San Francisco Chronicle: UC funding may be at risk as California braces for escalation

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 grants for the University of California.

CNN reported Friday that the Trump administration is directing agencies to identify grants it can withhold from California in preparation for a wide-reaching termination of federal funding to the state, an effort that could begin as soon as Friday.

A White House spokesperson confirmed that the Trump administration opposes spending taxpayer money that supports liberal California policies on energy, crime, immigration and transgender health care for minors, but said the administration has not finalized any decisions about grant funding cuts.

“No taxpayer should be forced to fund the demise of our country,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote in a statement. “The Trump administration is committed to ending this nightmare and restoring the California Dream. 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.”

In the meantime, California officials spent Friday criticizing Trump and discussing potential responses.

“Californians pay the bills for the federal government,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X on Friday afternoon. “We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump.”

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said her office was “engaging local and state partners in preparing for all possible scenarios. Whatever cruel crusade the President may announce against California, we will fight back.”

None of the state officials reached by the Chronicle said they have received official notification of any cuts, and it was not immediately clear which grants might be targeted or how widespread they might be.

“Donald Trump is a bully,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said in a statement to the Chronicle. “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. As a Californian representing some of our great research institutions and the Ranking Member of the Science Committee, I will fight back on this. This will be immediately challenged in court. Every single California Republican should be on the phone with the White House to push back on this intimidation scheme.”

California is heavily reliant on federal funding to run both the UC and California State University systems and its health care program for low-income people. It gets about $8 billion for its public K-12 schools, which is nearly 7% of that budget.

Trump has repeatedly threatened various federal funding sources over California’s policies. On Wednesday, his administration moved to cut $4 billion in high-speed rail funding, and last week he threatened to cut federal education money over the California rules that allow transgender girls to compete in girls sports.

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. 

Trump has already sought to cut funds from some U.S. universities, including Harvard. In an interview on Fox News last week, Leo Terrell, who leads the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force, called out the UC system alongside other American universities for what he characterized as a failure to protect Jewish students.

“We’re going to go after them where it hurts them financially,” he said. “There is numerous ways to hurt them financially.”

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.”

The Trump administration has already started to withhold some federal research funding from California universities. Five faculty members and researchers from UC Berkeley and one UCSF faculty member who recently lost federal funding filed suit against the Trump administration Wednesday, alleging the government disregarded regulations and violated their free speech and due process rights.

“Americans across the country benefit from the medical and scientific advancements possible thanks to UC research,” said Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo. “While we don’t yet know exactly what Trump is planning, he is needlessly threatening essential work on treatments for people suffering from cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, genetic diseases and other common medical conditions. For a president to attack an entire state based on his own personal political vengeance is anti-American and undemocratic.” 

A whistleblower told a congressional committee that the administration plans to target grants to California, but the person wasn’t aware of the scope of the efforts, a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle, confirming CNN’s reporting.

“California is the fourth-largest economy in the world,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, said in a statement to the Chronicle. “We lead the nation in technological innovation, groundbreaking research, and providing first-class education across our state’s schools. We are the best at what we do, and we help ensure that the United States remains a leader on the world stage. I am going to fight any cuts or proposals that baselessly limit our ability to maintain our leadership, and will not allow our state to be bullied by Donald Trump.” 

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 state officials are 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.”

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.”