Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) plans to introduce a bill to create a volunteer summer internship initiative in order to replace the House page program that was eliminated by budget cuts.
“Based on the old page program, Norton’s bill requires summer interns in the program to have much of the same duties and responsibilities as House pages,” said the statement released by Norton’s office. “Unlike the House page program, however, Norton’s proposed internship program requires applicants to be in college or college-bound, and to provide for their own housing during the internship, as well as being unpaid.”
The cancellation of the page program was highly unpopular. Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that she was also working on introducing a low-cost alternative to the old program.