Rep. Rivera-Wagner Speaks on Trump AmeriCorps Cuts

GREEN BAY, Wis (WGBW) – Last week, the Green Bay City Council voted unanimously to fund the 13 members of the Conservation Corps. This comes after AmeriCorps programs were suddenly cut by the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The council voted to use $115,000 in ARPA interest funds to fund the program through August.

AmeriCorps is similar to a domestic Peace Corps. The members are embedded in communities, providing services such as tutoring for children, conservation, medical support, and more. AmeriCorps workers get a stipend, not a salary. It helps pay some of their living expenses. At the end of their service, members get an education award they can use to pay off student loans.

Wisconsin Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner of Green Bay weighed in on the program, advocating for its potential to give back to local communities:

“If you wanna look at it from a dollars and cents standpoint, for every dollar invested in it, we get $17 back to the community of economic impact. So in any measurement, whether you’re conservative or liberal, this is the kind of program that both makes you feel good, but is also a perfect example of what government can do when it gets involved and supports local communities.”

Rivera-Wagner called the cuts to AmeriCorps cruel. The cuts resulted in the firing of AmeriCorps workers in the middle of their service, leaving them abandoned without jobs, education awards, or support.

“While the Green Bay Common Council has saved this program for the service year, one of the really amazing parts of AmeriCorps is you get something called a service award the end. This award is up to $10,000. And you can use that for school, paying off your loans, learning a second language and so on,” Rivera-Wagner said.

“These members – Even though they’ve done their service and the Green Bay Council has allowed them to finish their year of service – will not be getting an (education) award. For the first time ever in American history. So, despite them doing their service, despite the bridge over troubled waters that the Green Bay Common Council gave to these members, they will not receive their ed award that was a part of their service.”

The Conservation Corps improves parks, trails, and other public spaces. It works to remove invasive species, restore native plants, mitigating floods, and improve the air quality in the area. 

Rivera-Wagner was Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich’s chief of staff when the Conservation Corps was formed.

“It’s been in the city for about three years. We’ve built miles of trails with hundreds and hundreds of acres of invasive species. We have our own wildlife sanctuary here, so we’ve cared for animals. We’ve had hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers trained. We work with schools, we work with businesses,” Rivera-Wagner said. “This program is beloved in our city.”

AmeriCorps programs were funded with three-to-one federal support. Last week, Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said in a press conference regarding AmeriCorps cuts that while the Conservation Corps can continue through August, he is not sure it can be funded after that.

“It’s really a band-aid. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and it hasn’t been that for the City of Green Bay. We’ve put real money up to make this program happen. But it’s a three-to-one match,” Genrich said. “So we would have to come up with three times the dollar amount that we’ve allocated for this. I think it would be very difficult for us to find the dollars to continue operating a program of this scale.”

Meanwhile, Rivera-Wagner said he will try to contact US Congressman Tony Wied (R-De Pere), a staunch supporter of the Trump Administration, to ask him to consider supporting the reinstatement of AmeriCorps.

“Never before in American history, or any in recent memory, could you stop funding a program that had already gotten bipartisan budget approval by Congress? That has never existed before,” said Rivera-Wagner. “And so the governor is suing, proud to be supporting the governor’s lawsuit, but we’re also gonna be lobbying and asking our Republican congressmen to support this program that makes such a fundamental difference here in Green Bay.”

Wied stated last week that he is backing the cuts to AmeriCorps. “House Republicans are working to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely after decades of out-of-control federal spending. While programs like AmeriCorps are generally beneficial to our region, we need to evaluate taxpayer-funded programs on a case-by-case basis to ensure every dollar is spent effectively,” he wrote.

Rivera-Wagner said that the AmeriCorps programs, like the Conservation Corps, are universal regardless of party affiliation. 

“Our Common Council – people who support Donald Trump to people who support Bernie Sanders – unanimously supported this program. And we’re now the only program in Wisconsin that isn’t being shut down immediately. Green Bay’s Conservation Corps will be able to have its members serve until August.” Rivera-Wagner continued, “I couldn’t be any more proud of our common council, our mayor, and our community who stepped up when the federal government abandoned us.”

Rivera-Wagner made his comments on Civic Media’s Todd Albaugh Show.