Just weeks after a tense White House exchange between Maine’s Democratic governor and the nation’s Republican president, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it would temporarily halt all spending on programs in the University of Maine system.
The funding freeze, announced in an email and confirmed by a department spokesperson, amounts to $100 million, USDA said. But the system only received about $30 million total in fiscal year 2024, Maine spokesperson Samantha Warren told The Portland Press Herald. The money withheld for grants and contracts will affect projects ranging from local 4-H programming to research initiatives, the USDA said.
Trump first threatened to withhold federal funding from Maine on Feb. 21 at a National Governors Association event. He was caught on camera in a dispute with Governor Janet Mills and argued that the state must comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and his recent executive order that bars trans women from competing in women’s sports.
“You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,” Trump said.
To which Mills replied, “We’re going to follow the law, sir. We’ll see you in court.”
But now, the Pine Tree State is feeling the repercussions well before a case has even been filed.
According to the USDA order, “the pause will remain in effect until further notice” until all “actions related to prospective Title VI or Title IX violations” are evaluated.
The reference to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a shift from the USDA’s other public statements about its investigation into the University of Maine system, which focused on Title IX.
“We’re still assessing the total amount of active awards across the System impacted,” Warren added in a later email.
Dannel Malloy, chancellor of the system, said in an interview with the Press Herald that the notice from the USDA was “disappointing.”
“The letter that we got didn’t give a reason,” Malloy said. “‘We’re going to hurt kids because somebody didn’t like what somebody else said …’ Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
This is the second time in the past week that the Trump administration has pulled funding from a higher education institution for doing something that doesn’t align with the president’s priorities and policies. Columbia University, a Manhattan-based Ivy League institution, was the first to be hit, losing $400 million Friday as a result of “continued inaction” in response to claims of antisemitism on campus.
As was the case with Columbia, observers have been expecting some sort of punishment for Maine, though it was unclear how the penalty would be doled out or to what extent. The USDA launched a Title IX compliance review within 24 hours of the White House dispute, citing “indications” that the state was “disregarding” Trump’s order.
“President Trump has made it abundantly clear,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement, “taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women.”
In a written response to the USDA on Feb. 26, the system said it confirmed its athletic programs were in compliance with relevant state and federal laws. The system did not receive any further communication from the USDA between filing that response and receiving notice of the $100 million funding cut.
That said, lawmakers, policy experts and Maine higher ed officials were frustrated but not surprised by the announcement.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, called the USDA’s actions “vindictive” and said she was “appalled” by the informal email, which shared no findings to support the funding freeze and offered no opportunity for any recourse.
“Let’s be clear about what this latest funding freeze will do: It will hurt farmers and rural Mainers, it will halt critically needed research innovation, and it will slash educational opportunities for students throughout Maine,” Pingree said. “Once again, it appears as though this administration is targeting our state for retribution—all because our elected officials are standing up for the rule of law.”
Agricultural experts say that funding pulled by the agency could compromise research on biofuels, vegetables, animal health, renewable fuels and more.
“If all of their funding was removed from USDA, that would have a really big impact on farmers on the ground here,” Sarah Alexander, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, told Reuters.
To Mills, even before the USDA announced its cuts, the issue is more than just a policy debate about transgender rights or a funding issue that will impact local farming—it’s about the health of America’s democracy.
“In America, the president is neither a king nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it,” the governor said in a written statement shortly after her initial exchange with Trump. “I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined,” she added, “but do not be misled: This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a president can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”
