President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON — Hours after the Senate approved a spending framework, President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview that he’s open to approving the spending plan in multiple bills “as long as we get to the same point.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills says Trump does not have the right to withhold funding appropriated by Congress and paid for by taxpayers “in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will.”

The Democratic governor made the statement Friday after the U.S. Department of Education told Maine’s Department of Education that it had been instructed to begin an investigation into the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete.

Trump has threatened to cut the state’s federal funding unless it backs down.

Mills says she thinks “the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined” but said she would work with the attorney general to fight for Maine in court.

“But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” she said. “I believe he cannot.”

The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily kept on the job at the head of the federal agency that protects government whistleblowers, in its first word on the many legal fights over Trump’s second-term agenda.

The justices said in an unsigned order that Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, could remain in his job at least until Feb. 26. That’s when a lower-court order temporarily protecting him expires.

The high court neither granted nor rejected the administration’s plea to immediately remove him. Instead, the court held the request in abeyance, noting that the order expires in just a few days.

The Trump administration is restoring jobs for dozens of National Park Service employees fired amid government-wide reductions and hiring nearly 3,000 additional seasonal workers, following an uproar over an aggressive plan to downsize the agency.

At least 50 jobs are being restored to help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The moves come as the park service said in a new memo that it will hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, up from about 5,000 promised earlier this week and higher than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers. The park service has about 20,000 employees.