Trump threatens to strip federal funds to California over transgender youth athletes

[ad_1] President Trump on Tuesday threatened to chop federal funding to California if the state continues permitting transgender athletes to compete in girls’s sports activities.

Trump blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom in an early morning submit on Reality Social saying the state beneath his management “continues to ILLEGALLY permit MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.”

“I'll converse to him as we speak to search out out which manner he needs to go???” Trump stated of Newsom. “Within the meantime I'm ordering native authorities, if essential, to not permit the transitioned individual to compete within the State Finals. It is a completely ridiculous scenario!!!”

The president’s submit appeared to reference a California highschool junior who gained the women’ lengthy bounce and triple bounce through the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Part Masters Meet over the weekend.

California is the second state to enter Trump’s crosshairs over transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports activities. Final month, Trump started the method of stripping Maine of federal training {dollars} in a battle over the difficulty between the president and Maine Gov. Janet Mills. The dispute instantly landed in court docket.

In contrast to the governor of Maine, Newsom just lately stated it was “deeply unfair” for folks born as organic males to compete in girls’s sports activities. He has not responded to Trump’s submit.

When requested at a information convention in April if California ought to undertake a legislation proscribing transgender athletes from competing in girls’s sports activities, the governor stated he’s open to the dialogue.

“You’re speaking a couple of very small variety of folks, a really small variety of athletes, and my duty is to deal with the urgent problems with our time,” Newsom stated, earlier than including that the dialog has been weaponized by conservatives.

“And to the extent that somebody may discover that proper stability, I'd embrace these conversations and the dignity that hopefully presents themselves in that dialog, that means the humanity round that dialog, not the politics round that dialog.”

This isn’t the primary time Trump has threatened to chop funding, significantly training {dollars}, to California.

In an April letter to Newsom, the Trump-appointed head of the U.S. Division of Agriculture conditioned its support to abiding by Trump directives — and cited a federal investigation right into a state legislation that prohibits faculties from routinely notifying households about scholar gender-identity adjustments and shields academics from retaliation for supporting transgender scholar rights.

California additionally joined different states in April when it defied a Trump administration order to certify that the state’s 1,000 faculty districts have ended all range, fairness and inclusion packages. That Trump order, too, arrived with federal threats to chop billions of {dollars} in training funding if the state didn't comply.

One uncertainty in Trump’s newest social media submit was whether or not he was referring to training funding alone or extra federal help for California — which may embrace, for instance, catastrophe aid, meals support for the poor and {dollars} to help low-income housing.

California has lengthy despatched extra money to Washington in federal tax income than it receives in federal help, in keeping with Newsom. Regardless, the funding that California depends on is important.

Whereas it’s troublesome to calculate the full greenback quantity California receives from the federal authorities in training funding, some tallies have put the annual determine at $16.3 billion — or about $2,750 per Ok-12 scholar. That cash consists of funding for college meals, college students with disabilities and early training Head Begin packages.

The state additionally receives greater than $2.1 billion in Title I grants to counteract the consequences of poverty — greater than every other state — with about $417 million supplied to Los Angeles Unified, in keeping with the California Division of Schooling.