Maine Sues Trump Admin Over Funding Freeze Affecting Child Nutrition Program | EUROtoday

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — Maine officers sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to attempt to cease the federal government from freezing federal cash within the wake of a dispute over transgender athletes in sports activities.

Trump and Maine, which is managed by Democrats, are within the midst of a weeks lengthy dispute in regards to the Title IX anti-discrimination legislation and the participation of transgender college students in highschool sports activities. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins mentioned earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was pausing some funds for Maine academic packages due to what she described as Maine’s failure to adjust to the Title IX legislation.

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a criticism in federal courtroom on Monday that described the pause as “illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed.” The lawsuit seeks a brief restraining order stopping the USDA from withholding cash till a courtroom is ready to hear the case.

In a press release, Frey mentioned, the president and his Cabinet “secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”

The youngster diet program of the Maine Department of Education is unable to entry a number of sources of funding in the mean time due to the funding pause, Frey mentioned. The cash is used to feed kids in colleges, childcare facilities and after-school packages and can also be used to learn disabled adults in congregate settings, he mentioned.

The lawsuit states that the kid diet program obtained or was as a consequence of obtain greater than $1.8 million for the present fiscal yr. Prior yr funds that have been awarded however are at present inaccessible complete greater than $900,000, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit additionally says that this system was anticipating about $3 million that’s usually awarded each July for summer season meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.

USDA officers didn’t return a request for remark.

Rollins mentioned in a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills on April 2 that the state “cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated.” The letter mentioned the funding pause didn’t affect federal feeding packages.

“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins’ letter mentioned.

Tensions between Maine and the Trump administration have simmered since February when Trump threatened to drag funding from Maine if the state doesn’t comply together with his govt order barring transgender athletes from sports activities. Mills, who was current on the White House for a gathering of governors, instructed the president: “We’ll see you in court.”

The Trump administration has vowed to cancel extra federal funding if Maine doesn’t bar transgender athletes from sports activities participation quickly.