‘Bargaining chip’: Trump allies dismantle Liz Warren’s claim GOP blocked childhood cancer research
Conservatives and allies of President-elect Donald Trump are pushing back against a narrative spread by Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, that Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research in the recent spending bill. They are pointing to a stand-alone bill that had been stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate for months as evidence.
As the government hurtled towards a potential shutdown, Congress passed a slimmed-down spending bill early Saturday morning. This came after tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies criticized the original 1,500-page legislation for excessive spending and special interest giveaways. They called for a return to the negotiation table to address these concerns.
The Senate eventually passed a third version of a short-term funding bill on Saturday morning, omitting controversial measures like a pay raise for lawmakers. Amidst these negotiations, Sen. Warren and other Democrats accused Republicans of blocking funding for childhood cancer research in the bill.
Sen. Warren specifically called out Musk and his upcoming presidential advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for allegedly influencing the bill’s provisions. She claimed that the bill aimed to cut funding for pediatric cancer research, early detection of cervical and breast cancer, research on children with Down Syndrome, and sickle cell anemia in favor of tax cuts for billionaires.
In response to Warren’s comments, Musk hit back, dismissing her claims as false and echoing Trump’s nickname for Warren, “Lyin’ Liz Warren aka Pocahontas.” Other conservatives and Trump allies also refuted the narrative, highlighting a stand-alone bill that had passed in the Republican-led House but stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate for months.
The House had passed a bill allocating millions of dollars annually for pediatric research through 2028, which was never acted upon by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This led to criticism from conservatives that Democrats were using the research funding as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations.
Despite the controversy, the Senate eventually passed a funding bill extending $12.6 million a year in cancer research funding through 2031. Critics argued that if the research funding was truly a priority, it should have been passed as a stand-alone bill rather than buried in a larger piece of legislation.
In conclusion, the debate over childhood cancer research funding in the spending bill underscores the contentious nature of budget negotiations in Washington. Conservatives and allies of President-elect Trump are pushing back against accusations of blocking funding, highlighting the complexities and challenges of bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
