The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has paused funding for certain educational programs in Maine as part of the Trump administration's ongoing response to the state's disregard for an executive order banning men from competing in women's sports.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills on Wednesday, informing her of the funding freeze that applies "for certain administrative and technological functions in schools." However, the freeze does not affect federal feeding programs or direct assistance, as noted in a press release.
Rollins warned Mills that she “cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” adding, “defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming.” She stated, “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.”
On February 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The order asserts that it is U.S. policy "to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy."
Rollins further indicated that if Maine wishes to receive federal tax dollars, the state must “demonstrate compliance with Title IX which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.”
She also mentioned that the USDA "has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education," concluding that many of these grants "appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration." Rollins noted, “USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda.”
This letter represents the latest response from the Trump administration directed at Mills.
Alongside the USDA, both the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have determined that Maine is in violation of Title IX following an investigation. The Education Department has warned Mills that its investigation will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice if her state continues to defy federal law.
