)
Official High School Transcripts (If in college or has college credit, you must submit your college transcripts too).
A one-page resume with extracurricular activities, work experience, and awards
One-page essay on why you want to go to a Service Academy and why you should receive a nomination.
Three letters of recommendation with one being from a teacher, principal, or high school counselor

Post-Application Process

Applicants will be notified when the office receives their application and if there is anything missing from their application file. If they have a complete application by the application deadline, then they will be invited to have an interview with the academy selection committee. These interviews are on the first weekend of December and are scheduled for November. A letter of recommendation is sufficient.

Service Academy Requirements

The requirements are not the same for all the service academies. Although many of the qualifications are similar, each academy operates under its own admissions guidelines. It is not necessary to seek a nomination to the Coast Guard Academy.

Multiple Academy Nominations

You can be nominated to multiple academies, depending on how well you have competed among this year’s pool of candidates. It is possible to be offered an appointment from more than one academy. You may apply to all the academies which you desire to attend. Make sure to also apply to each academy you are seeking a nomination from the Congressman.

Appointment Notification

Academies will begin to notify candidates of their admission status in February, and appointments will be completed by May.

Preparatory Programs

The Congressman does not have any sway over admission to the preparatory programs at the academy. If a student receives a nomination and has a great application but is lacking in academic qualifications, the academy will offer them an appointment to the preparatory program if they have availability.

Military Scholarship Programs

There are several programs out there you might want to consider such as the National Guard Minutemen Scholarship Program, ROTC Scholarship Program, and the Coast Guard Academy. Each Branch also has its own scholarship opportunities for specific careers in the military.

Congressional Internships: A Broader Perspective

To provide a more complete understanding of congressional internships, it's helpful to consider some broader aspects of these positions.

What is an Intern?

An intern is an individual who provides assistance, paid or unpaid, to a congressional office on a temporary basis. The internship experience is typically considered to provide an educational benefit for that individual. An intern's role does not substitute for or replace the duties of regular employees. If an intern is paid, then some of the rules applicable to congressional employees may apply.

A volunteer also provides assistance to a congressional office, and the experience is generally considered to be of educational value for the volunteer. In many cases, a volunteer's role in a congressional office can be similar to that of an unpaid intern. A volunteer cannot receive financial compensation for his or her service from any source. The volunteer's assignments are not to replace the regular duties of paid employees.

A fellow is an individual who also performs services in a congressional office on a temporary basis, but typically through participation in an established, graduate-level or mid-career education program. Fellows often receive compensation from a sponsoring employer, professional association, or other organization while working in Congress during the course of the fellowships.

A page is a high-school junior, at least 16 years old, who participates in a more structured program for a semester or summer. Pages continue to serve in the Senate, but the House program was discontinued in 2011. Although they are appointed by individual Senators, the pages provide assistance as a group in the Senate chamber and receive housing, education, and a stipend from the Senate.

Rules and Regulations

Few statutes or standing rules of the House or Senate make specific references to congressional interns. In many cases, the distinction between a paid internship and an unpaid internship affects which formal rules apply to interns. Fewer House or Senate rules may apply to unpaid interns than to paid interns. The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) notes that interns are covered by the Congressional Accountability Act under certain limited circumstances.

To enhance accountability for unpaid interns, the House or Senate ethics committees or individual congressional offices can set standards for unpaid interns to abide by that mirror some of the same rules that paid interns or congressional employees follow. The House Committee on Ethics, for example, advises that offices obtain an agreement in writing from unpaid interns at the outset of an internship. The Senate Select Committee on Ethics requires that unpaid interns file a disclaimer with the Financial Clerk of the Senate acknowledging that their service is voluntary, or gratuitous, in nature. The committee also notes that the conflict-of-interest provisions in the Standing Rules of the Senate "apply to any intern, fellow, or volunteer providing Senate services," even if the individual is only working for a single day.

Because information sent and received from a congressional computer or network may be traced back to a particular office, an office may choose to implement additional standards for interns' incidental computer and internet usage. Paid interns are required to follow the House or Senate gift rules that apply to regular employees, and the House and Senate ethics committees advise that unpaid interns should also abide by the gift rules. Generally, these rules prohibit (1) receiving gifts from lobbyists or foreign agents, (2) receiving any individual gift valued at over $50, and (3) receiving $100 or more in gifts (each valued at $10 or more) from a single source.

Office Guidance and Information

Offices often provide additional information or guidance to interns about congressional operations or resources. Offices, for example, might provide an overview of the House or Senate rules that apply to interns or clarify their own office policies regarding attendance, technology use, phone etiquette, and other expectations. Information about emergency procedures and contact information for the appropriate police or medical services is commonly provided (the Capitol Police and Office of the Attending Physician, for staff in Washington, DC, and local contacts for interns in district or state offices). Some offices may provide interns with a basic overview of the legislative process or how to perform legislative research. Locations of buildings or offices within the Capitol Complex and information on dining facilities and other on-site services may be useful for interns on Capitol Hill, and similar information about the area surrounding a state or district office could be provided to interns in those offices.

Intern Selection

House and Senate offices are able to set many of their own requirements for intern selection, just as they are with general personnel decisions. Some offices, for example, may require that interns are currently enrolled students, have reached a certain level of education, or that interns live in a Member's district or state.

Non-Citizens

In many instances, Members of Congress have broad discretion to determine who works in their offices, but different laws, rules, and considerations may apply to a noncitizen's potential service, based on the individual's status, particularly if the individual receives pay. House offices may wish to contact the Office of the General Counsel, Committee on Ethics, or the Committee on House Administration before employing a noncitizen as an intern. The House and Senate ethics manuals provide some general guidance for congressional offices on working with foreign-national interns. Conflict-of-interest considerations may affect the responsibilities an office chooses to assign to a foreign-national intern.

Campaign Activities

The respective ethics manuals remind Member offices to be careful not to mix official congressional resources with campaign resources. Interns working in a congressional office may also work for a political campaign, but the two responsibilities are to be carefully delineated and kept separate so that congressional time, property, facilities, equipment, or other resources are not used for electoral campaigns.

Nepotism

If an intern is paid, then the standard prohibitions regarding nepotism or employment of relatives established in law and House or Senate rules apply. Because each congressional office is its own hiring authority, an intern may be related to another Member or staff in a different office without violating these rules.

Age Considerations

Often, interns in congressional offices are college-age individuals or recent college graduates between 18 and 24 years old. Historically, individuals under 18 generally served Congress as pages. There is also no maximum age for interns. Older individuals returning to higher education, considering a career change, or seeking a congressional internship for other reasons could also receive an educational benefit from such service and may have useful experience to share with a congressional office.

Internship Length

Internship lengths often reflect time periods designated by the academic calendar, occurring, for example, over the course of the fall or spring semester, or during the summer. There are no minimum lengths for House or Senate internships in statute, but certain considerations may affect the parameters offices choose for how long an internship should last. More detailed guidance is available for the maximum length of internships.

Compensation

Interns may receive pay from the congressional office in which they work, if the office chooses to provide it. The continuing resolution for FY2025 and the FY2024 appropriations bill provide some designated funding for internships in House Members' personal offices, in House committees, in House leadership offices, and in Senators' personal offices. Members may also use their own office resources, such as from the Members' Representational Allowance (MRA) in the House and the Senators' Official Personnel and Office Expense Account (SOPOEA) in the Senate, to provide compensation for interns. Committees or other congressional offices may provide compensation for interns through their appropriate accounts designated for staff salaries. In the House, the Committee on House Administration has typically set a maximum and minimum gross annual rate of pay for interns for Member and committee offices. Previously, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Congressional Intern Program operated in the House from 1973 to 1994 and made two-month paid internships available for each Member office.

Many educational institutions or other organizations sponsor congressional internships, and interns may receive stipends from these groups for their internships.

Academic Credit

The House and Senate expect that a congressional internship provides an educational experience but, institutionally, make no requirements that an intern receive school credit or be a currently enrolled student. Some congressional offices may choose to select interns on the basis of whether they will receive, or will not receive, academic credit for the experience. Each educational institution sets its own requirements for granting academic credit, and while some schools or academic departments encourage internships and grant academic credit for them, others do not allow students to receive academic credit for internships. School requirements may prevent a student from receiving academic credit for an internship experience that the intern may have personally found to be highly educational. A short internship, for example, may not meet a school's requirement for the number of hours served to receive credit, or students may be responsible for paying tuition on any academic credits earned.

Number of Interns

There is no minimum required number of interns for each congressional office; offices are not obligated to hire any interns unless they choose to. If interns are unpaid, there is no cap on the maximum number of interns for either the House or Senate. Offices, however, may want to ensure there is enough office space for interns to work in, and that there is enough work available to provide interns with a sufficient educational experience. If interns are paid, there may be a maximum number of interns an office can employ, based on applicable staff ceiling rules for the office. The number of interns in offices can fluctuate from year to year and within seasons during the year. During the summer, for example, offices commonly have more interns than during other parts of the year. For Member offices, the location of an internship in Washington, DC, or in a state or district office may also affect the number of interested and available interns.

Location and Responsibilities

The substance of the work performed in an internship may vary between district/state offices and Washington, DC, offices if the roles assumed by those different Member offices vary. For example, an intern's tasks may involve more constituent service activities in a district or state office than they would in a Washington, DC, office where the emphasis may be more on legislative activities. The same House and Senate rules and policies generally apply to district or state office interns and to Washington, DC, office interns. Due to the high concentration of congressional interns on Capitol Hill, some training opportunities and congressional programs may be available to Washington, DC, interns, but not to interns serving in district or state offices further away. House interns who are paid under the House Paid Internship Program may work in Washington, DC, in the office of a Member, in a committee office, or in a House leadership office, or interns may work in a Member's district office. The Committee on House Administration has also stated that paid House interns may be eligible for telework in the event of a disaster, pandemic, or other emergency. For security purposes, interns in Washington, DC, offices can obtain a congressional ID badge, available from the Office of the Sergeant at Arms for the appropriate chamber. District or state office interns are also eligible to receive ID badges at the request of the employing Member office. ID badges are to be returned to the Office of the Sergeant at Arms upon completion of an internship.

Training

If interns are paid by Congress, then they are to take many of the mandatory trainings discussed below that new House or Senate employees are required to take. If interns are unpaid, however, fewer House or Senate trainings are mandatory for them. Because interns may be working with Congress or in a professional environment for the first time, congressional offices may want to have their interns attend additional trainings to better ensure they are prepared for their work and can represent the office appropriately. All interns in the House of Representatives are required to complete a training session on workplace rights and responsibilities. Also in the House, any individual who has access to the House network needs to complete an information security training online. A paid intern who is employed for 60 days or more is to take a House ethics training, which is mandatory for new House employees. In the Senate, all interns or fellows are required to receive the same antiharassment training as paid employees. The Senate Office of Education and Training has provided a number of courses specifically designed for interns. A few, including harassment prevention and an overview of the Senate Code of Conduct, have been listed as required courses, whereas others, like information security training, have been listed as recommended or optional. Many of these courses are online and can be accessed via the Senate intranet in a state or Capitol Hill office. Other courses offered by the Senate Office of Education and Training or the Senate Library may be open to interns if space permits.

Some programs and courses offered by CRS are open to congressional interns, provided that they have completed the CRS intern orientation. Many summers, the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration have cosponsored the Congressional Summer Intern Lecture Series, providing congressional interns with insights about politics and policymaking from Members of Congress, other government officials, and journalists.

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