Trump Targeted These Universities, but Republicans in Congress Are Still Helping Them Out

Months after the University of California’s bitter fight with the Trump administration over attempting to withhold $584 million in research grants, a Republican-led Congress approved millions for the embattled school system.

More than $6 million in congressionally directed spending requests from top California Democrats and leading Trump foes, like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff, for initiatives at UC schools were included in fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills that the president signed into law earlier this month.

While the amount in new funding this year directed by Congress represents a drop in the bucket compared to hundreds of millions that the administration tried to freeze, the funding demonstrates a quiet resistance to the Trump administration’s education policies that Republicans and Democrats have executed through the appropriations process.

“We certainly wanted to prioritize our universities,” Schiff told NOTUS, “both because education has always been a very strong focus of mine, but also because they’re in such a dire predicament with this administration having their funding cut, having their academic freedom challenged. This is a time where we really need to lift up our universities.”

A spokesperson for the University of California told NOTUS the university is “grateful” for the delegation’s “leadership in advancing innovation, public safety and solutions that strengthen the nation and improve lives.”

“UC looks forward to continuing its partnership with the federal government to further this important work on behalf of California and the nation at large,” the spokesperson, Stett Holbrook, said in a statement.

The UC system is just one example of universities that have tangled with the Trump administration and still received new funding through the appropriations process.

The University of Maine system received $51 million in congressionally directed spending — colloquially known as “earmarks” — in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins requested $45 million for a Maine Health Science Complex at the university. Another million, requested by Collins and other members of the Maine delegation, will go toward “American Lobster Settlement Index Expansion.”

Those earmarks are consistent with the types of projects lawmakers usually seek to fund through the appropriations process — which have historically benefited top appropriators’ states. It’s also common for senators up for reelection, like Collins, to push more aggressively for state-specific projects.

Yet, the University of Maine, too, has been at the center of the Trump administration’s fight against allowing transgender women to compete on female sport teams. Trump froze millions in funding for the state due to the university’s policy and Gov. Janet Mills’ refusal to comply with White House demands.

Collins celebrated the funds.

“The brilliant faculty and students at Maine’s public universities and at the flagship university are conducting cutting-edge research and making promising discoveries in a wide variety of fields,” she said in a statement.

Georgetown University, which has fought with Trump over the administration’s immigration crackdown on academics, received over $1 million from Congress for equipment for its doctor and nurse training lab.

Portland State University in Oregon, which is designated as an Asian American and Pacific Islander-serving institution, saw the Trump administration cancel a $1.9 million grant in 2025 because of its focus on serving minority populations. The 2026 appropriations bill directs $2 million to the university for semiconductor innovation and nanoscience equipment purchases.

The University of Washington, which the Trump administration is investigating for its diversity, equity and inclusion practices, received more than $17 million from Congress for various initiatives — including a $10 million request from the top appropriations Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray.

Plenty of universities are conspicuously missing from the earmark list. No member of the Ivy League received money. The New York delegation has repeatedly secured funding for Columbia University, for example, in past appropriations cycles. But since the university has been at the center of high-profile fights with Trump over student protests and allegations of antisemitism, they have not received earmarks.

Leaders who crafted the CJS appropriations bill repeatedly insisted that there was no squabbling on the committee over the inclusion of university earmarks.

The Republican leader of the subcommittee responsible for the CJS bill, Sen. Jerry Moran, went so far as to tell NOTUS that there is no “inside scoop” about how the millions for universities came to be.

“We relied upon the senators from there to offer their [congressionally directed spending requests], and there was no conversation about the politics of the university,” Moran said.

The lack of politicization around what has been one of the most politically charged issues of Trump’s second term has been a subtle hallmark of this year’s appropriations process. Appropriators have attempted to insert provisions that would limit the Trump administration’s rescission power to claw back money Congress already approved into their spending bills. Earmarks provide another model for Congress to provide explicit direction for how approved funding ought to be used.

Rep. Grace Meng, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee responsible for the CJS bill — told NOTUS there was a bipartisan strategy to send money to universities.

“We are glad that we were able to, all of us — from the Republican majority to the administration who obviously signed the bill — to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to prevent zeroing out some of that programmatic funding in general, but also helping our universities through the community project funds,” Meng told NOTUS.