Judy Stone, MD, is an infectious disease physician who divides her time between Boothbay Harbor and Cumberland, Maryland. She is the author of “Resilience: One Family’s Story of Hope and Triumph Over Evil” and “Conducting Clinical Research.”

While Elisabeth Marnik provided a good overview of the stakes for scientific research (“A federal proposal puts Maine’s scientific research in peril,” June 25), the reach of the White House Office of Management and Budget proposal and the threat to Maine is far wider.

Maine receives billions of dollars from the federal government each year to support health, education, transportation and many critical public services. In fact, Mainers receive $1.68 in federal support for every dollar they pay in taxes. If those funds disappeared, the state would have to quintuple its tax rates to maintain the same level of services. Those dollars could disappear, thanks to a new rule from the OMB.

The new rule threatens every federal grant to states, cities, local agencies and nonprofits across the entire country. It would make each grant pass a political litmus test to meet this administration’s goals or be canceled at the whim of a political appointee. There is no process for appeal. Billions in revenue and thousands of jobs are at stake.

Maine was awarded $22 billion in FY-2025. This included $3.2 billion for the state’s Medicaid program (MaineCare), $340 million in SNAP food assistance, $150 million in Section 8 housing vouchers, $66 million in special education grants, $65 million to subsidize Maine’s universal free school lunch program and $62 million in grants to help children from families with low
incomes. 

HeadStart got $15 million. Maine also received $706 million for transportation, $3.8 million from the Department of Defense (e.g., Bath Iron Works) and storm recovery grants. (Earlier, Maine was granted more than $70 million by President Biden to help cover the infrastructure repairs from the 2024 floods.)

It’s not just these grants that are at risk. If HeadStart is cut, parents will be left without reliable childcare and may not be able to work. That could affect their MaineCare eligibility and could increase MaineHealth’s indigent care burden.
 
Drug abuse and mental health are major problems in Maine. Mental health and substance abuse cuts were made this year, then reinstated, showing how unstable the funding environment is.

Another example is that under the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, Lincoln County was granted $250,000. A comment in the grant notes that Lincoln has a high number of LGBTQ youth. Do you think that this grant will be renewed?

Federal grants support a large spectrum of services that improve our quality of life. Grants for climate change resilience, wind and solar power and DEI initiatives are especially at risk under the proposal.

The threat from the proposed OMB requirement that everything align with President Trump’s goals is huge. For example, last year floods devastated Williamsport, in Allegany County, Maryland. FEMA estimated damages for Allegany and adjacent Garrett County at $33.7 million. Although these two counties are Republican strongholds in Maryland — and Westernport is likely the Trumpiest town in the state — Trump refused to issue a disaster declaration. FEMA said the relief was “unwarranted.” Yet Trump then approved $11.7 million in aid for two West Virginia counties.

Some believe Trump’s denial of aid to Maryland was payback for Gov. Wes Moore having challenged the president over National Guard deployments in Baltimore. The root cause doesn’t really matter — under Section § 200.340 of the OMB proposal, any grant can be terminated by a political appointee.

Instead of an expert peer review process or scientific review, all federal grants will be subject to a political appointee’s assessment of whether it displays “anti-American” values. Because support for diversity/equity/inclusion would be prohibited, minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses will be at risk.
 
What can you do? Call your congressional representatives and comment in the Federal Register before July 13. No good can come of this rule.