[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 48 (Thursday, March 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H3780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL AMERICORPS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, 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. For 
example, a Hawaiian nonprofit executive was recently sentenced to 46 
months in prison for embezzling over $500,000 from AmeriCorps, and a 
school district in St. Louis was found guilty of encouraging AmeriCorps 
volunteers to falsely inflate time sheets.
  The private sector often does the same work as AmeriCorps but at a 
fraction of the price and with far less waste, fraud, and 
mismanagement.
  It is our job as Members of the House of Representatives to ensure 
that taxpayer funds are protected. The power of the purse is one of our 
most important constitutional duties. We therefore must stop feeding 
the black hole that is AmeriCorps and instead empower States and local 
governments to meet the needs of their residents.
  The last time AmeriCorps' programs were reauthorized was in 2009 with 
the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which was named 
in honor of the late Senator who was the author of the legislation that 
governs many of AmeriCorps' programs.
  Yet, despite the support for national service, Senator Kennedy 
himself emphasized the importance of proper stewardship of taxpayer 
dollars, noting during a 1993 floor speech on the establishment of the 
corporation that ``Congress will not, and should not, fund a program if 
it is unsuccessful.''
  I agree with him. AmeriCorps has had 29 years to prove itself, and 
the only thing it has proven is that it is a drain on taxpayers and a 
massive disappointment. This is a failed agency that needs to be 
overhauled completely or just eliminated.

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