The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) told Maine it was pausing federal funding for certain educational programs due to the state’s policies for transgender athletes.

“Secretary Rollins sent a letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills announcing the pause and an ongoing review of federal funding that the state of Maine receives from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This comes after Maine’s continual refusal to provide equal opportunity to women and girls in educational programs, in direct violation of Title IX,” a press release from the USDA read.

“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine 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,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote.

“In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. 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,” Rollins continued.

Per USDA:

The effort by USDA supports President Donald J. Trump’s leadership in ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not spent on programs that violate federal law. USDA supports the recent actions of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in enforcing Title IX. USDA will pause and, where appropriate, terminate certain nonessential funding in Maine if these Title IX violations are not resolved to the satisfaction of the Federal Government. This pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to citizens; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow.

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A closer look:

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The Hill reports:

The Trump administration has invoked either statute in its crackdown on transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in schools. Executive orders signed by the president aim to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s school sports and curb DEI efforts among federal agencies and grant recipients. Another order demands schools stop teaching what the Trump administration views as critical race theory — an academic framework evaluating U.S. history through the lens of racism that has become a political catch-all buzzword for any race-related teaching — and other lessons related to race, gender and sexuality.

Maine officials, including Mills and state Attorney General Aaron Frey (D), have said Trump’s order on transgender athletes conflicts with the Maine Human Rights Act, which explicitly protects the right of trans students to participate in athletic programs that match their gender identity. But the Trump administration has argued the state is still required to follow federal law — Title IX, in this case — and permitting trans girls to compete against and alongside non-transgender girls violates it.

 

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