President Trump is following through on his promise to defund any state that won’t comply with his executive order barring men from women’s sports.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) halted funding to certain schools in the University of Maine System (UMS). Potential Title VI and Title IX violations are being investigated. This will affect eight public colleges in the system.
It was confirmed by a spokesperson that the schools have been notified.
“This pause is temporary in nature while USDA evaluates if it should take any follow-on actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations," an email notice from the USDA read. "Please take any necessary actions to effectuate this direction from leadership. This pause will remain in effect until further notice.”
The schools, according to the spokesperson, were not aware of any violations of Title VI or Title IX.
During a meeting of governors at the White House last month, Maine’s Democrat Governor Janet Mills told Trump, in response to his warning that the state would lose federal funding if it continued allowing men into women’s sports, that “[W]e’ll see you in court.” Trump replied that he looked forward to it.
The Justice Department also issued a notice of violation against the Maine Department of Education for federal regulations violations regarding Title IX. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned Maine last month that it needed to follow federal law, saying that “[T]his Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law. We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s Executive Order protecting women’s sports.”
At the state level, Maine Democrat lawmakers censured Republican state Representative Laurel Libby last month over a Facebook post showing a teenager who competed as a boy one year in a pole vault competition and as a girl the next. In response, Libby articulated that she isn’t “backing down” from the trans debate.
“[B]ullies are pretty predictable,” Libby told Newsmax. “And so, as anticipated, [Maine House] Speaker Ryan Fecteau and the Democrat majority did censure me. And they have declared that I cannot vote or speak on the floor until I apologize. But if there's one thing that I know about bullies, is you don't back down. And so, I have no intention of backing down from this fight and will continue to speak up for Maine girls.”
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