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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today co-led a coalition of 23 attorneys general – joined by the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania – in filing a lawsuit challenging the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) attempt to gut AmeriCorps by withholding tens of millions of dollars in funding for critical service programs. In June, Attorney General Brown and the coalition won a court order that reinstated hundreds of AmeriCorps programs that were unlawfully cancelled and barred AmeriCorps from making similar cuts without formal rulemaking. Despite this order, OMB is withholding vast sums intended for outstanding service programs, threatening their survival and the wellbeing of those who depend on their services. Because of the Trump administration’s withholding of these critical resources, the coalition has filed an amended lawsuit that adds OMB as a defendant and brings new legal claims against the agency.
“Despite an order to restore funding to critical AmeriCorps programs that serve Maryland’s most vulnerable, the Trump administration is withholding tens of millions of dollars intended for programs that educate our children, care for our elderly, and feed our families,” said Attorney General Brown. “We will not allow the President to sidestep a court order and jeopardize programs Marylanders depend on and threaten the efforts of volunteers whose service uplifts families who struggle to make ends meet.”
AmeriCorps, an independent federal agency that engages Americans in meaningful community-based service, provides opportunities for more than 200,000 Americans to serve their communities every year. AmeriCorps supports national and state community service programs by funding and placing volunteers in local and national organizations that address critical community needs. Organizations rely on support from AmeriCorps to recruit, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members nationwide. In Maryland, AmeriCorps members and volunteers serve as public school teachers across the state; build and rehabilitate homes in Baltimore City; restore and improve Maryland’s state parks and conservation areas; and provide services to low-income, homeless, and elderly individuals in rural Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore.
The lawsuit alleges that OMB has unlawfully withheld from plaintiff states well over $38 million in support intended for specific AmeriCorps programs, across multiple funding streams. For example, OMB appears to have withheld tens of millions of dollars intended for AmeriCorps Senior Companion Programs and Foster Grandparent Programs in plaintiff states, programs that pair low-income seniors with children in need of mentorship and support or with other seniors in need of companionship and care. The administration has also withheld approximately $5 million intended for plaintiff state service commissions, which was needed to provide training and technical assistance to service members across the country. And while AmeriCorps decided to fund numerous programs in plaintiff states with over $33 million in highly competitive grants for the next service year, OMB is preparing to withhold these funds from distribution as well.
The coalition establishes that the Trump administration has acted unlawfully in its withholding of AmeriCorps funds, violating both the Administrative Procedures Act and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution. Congress created AmeriCorps and appropriated funding to support public service, and neither OMB nor AmeriCorps hold authority to defy Congress by refusing to distribute funds to worthy service programs.
In Maryland, AmeriCorps provided over $21 million in federal funding and education awards last year, supporting 4,949 members serving across the state. Earlier this year, AmeriCorps abruptly terminated Frostburg University’s ASTAR program, which supports literacy programming, environmental research, and food assistance in western Maryland. Attorney General Brown and coalition partners won a court order restoring ASTAR’s funding. AmeriCorps then informed ASTAR that they would be funded with highly competitive grant funding for the next service year, but only if such funds are actually released by the administration. Like many other service programs, ASTAR cannot rely on this empty promise, and will be forced to seek significantly reduced support, hamstringing its service efforts and those of programs across the state.
Joining the lawsuit, led by Attorney General Brown along with the attorneys general of California, Colorado, and Delaware, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Colombia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
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