Most people familiar with government employment are well aware of the catch-22 of working for Congress: you need Hill experience to get a job, but you need a job to get Hill experience. For most people the only way to break into the ranks of Hill staffers is to get an unpaid internship.

Here is my problem with this situation. It is expensive to live in the Beltway, far too expensive for most young people to live there and work a job for no pay. This pretty much prohibits most prospective staffers from ever getting the experience needed to begin a career on the Hill.

Who is able to take advantage of these opportunities? The independently wealthy.

That’s one thing that Conservatives have managed to address brilliantly, while Progressives have lagged behind. Conservatives have created scholarships, institutions, fellowships, dorms, etc. for their young talent to make sure they have the opportunities to start a government career. We Progressives barely have anything that serves that purpose.

Two things need to happen:

  1. Congress should offer more paid internships. First, it’s not very fair to capitalize on someone’s work without paying them. Second, everyone will be better off by enabling the Hill staff to become more diverse.
  2. Progressives need to start building the infrastructure that supports the movement’s young talent. Young Progressives are a lot less likely to begin a career in the public sector than their Conservative counterparts since the institutional support is just not there.

What do you think should be done to solve this problem? Leave your thoughts in the comments.