Monday, 21 July 2025

DOGE Slashes Billion Dollar ‘Volunteer’ Program That Failed Audits 8 Times

100 Percent Fed Up
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DOGE just shutdown AmeriCorps, placing most of its staff nationwide on immediate leave.

A memo from the interim director confirmed the freeze, with only top positions still active. I assume that’s so they can vacuum and clean up before they leave.

It’s part of a broader DOGE-led shakeup targeting shady federal programs that are bloated and/or ineffective.

And seeing as this group got a cool $1.3 billion last year, and then fails their audits 8 times in a row…I think they qualify.

Volunteers are quite upset about it. I assume most of them are basically in the dark about what really is going on with the money at AmeriCorps.

Politico reports:

AmeriCorps placed employees at its Washington headquarters and around the nation on administrative leave Wednesday as the Trump administration and DOGE moved to make sweeping cuts at an organization that deploys volunteers across the U.S.

Employees received a memo from Interim Director Jennifer Bastress Tahmasebi informing them they had been placed on leave effective immediately, according to a copy of the memo obtained by POLITICO and agency staff with direct knowledge of the situation who were granted anonymity to avoid repercussions.

A spokesperson for AmeriCorps did not immediately respond to questions but staff members said hundreds of people appear to have been placed on leave, jeopardizing the organization’s programs with nonprofits around the country. Only a handful of senior officials and program heads remain active at the agency, one of the affected employees said.

“The work we perform for the American public is vital and we’ve now been stripped of our ability to do that,” said an AmeriCorps employee placed on leave. “I worry about the impact that this will have on grantees, members, and volunteers who have committed themselves to providing service for Americans.”

The action is the latest move by the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by Elon Musk, to carry out cutbacks across departments and agencies. The billionaire Tesla CEO once pledged to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget but seems to have recently pared that down to $150 billion.

Looks like the Lord heard Rep. Virginia Foxx’s desire and took care of it.

National Taxpayers Union Foundation reports on their 8 failed audits:

The Corporation for National and Community Service, also known as AmeriCorps, failed its eighth consecutive financial audit in November, highlighting persistent mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. This pattern of fiscal dysfunction raises serious questions about AmeriCorps’ ability to operate effectively. Lawmakers—and the incoming Donald Trump Administration should prioritize reviewing AmeriCorps’ operations and consider significant reforms, reductions, or even its elimination to ensure responsible stewardship of public funds.

AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, was established by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 during the Bill Clinton Administration. In FY 2024, it received $1.3 billion in taxpayer funding.

While the “volunteer” mission of this government agency may sound commendable, it has become a financial liability for American taxpayers, rife with waste, fraud, and abuse. Not only does this translate to inefficient use of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars, it also means that the aim of volunteerism and community service intended to help Americans in need throughout the country is not being effectively achieved.

The agency’s FY 2024 financial audit, conducted by the public accounting firm RMA Associates, resulted in a “disclaimer of opinion”—a serious red flag indicating that the agency’s financial records are unreliable.

Auditors define a material weakness as “a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the financial statement will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.” A significant deficiency, while less severe, is “a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies . . . important enough to merit the attention of those charged with governance.” The audit uncovered 11 material weaknesses and two significant deficiencies in AmeriCorps’ financial management, a number of which are repeats from years prior, some in modified form.

They have a lot of volunteers that seem to have a good heart.

But sadly, it seems their trust might’ve been misplaced.

I’m sure AmeriCorp failed their audits 8 times by accident.

Nothing shady going on there, right?

But on a serious note, I wish they had failed 9 audits so I could post that 80’s movie clip about Ferris Bueller being absent “nine times!” It would’ve worked so beautifully. Oh well.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

View the original article here.


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