Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the USDA on Monday following an agency's decision to freeze funds to the state for refusing to reverse transgender athlete participation policies for schools.
The state denounced the USDA “withholding funds used to feed children in schools, childcare centers, after-school programming and meeting environments for adults with disabilities.”
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The State Capitol will be seen in Augusta, Maine on June 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukati, File)
“Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump administration illegally withholds grants to keep them eating,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a news release. “This is another example of how there seem to be no laws or consequences to curb the administration, as it calls for surrender to the law and its lawlessness.
“The president and his cabinet secretaries have not made any laws and they have not exceeded the law. This lawsuit is necessary to remind the president that Maine is not bullied to violate the law.”
Frey added that the funding freeze was “illegal” and called for funds to withhold in search of a temporary restraining order against the department.
Fox News Digital has contacted the US Department of Agriculture for comment.
The USDA announced a freeze on funding for Maine and a federal funding review after the state refused to provide equal opportunities for women and girls in its education program.
The state refused to comply with President Donald Trump's February executive order, banning trans athletes from girls and women's sports, prompting significant federal pressure. Trump initially vowed to cut federal funds to the state if he refused to comply with the order during his Feb. 20 speech.
Maine Governor Janet Mills with the person who raised the transgender flag. (AP/Image)
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USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the state must agree to protect female athletes from trans-inclusion before funding recovers.
“To receive taxpayer dollars from the USDA, Maine must demonstrate Title IX compliance that protects female student athletes from appearing to compete in front of men or pretend not to wear clothes,” Rollins wrote in a letter to the state.
“In addition, the USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded to the Maine Department of Education by the Biden administration, many of which will focus on sectors that are futile, redundant or otherwise unbear the Biden administration's bloated bureaucracy, instead focusing on sectors that do not have farmer-first and for-profit social agendas.
Frey argued that “The Maine Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program does not have access to several sources of federal funding, and everything needs everything to feed children and vulnerable adults.”
Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins will speak to members of the press outside the White House on February 14, 2025. (Getty Images)
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The Department of Education also introduced Maine's “violation with Title IX” to the Department of Justice. The agency complied with the state until April 11th.
Jennifer Johnson and Jackson Thompson of Fox News contributed to this report.
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