Attorney Generals Halt $184M AmeriCorps Funding Cut Nationwide

Attorney General Kris Mayes, along with a coalition of attorneys general including Minnesota's Keith Ellison and Massachusetts' AG office, successfully halted a $184 million funding cut to AmeriCorps programs imposed by the Trump administration. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agreed to release the withheld funds following a series of lawsuits challenging the proposed austerity measures, which aimed to eliminate nearly 90 percent of AmeriCorps' workforce and cut $400 million in service programs nationwide. Courts issued preliminary injunctions restoring hundreds of unlawfully canceled AmeriCorps initiatives and blocked further defunding without proper rulemaking, but OMB initially continued withholding funds until the recent legal victory. The released funds will support critical programs such as Arizona’s Teacher Residency Program, Caring Circles for home-bound seniors, environmental initiatives like TerraCorps in Massachusetts, and other national service efforts that benefit vulnerable communities. Attorney General Mayes described the outcome as a "complete and total win over the Trump administration's chaos and destruction," emphasizing the importance of AmeriCorps' role in public service and volunteerism. This multi-state legal effort underscores bipartisan opposition to the Trump administration's budget cuts that threatened vital community and volunteer service programs across the country.