On the recordMarch 17, 2022
This week many people will be celebrating National AmeriCorps Week. I will not be one of them. AmeriCorps has been around for almost 30 years, and in that time we have learned never to underestimate the ability of the Federal Government to muck things up. No one denies that AmeriCorps began with good intentions, and I applaud the philanthropic spirit of those who volunteer out of a genuine desire to help those in need. However, I cannot applaud a bloated bureaucratic organization that is the poster child for fraud and mismanagement. AmeriCorps is entrusted with 1.1 billion taxpayer dollars every single year. And every single year AmeriCorps proves it is an expert at wasting taxpayer funds. For example, some AmeriCorps programs cost taxpayers four to eight times more money than programs that perform identical services. Even more concerning is the fact that neither Congress, the Inspector General, nor AmeriCorps itself have an idea of how taxpayer dollars are being managed. In fact, AmeriCorps' financial statements are so bad that they have not been able to be audited for the past 5 years. According to AmeriCorps' Inspector General, if this occurred at a private organization there would be a ``wholesale resignation or firing of the leadership team, and the public would be shorting their stock.'' Even more concerning is the lack of oversight AmeriCorps provides over its grantees that are plagued with fraudulent activity.…
