Conservatives and allies of President-elect Trump is denying a narrative from Democratic lawmakers like Senator Elizabeth Warren that Republicans blocked funding for pediatric cancer research in the spending bill, pointing to a standalone bill that languished for months in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Congress passed a scaled-back spending bill early Saturday morning as the government headed toward a lengthy shutdown. The bill’s passage came after tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies criticized a more than 1,500-page bill early last week as “outrageous” and “filled with excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork-barrel politics.” Calls for lawmakers to return to the negotiating table.
The Senate advanced a third version of a short-term funding bill Saturday morning after negotiations cut the legislation to exclude measures such as giving lawmakers a pay raise.
When the negotiations were negotiated, Warren and other Democrats tried to condemn Republicans for allegedly blocking funding for pediatric cancer research in the bill.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats sought to condemn Republicans for allegedly blocking funding for childhood cancer research. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We’re actually now getting our first glimpse – this is it live and in living color – of what it means to have this DOGE,” Warren said on CNN as the government prepared for the shutdown on Friday evening.
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DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, is a future presidential advisory committee that is led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy wants to cut excessive government spending and reduce the size of government under Trump’s second administration.
SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during an America PAC Town Hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“Right out here and what that will mean. And there are Elon Musk’s fingerprints all over it. Because, for example, everything that’s in this bill is, let’s get rid of it.” Funding research on childhood cancer. Let’s cut funding for research into early detection of cervical cancer and breast cancer. Let’s cut funding for research on children with Down syndrome and sickle cell anemia. “Let’s get rid of these things so we can provide tax cuts for billionaires, that’s Elon Musk’s idea of efficiency,” she continued.
PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNING A SURPLUS FUNDING ACT THAT WILL JUST AVOID THE SHUTDOWN
While the Democratic Party War Room issued a press release that said, “Trump and his MAGA lackeys in Congress have decided to threaten a government shutdown for political reasons — and have now even deigned to restrict pediatric cancer research.”
“Lyin’ Liz Warren aka Pocahontas,” Musk shot back in response to Warren’s comments. referring to Trump’s frequent taunts Labyrinth.
The Capitol in Washington, March 19, 2024 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Other conservatives and Trump allies criticized the narrative that the GOP has blocked funding for childhood cancer research, pointing to a standalone bill that passed the Republican-led House in March and had languished for months in the Democratic-led Senate .
The White House urged Biden to speak publicly before the shutdown
“Elizabeth Warren repeats the lie that @elonmusk and the Republicans have blocked funding for pediatric cancer research. A standalone bill to fund childhood cancer research passed the Republican-controlled House in March and was stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate,” said the popular conservative TikTok X account Libs, posted in response to Warren’s CNN interview.
“Democrats Blocked Funding for Childhood Cancer Research.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks with a staffer before the start of a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, April 27, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The House of Representatives passed a standalone bill on March 5 by a vote of 384-4 that would provide millions of dollars annually for pediatric research through 2028. The bill was introduced in the Senate on March 6, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had taken no action on the legislation, sparking condemnation from conservatives months later that Democrats were using research funding as a “bargaining bargaining chip.” “used.
Trump-backed spending bill goes down in flames as shutdown looms
“Democrats are using children with cancer as political shields in the shutdown game to blame Republicans after using them as political shields to defend all the sloppiness Democrats wanted included in the bill. If this funding is so important, it can be allocated on its own as a standalone bill on how the government should work, rather than cramming hundreds of useless proposals into the same bill in a 1,500-page mess that no one actually reads so you can attack everyone, who doesn’t support the useless stuff of saying he hates children with cancer,” said an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner.
A review of the legislation shows that on Friday evening The Senate passed the law by a vote after the GOP was condemned for allegedly blocking research funding.
The legislation extends cancer research funding by $12.6 million per year through 2031.
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Fox News Digital contacted Warren’s office Sunday morning for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.
