Twenty-two states are suing the Biden administration for threatening to withhold billions of dollars in school meal program federal funding unless the states comply with new rules regarding gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture represents the latest volley between state and administration officials, who are accused of usurping their authority through presidential executive orders. The Tennessee and Indiana attorneys general are heading the coalition of states alleging that President Joe Biden and the USDA, which oversees the meal program, “issued directives and rules that misconstrue the law and impose unlawful requirements,” the lawsuit says.