Oregon joins suit against Trump admin for gutting AmeriCorps ‘on a whim’

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a multistate lawsuit on Tuesday challenging President Trump’s executive order to end AmeriCorps grants and cut a majority of the organization’s workforce.

In February, the Trump administration issued an order directing AmeriCorps to plan to reduce its workforce. Since then, the agency has placed at least 85% of its workforce on administrative leave and told employees they would be terminated by June 24.

Attorney General Rayfield says the independent agency provides “essential” work and opportunities for Americans to volunteer whether it’s to help fight the opioid epidemic or rebuilding communities after disaster.

“AmeriCorps represents the best of what it means to be an American: service, sacrifice and community,” Rayfield said. “Gutting this critical work doesn’t just eliminate jobs or opportunities – it tears at the fabric of civic engagement and disproportionally harms vulnerable communities. The president cannot just wipe out public programs funded by public dollars on a whim.”

Filed in Maryland, the lawsuit argues that by cutting AmeriCorps grants and the program’s workforce, the Trump administration is effectively shuttering the national volunteer agency and ending the state’s abilities to support the agency.

The attorneys general claim that the administration acted illegally to make the AmeriCorps cuts by violating the Administrative Procedures Act and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit notes that Congress created AmeriCorps and that the president does not have the power to incapacitate the program’s grants or assigned duties.

The lawsuit comes after the federal government notified Oregon on April 25 that it ended its AmeriCorps grant programs, which supported volunteer and service efforts, according to Rayfield’s office.

The lawsuit was joined by 23 attorneys general including those representing the states of Washington, California, Minnesota, Nevada, Wisconsin and North Carolina along with the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.