Pricing Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In the summer, as throughout the year, the nation’s capital exudes power. The buildings are majestic, the monuments imposing, and legions of men and women in crisp suits and sharp ties walk hurriedly from one meeting to another. In their presence, you can’t help but feel inspired and proud—inspired by your own importance, for surely you must be important to work here, and proud to be a part of the most successful democracy.

But as you ride to work every morning humming the ‘West Wing’ theme under breath, you begin to notice something funny. All of the people walking about with their purposeful, ardent strides are young. Interrogation follows intuition; you quickly discover that they, like yourself, are interns. This process repeats itself again and again until you finally realize, with some chagrin, that you are just one of many thousands irresistibly drawn to this place of politics and power. Interns are the lifeblood of the city.

Most Senate and Congressional offices have between five and 30: the interns often outnumber regular staff. A little grade school math and a rough estimate of 15 a Senator and seven per Representative puts about 4,500 interns on Capitol Hill. In monetary terms, this is a staggering indicator of our democracy’s health. I work around 40 hours per week gratis, and will be here for eight weeks. At $15 per hour, a normal summer wage at home or around Harvard, my time is worth $4,800. Throw in $2,400 for Georgetown housing (I’d live for free at home), and my contribution shoots up to $7,200. Multiply that by the 4,500 interns on Capitol Hill, and you’ve got a net intern contribution worth $32 million.

Thirty-two million dollars is a heck of a summer contribution, and we interns are rewarded for it with the opportunity to meet and question a number of elected officials. But considering the net cash value of our donations, it is surprising that we don’t get more. Politicians spend a substantial amount of their time wooing donors; it’s often said that Congressmen must raise $1 million every two years to win reelection. That comes out to $10,000 a week, and the only way to get this kind of money is to constantly engage donors. The result is that lobbyists and high net-worth individuals receive far more face time, attention, and legislation than virtually anyone else.

The irony in all of this is that the monetary value of intern labor, $4,800 per person per summer, is actually greater than the maximum campaign contribution of $4,200 per election cycle permitted by law. (That’s $2,100 in the primary and $2,100 in the general, for those counting.) But most of us interns will never even have a conversation with a legislator, let alone influence legislation. My real political impact would probably be greater if I went home, made $4,200, and donated it to a politician of my choosing. Why are interns, despite high value and sharp interest, so politically impotent?

Any explanation must recognize a number of considerations. Supply and demand certainly plays a role: for every intern that gets to work here, there are five that would happily take his or her place. Another difficulty is youth: three-term senators are, reasonably enough, often reluctant to solicit advice from college students and recent grads. Our influence as interns may not be commensurate with our efforts—but it might well be appropriate given our experience.

There is, however, a third factor at play, and I think it deserves the greater part of the credit for our lack of political force. We just don’t want it badly enough. College-educated interns rarely take a $7,200 excursion into politics so they can push issues at personal risk; we are here as a substitute for, not a corollary to, gritty grassroots action.

For a brief few weeks, we choose to live in this city of majesty and power, and bask in the glory of being a politician. Perhaps by making us work with little political or monetary reward, our bosses conspicuously remind us that we are still public servants.



Alexander N. Li ’08, a Crimson editorial editor, is a philosophy concentrator in Leverett House. He is currently interning at Keeping America’s Promise, John Kerry’s Political Action Committee.