The United States Department of Agriculture will reinstate funding to the University of Maine System, Sen. Susan Collins’ Office announced Wednesday night.
Funding has resumed following the pause announced Monday, Collins’ office said. More than $56 million in active grants were affected, including more than $32 million slated for payment in the coming months and years.
“This USDA funding is critically important not only to the University of Maine, but to our farmers and loggers, as well as to the many people who work in Maine’s agriculture, aquaculture and forestry industries. Now that funding has been restored, the work that the university does in partnership with the many people and communities who depend on these programs can continue,” Collins said in a written statement.
The federal department pays for programs across the university system via the University of Maine Cooperative Extension — from sustainable agricultural research, to education and outreach, to work with 4-H.
Funding from the USDA has been a key support since the flagship campus’ founding 160 years ago, Chancellor Dannel Malloy and University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said Wednesday night.
“The University of Maine System was thrilled to learn from Senator Collins that the USDA has agreed to lift its plan to temporarily pause our federal funding, which has been an unnecessary distraction from our essential education, research and extension activities that benefit Maine and well beyond,” they said in a written statement.
They thanked Collins for the news and said they are “eager to put the whiplash and worry of recent weeks behind us and keep up our good work to move Maine forward.”
The pair pointed to the state’s wild blueberry industry, which has seen skyrocketing production boosted by UMaine research, as a sign of the university’s impact.
Eric Venturini, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and president of the Agricultural Council of Maine, said restoration allows the system to continue its research and programs “unabated.”
“This critical funding supports more than 7,000 Maine farms, who rely on the University of Maine to remain competitive in a global economy,” Venturini said in a prepared statement. “Maine’s agricultural community is fortunate to have the ongoing, stalwart support of Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. (Angus) King, Congresswoman (Chellie) Pingree and Congressman (Jared) Golden.”
‘ZERO TRANSPARENCY’
The USDA said the funding pause came amid a compliance review of what it called potential Title VI and Title IX civil rights violations. It also followed closely a public confrontation between Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump over Maine allowing transgender women to play in women’s sports despite Trump’s executive ban against it.
Pingree, who called the funding suspensions “vindictive” when they were first announced, said the “chaos and confusion this administration is causing” is extremely frustrating and “being done without any regard for the impacts their actions have on the people of our state” in a written statement issued late Wednesday.
Pingree, D-1st District, added that the USDA had not itself confirmed the funding restoration.
“There continues to be zero transparency or explanation for these reckless and spiteful decisions,” Pingree said. “The investigation into the University of Maine System was a total sham in the first place, and the (Trump) administration knows it.”
The USDA did not reply to questions emailed late Wednesday asking for confirmation of the funding reversal and inquiring about the status of the compliance review.
Mills welcomed the reversal and thanked Collins for “her efforts on behalf of the University of Maine System,” spokesperson Ben Goodman said late Wednesday.
“It is a relief to the many students, staff and faculty who depend on that funding to support cutting-edge research and development, prepare for careers in Maine, and make valuable contributions to our rural communities and our economy,” Goodman said in a written statement.
Susan Jennings, executive director of the Maine 4-H foundation, called the reversal “great news.”
“Those cuts would have been devastating not just to our 4-H development program across the state,” Jennings said in a phone call Wednesday night. “It certainly would have been devastating to the state of Maine.”
The USDA has not communicated directly with the university system about its compliance review since February, the system said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
