BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Donna McClure, representing Senator Mitch McConnell’s office, addressed the Kiwanis luncheon on Thursday at Masterpiece Kitchen & Café in Inez, saying there are opportunities for students to intern in McConnell’s Washington office.
Internships are offered throughout the year in three sessions – summer, spring and fall. The summer internships are the most competitive due to the high volume of applications. Therefore, Senator McConnell offers two summer sessions approximately six weeks each. Applications for the summer sessions will open in December.
McClure also mentioned the office’s collaboration with Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty on county wastewater projects.
“We hope when the 2025 budget comes out there will be some funding in there to help Martin County,” McClure said. “If any of your organizations are looking for any federal funding, we’ll be happy to do letters of support. And if any of you are going to DC, we can give you a tour of the White House and Capitol.”
She shared that Senator McConnell spent the entire month of August in Kentucky, saying he has been promoting a book detailing his life, slated for release in October.
McConnell will continue as Senate Majority Leader until November before stepping down, after which he will serve as the senior senator for the next two years.
“This will give him the opportunity to accomplish great things for Kentucky,” McClure remarked.
She also discussed McConnell’s partnership with Congressman Hal Rogers to extend the four-lane on Hal Rogers Parkway from London to Hazard and to complete the Mountain Parkway.
“That’s something that we have as a two-year goal, to finish those two projects,” said McClure. “That is pretty major and will make a huge difference for the rest of our lives in Eastern Kentucky.”
McClure concluded by describing the opportunities for young people to serve as pages and interns in McConnell’s office.
“He pays for 40 kids per year to go to the University of Louisville,” she said. “That’s his give-back to the state. It’s no federal funds.”
Pages are usually 16 to 18 years old, spending their junior year of high school in DC. Interns in the London office must be over 18 and in their first year of college, while the DC office typically seeks students after their sophomore or junior year of college, around 20 to 22 years old.
“We start out with pages 16-18 years old,” said McClure. “They do their junior year of high school in DC while they’re paging. If they intern in my office in London they have to be over 18 and a freshman in college. In DC, they typically look for people after their sophomore or junior year, around the age of 20 to 22.”
Learn more about internships at mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/internships.
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Donna McClure, field representative for Senator Mitch McConnell