WASHINGTON – For six weeks, from mid-January through the end of February, five German CBYX participants will be completing internships with Members of the United States Congress as part of the 22nd class of the prestigious CBYX Congressional Internship Program (CIP).

The five German participants selected for the Congressional Internship Program represent a small subset of the larger Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) program, which consists of 75 Germans currently studying, interning, and living with hosts across the United States.

This longstanding U.S.-German exchange program is jointly funded by the German Bundestag and the U.S. Department of State.

The CIP provides German young professionals with the opportunity to acquire real-world experience working in an office of a Member of the U.S. Congress. It is an invaluable opportunity for interns to acquire practical work experience at the level of the federal government while expanding knowledge of the legislative process and the responsibilities of a Member of Congress, while enhancing one’s own analytical, communication, and research skills.

Beyond the workplace experience that the program provides, CIP interns also have an opportunity to share their culture and political interests with Members of Congress and their staffs. This exchange of ideas provides an invaluable benefit to congressional offices.

Since the inaugural internship cohort in 2000-01, more than one hundred German young professionals have taken part in the CBYX Congressional Internship Program.

The names and hosts of the 2022 CBYX Congressional Internship Program participants:

Participating Student Member of Congress Hüsnü Coban Rep. David Trone (MD-6) Pau Drexler Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA-15) Sarah Jung Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-52) Selina Poljak Senator Joe Manchin (WV) Laura-Sophie Sabbedotti Rep. Derek Kilmer (WA-6)

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and the U.S. Department of State that annually provides up to 75 American and 75 German young professionals, between the ages of 18-24, the opportunity to spend one year in each other’s countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program.

Cultural Vistas has administered CBYX for Young Professionals since its inception in 1983.