Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a coalition with 24 other states Tuesday to sue the Trump administration to stop its gutting of AmeriCorps, a national service program that the lawsuit says will “effectively end” the agency’s programs that include wildfire mitigation, public health work and other service projects in Colorado.
The coalition argues that cutting staff and volunteers will make it impossible for states to support AmeriCorps programs within their borders. The few remaining staff members at AmeriCorps will not be able to timely process grants or ensure the flow of funds to the states, which will harm organizations and agencies that receive grants.
More than 1,000 AmeriCorps volunteers are assigned to work with organizations in Colorado, Weiser said. They serve on the frontlines supporting wildfire mitigation projects, tutoring students, advancing public health education and helping local governments build climate action plans.
Most AmeriCorps grant funding goes to Serve Colorado, a governor-appointed state service commission that allocates funding to organizations that can respond to local needs. Since 2015, Serve Colorado has been awarded nearly $102 million in AmeriCorps grants and has enlisted nearly 12,000 AmeriCorps members in full-time or part-time service in Colorado, the attorney general’s office said.
This summer, about 500 AmeriCorps members are expected to assist Colorado with wildfire mitigation work, wildfire experts said last week during the state’s annual wildfire outlook presentation. Gov. Jared Polis said then that their status was unclear.
“In the wake of this pandemic, we know kids have suffered often falling back in terms of their achievement in reading and math. AmeriCorps volunteers working in Colorado, working in organizations like Youth for a Change, are supporting young people. Supporting young people live their best lives,” Weiser said Tuesday during a news conference with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings announcing the lawsuit.
“But those young people are learning a spirit of service that they too themselves can become volunteers, to be a part of something bigger than themselves, develop hope for their future and a sense of purpose. That’s how we in America fulfil our promise of self-governance,” Weiser said.
Filed on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, the lawsuit marks the 15th time the Colorado attorney general has, alongside other states, sued the Trump administration.
Other lawsuits temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting grant funds from the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s main funder of biomedical research; blocking the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk, from accessing the U.S. Treasury Department’s central payment system; and pushing back against the birthright citizenship ban.
The other attorneys general joining Colorado in as plaintiffs t are from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. The governors of Kentucky and Pennsylviania are also included in the lawsuit.
“America is a land where we serve and support one another. And our constitution has a crucial point — Congress makes the laws. If the president doesn’t like the laws, the president can ask Congress to change them. But once again we have a lawsuit where the president is breaking the law,” Weiser said.
“That’s now how the system works,” he said. “That’s why we’re going to court.”