On Same Day, WH Promotes Unpaid Internships and Pushes Minimum Wage Increase

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The same day the White House renewed a push to increase the federal minimum wage, an announcement appeared on the White House blog for the Summer 2015 White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders [AAPI] Internship Program — all unpaid positions. Even in prior administrations, internships at the White House were unpaid. While rancor over President Obama’s $10.10 minimum wage proposal and his continuation of unpaid internships is nothing new, Monday’s incongruous pairing of the two issues by the White House may rekindle the controversy.

The minimum wage proposal reappeared Monday on the White House Twitter account. The tweet notes that a number of businesses and states have raised their minimum wage rates, but also calls on Congress to compel all of the nation’s businesses to comply with a new minimum:

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