The U.S. Department of Agriculture is freezing funding to Maine but is not specifying how much money has been frozen, or what programs it will impact.
A letter sent to Governor Janet Mills Wednesday by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the freeze is a direct response to accusations Maine is violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated. Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming,” said Rollins in the letter. “Today, I am freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools.”
Mills and the state have defied the Trump administration over the transgender issue.
Rollins said the state could still prevent the freeze from continuing. “This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law,” Rollins said
The freeze will likely not affect USDA provided school lunches, but it’s not known whether the University of Maine will be impacted.
“This pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow,” Rollins said.
Democratic 1st District Representative Chellie Pingree issued a statement Wednesday, where she called the latest round of cuts “political blackmail”.
“This goes beyond Title IX, it’s a calculated assault on the values of equality and dignity that Mainers hold dear,” said Pingree. “Rather than adjudicate the Title IX issue in court, this administration would rather pick on rural communities. On our teachers and students”.
Rollins also said in the Wednesday letter that the USDA will review grants awarded to the Maine Department of Education under the Biden administration, saying many of those grants “appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration.”
