Trump Plans to Cut Federal Funding to California

The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California, an effort that could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.

Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California. Sources said the administration is specifically considering a full termination of federal grant funding for the University of California and California State University systems.

“No taxpayer should be forced to fund the demise of our country,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement Friday afternoon, criticizing California for its energy, immigration and other policies. “No final decisions, however, on any potential future action by the Administration have been made, and any discussion suggesting otherwise should be considered pure speculation.”

Singling out one state for massive cuts would be an unusual move, but President Donald Trump has long made Democratic-led California a target.

Just last month, he threatened to withhold federal funding from California over a transgender athlete’s participation in a sporting event — the latest example of the president trying to use funding as leverage to enact his agenda. The administration recently cut $126.4 million in flood prevention funding projects, and Trump repeatedly went after the state’s handling of devastating wildfires earlier this year. The president and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have also publicly feuded for years.

Two sources said that the administration is targeting California universities over alleged antisemitism on campus, an issue the schools have made efforts to address over the past year. The administration has already taken steps to punish Harvard and Columbia universities for similar reasons.

The UC system is the state’s third largest employer, and both systems are major engines of research in the biotechnology and medical fields, among others.

It is unclear how the school systems plan to fight back, though it is possible they could be represented by the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, a Democrat.

California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the Science, Space and Technology Committee, said, “Trump is a bully. We’ve now heard from sources that he may be intending to cut grants to California because we didn’t vote for him and we’re Democratically inclined. … I will fight back on this. This will be immediately challenged in court.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another California Democrat, said: “Whatever cruel crusade the President may announce against California, we will fight back.”

California’s state legislature appropriated $25 million in its budget for efforts to fight Trump administration policies and has spent only approximately $5 million of that so far, a source said.

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who said he was unaware of the imminent grant cancellations, told CNN he recently met with university representatives who were concerned about the future of their funding.

“Every university, every research organization, pretty much I saw them passing through here the last two days,” Issa said.

Issa told CNN his message to the fearful university representatives was, “We’re going to advocate for essentials, but I sent them back and said come to me with specifics. Come to me with the grant and the justification, and I’ll advocate for that. But I’m not going to advocate for no cuts; you just get more money every year. That’s how we got in this problem.”