USDA Freezes Federal Funding to Maine After It Refuses To Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls’ Sports

The Trump Administration is following through on the president’s promise to punish Maine for its refusal to change state policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says federal funds for certain Maine educational programs are being frozen for what she described as violations of federal Title IX law. She did not specify which programs would be affected in the Wednesday statement.Ms. Rollins sent a letter to Governor Mills Wednesday announcing the pause and an ongoing review of federal funding the state receives from the US Department of Agriculture. She said the state is refusing to provide equal opportunity to women and girls in educational programs.President Trump issued an executive order shortly after his inauguration requiring athletes to play on teams that coincide with the sex they were assigned at birth.“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” Ms. Rollins stated in the letter.She says all grants the Biden administration awarded to the Maine Department of Education are being reviewed. Ms. Rollins says many of the grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump administration.“USDA will not not extend the Biden administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda,” Ms. Rollin said.A release claims the pause in funding will not impact federal school lunch programs or direct assistance to Maine citizens. Currently, the USDA provides substantial funding to the University of Maine system for agricultural research, as well as for cooperative and extension programs and youth engagement programs such as 4-H across the state. President Trump and Ms. Mills got into a verbal spat over transgender athletes during a public event at The White House in February. He warned her about complying with the executive order. Ms. Mills replied by telling the President that her state would “comply with state and federal law” and that she would “see you in court.”“You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” Mr. Trump replied.

USDA Freezes Federal Funding to Maine After It Refuses To Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls’ Sports

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