Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Shares Video On Paying Interns: 'Experience doesn’t pay the bills!'

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted a short video on her Twitter feed Thursday, the National Intern Day. The four-second video shows AOC, flanked by fellow U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), shouting into the camera: "Experience doesn’t pay the bills!”

Pressley repeats the words with AOC starting half way through while Tlaib is seen just laughing.

The tweet also contained the following text: "Today I was asked why we should bother paying interns if they’re 'getting experience for their résumé.' Here’s what we have say about that:

And the subtitle plays: “Experience doesn’t pay the bills!”

The issue of paying Congressional interns has been in the spotlight this year. In March, the interns were finally allowed to be paid when a congressional committee signed off on a program that requires both legislative chambers to pay stipeneds to their young workers. This came six months after its initial approval.

The new program allotted $14 million to be distributed between the chambers. This comes to $9.62 an hour for an intern, or even less if a lawmaker employs multiple interns.

Carlos Vera, founder of Pay Our Interns, who had spearheaded the push to pay congressional interns, believes that more needs to be done. Rep. Adam Smith (D- Washing.) even introduced a proposal to increase the pay of interns to $15 per hour.

Still there are people who believe that paying interns is a waste of money and these funds could be better utilized elsewhere. They back argument, saying that the interns gain priceless experience which can then be used to find a high paying job.

Congressional interns usually perform a variety of duties and are given a chance to observe Congress firsthand. They are tasked with writing correspondence, handling mails, attending phone calls, working on special projects and to help plan various events. They also attend meetings, hearings, briefings and provide administrative assistance to members of lawmakers and their staff.

These positions used to be filled by children of the well-off who could afford to go without pay for months. Paying the high rents in D.C and its cost of living make it difficult for many students to opt for a semester of unpaid work.

The main idea behind paying interns is to give equal opportunity to everyone. This would allow even aspiring students from low-income backgrounds to do public service in the Congress.

In his conversation with WUSA9 last year, Vera told he struggled to meet ends meet when he was an intern and couldn’t afford the formal wardrobe required for the position.

“I was an unpaid intern on The Hill, that was my first one, I had a part-time job while doing that, kind of realizing that no one looked like me in the hallways of Congress except the janitors. I realised something had to change.”

Vera believes that the interns getting paid would help spread the message that The Hill is no longer just for the well-heeled, and that the access barrier has been broken.