California officials bracing for potential large-scale Trump funding attack on state

San Francisco Chronicle​

14 hours ago

SACRAMENTO — California officials were bracing Friday for a potential major escalation in President Donald Trump 's efforts to starve the state of federal funding, including possibly the elimination of money for the University of California, sources said.
CNN reported Friday morning that the Trump administration is preparing to terminate a wide array of federal grant funds to the state, an effort which could begin as soon as Friday.
Sources told the Chronicle that the state has not received official notification of the cuts, and it was not immediately clear which grants might be targeted or how widespread they might be. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said he has been on alert about UC funding in particular. The Trump administration launched an investigation into the university system in March over allegations of antisemitism on the school's campuses.
Wiener, who is Jewish and has been a vocal critic of antisemitism, derided any efforts to cut federal funding from UC.
'We don't know exactly what they're going to do and when they're going to do it, but we've been bracing ourselves for a while for Trump to go after UC,' he said. 'This has nothing to do with antisemitism and everything to do with Trump's desire to go after higher education. … Trump doesn't care about jews or antisemitism, he only cares about his own power. They are on a methodical quest to destroy higher education in this country.'
California is heavily reliant on federal funding to run both the UC and California State University systems, its health care program for low-income people and its public k-12 schools. Trump has repeatedly threatened various federal funding sources over California's policies. On Wednesday, his administration moved to cut billions in high speed rail funding, and last week he threatened to cut federal education money over the California rules that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
Any efforts by the Trump administration to cut federal funds will be challenged in court. So far, California is already involved in dozens of lawsuits against the federal government over efforts to pull back federal funds and challenge other policies targeting the state. Trump tried to cut federal funds from California during his first term, too, much of which the state successfully blocked in court.
Wiener said he could not comment on exactly what conversations are happening in state government around the threatened cuts, but confirmed that state officials are bracing themselves and preparing to sue.
'I can't comment on exactly who we've talked to, but I can say we're very aware of Trump's threats against California, both against UC and California's k-12 education system,' he said. 'If he takes these actions, we are planning to fight.'
U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, criticized the potential cuts in a post on X, linking to CNN's reporting.
'It's impossible to argue that Trump cares about Americans. Impossible,' she wrote. 'This will hurt millions of Americans, destroy the US's competitive advantage in science & medicine. And all for spite & ego.'