The U.S. Department of Agriculture paused funding for some educational programs in Maine this week as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing response to the state disregarding the presidential executive order banning men from women’s sports.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins fired off a letter Wednesday to Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, informing her of the funding freeze “for certain administrative and technological functions in schools,” though the move does not apply to federal feeding programs or direct assistance, according to 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 that her “defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming.”
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“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.
On Feb. 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 also wrote that if Maine hopes 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.”
Rollins went on to note that the USDA “has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education,” and has concluded that many of them “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 added.
The letter marks the latest response from the Trump administration against Mills. During a National Governors Association session at the White House in February, Trump confronted Mills publicly and asked her if she will refuse to comply with his executive order.
“I’m complying with state and federal law,” Mills replied.
“We are the federal law. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” Trump shot back.
???? President Trump calls Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) out to her face over her refusal to comply with the executive order keeping men out of women’s sports:
“You better do it — because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” pic.twitter.com/uMUZsy1j6t
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 21, 2025
Mills subsequently issued a defiant statement, saying Maine “will not be intimidated by the President’s threats” to pull federal funding.
In addition to the USDA, both the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded Maine was in violation of Title IX after an investigation. The Education Department warned Mills on Monday that its investigation will be turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice if her state continues to defy federal law.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
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