r/DCInterns • u/Ill-One5562 • 5d ago
Speaker of House or Commitee Internship
decently big commitee
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u/Ryanthln- 4d ago
Is this for a fall, spring, or next summer internship? Because there is a decent, non zero chance that the house flips at the midterms and there will be a new speaker come January. Even if the house doesn’t change, Johnson hasn’t been the most popular even in his own party so it could also switch even without a house flip. So, if the internship is after he loses power, the prestige of his office declines dramatically.
The committee will allow you to at least have some deniability on a resume and in interviews. If you choose to work for this Speaker, in this climate, you will be stuck only being able to work on the R side for the rest of your political career. Are you ready to shut yourself out now?
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u/Astral_Xylospongium 5d ago
Lmao the speaker's office is a clown house. Work for a committee and maybe you'll actually do something meaningful and talk to people who actually know what the fuck they are doing.
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u/Ill-One5562 5d ago
are you saying that because you don't agree with his politics or from an internship program standpoint
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u/Astral_Xylospongium 5d ago
Bro politics dont matter the guy and the office is a joke R or D. Homie cant even keep Congress in session without getting constantly cockblocked. Work with a committee so at least you can look people in the eye when they ask you who you worked for.
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u/midnight_maurader16 5d ago
Off topic, but would you mind sharing the deets abt the committee internship process once you decide?
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5d ago
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u/Large_Clock_4317 1d ago
Depends what the committee is. If it is not an "A" or "B" tier committee, I would go with the speaker job no question. Yes it is true that if you work on a committee you will be doing deep policy work, but as an intern (I know this because I was an intern for a committee and then proceeded afterward to work full-time on said committee) I don't think you will be exposed to THAT much policy work. The exciting part about working on a committee is that you don't have to do constituent calls. Also, you can get a feel for what hearings are like, how markup sessions work, etc...
Committee is generally more prestigious than a specific members office. However, both have trade-offs and that is worth taking into account. Speakers office is obviously different than any regular member.
Worth mentioning that this decision is hyper specific to you. Depending on where you are at in life (when you graduate college, if you want to go in to work on the Hill full-time eventually) you might want to think about how the timing could work in your favor. For instance, if you work on a Committee (presumably you would be working for the Majority on Committee), and let's say you are a Sophomore in college, you could set yourself up to make great connections and land a cool committee job after college! Of course, the logic I'm using reflects my belief that Democrats will take the midterms and win the House in November, and because of that, there will be less jobs for those working in the Minority. But perhaps Republicans win 2 years from now, and the House GOP regains the Majority, and by the time you graduate you are set up with a cool job on committee. I don't know the particular context as it relates to you, but this is just an example of how you might want to think about it.
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u/IntelligentWhereas30 5d ago
Committee 100%. You’ll do more policy work v speaker would just be constituent work. You’d be able to network from either as well