Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday to fight a funding freeze from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last week that the agency had begun freezing federal funds to Maine because of Democrat Gov. Janet Mills’ refusal to bar transgender-identifying boys from competing in girls’ sports. The USDA said it paused distribution of funds after sending multiple requests to Mills urging her to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order and Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities receiving federal funding.
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated,” Rollins said in the letter. “Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming. Today, I am freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a complaint in federal court describing the funding pause as “illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,” Associated Press reported. The state is asking the court for a temporary restraining order to prevent the USDA from withholding funds until it is able to hear the case.
In a statement, Frey said Trump’s cabinet secretaries “do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
Frey alleged that the child nutrition program of the Maine Department of Education is unable to access several sources of funding because of the USDA’s action. Rollins specifically said in her letter addressing the freeze that the “pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.”
“The lawsuit states that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states,” according to the report. “The lawsuit also says that the program was anticipating about $3 million that is typically awarded every July for summer meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.”
In the April 2 letter, Rollins did not state which program funds are being paused or a specific amount, but she said the freeze would end immediately if Mills complies with federal law.
“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 wrote.
Rollins said the USDA is additionally reviewing all research and education-related funding in the state for compliance with the Constitution, federal laws, and the Trump administration.
“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes,” the letter reads.
“USDA, alongside other federal agencies, will continue to pause and, where appropriate, terminate categories of education programming in Maine if these Title IX violations are not resolved to the satisfaction of the Federal Government,” she added.
President Trump’s executive order on “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” was created to protect female student athletes from having “to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.” The order also mandates each federal department to “review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order,” which protects women “as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
Following Trump’s order, Maine officials publicly said they would not comply, siding with transgender-identifying males over women and girls and citing state law allowing students to play on teams that match their “gender identity.”
Then a transgender-identifying boy claimed the victory in the Maine Class B championship for the Greely High School girls’ track and field team in February.
President Trump and Gov. Mills had a public spat on Feb. 20, in which he said at the Republican Governor’s Association dinner that Maine is at risk of losing federal funding if the state continues to allow males to play on female sports teams.
“We are the federal law. You better do it, because you’re not gonna get any federal funding if you don’t… your population also doesn’t want men in women’s sports,” Trump said. “You better comply, or you’re not getting any federal funding.
“See you in court,” Mills replied.
“Good. See you in court, that should be a real easy one,” Trump fired back. “Enjoy your life after, governor. I don’t think you’ll be in elected office.”
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Both the Department of Education (DoE) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) subsequently launched investigations into the state and ultimately found the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) and other entities in violation of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities receiving federal funding.
Last week, the DoE sent a letter to the MDOE advising that the state has until April 11 to meet President Trump’s executive order, which called to “re-write federal Title IX education rules to withhold federal funds from schools that allow transgender athletes to play as females.”
“The Maine Department of Education’s indifference to its past, current, and future female athletes is astonishing. By refusing to comply with Title IX, MDOE allows — indeed, encourages — male competitors to threaten the safety of female athletes, wrongfully obtain girls’ hard-earned accolades, and deny females equal opportunity in educational activities to which they are guaranteed under Title IX,” the letter reads.
READ MORE: Maine Universities Agree to Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports After Trump Admin Funding Pause
“Under prior administrations, enforcement was an illusory proposition. No more. The Trump-McMahon Education Department is moving quickly to ensure that federal funds no longer support patently illegal practices that harm women and girls,” it added.
Maine officials have consistently claimed they are complying with state law, the Maine Human Rights Act, over federal law. The Maine Human Rights Act contains protections for “gender identity,” an element which Maine Republicans want to strip as the debate over transgender-identifying athletes continues.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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