Conservatives and allies of President-elect Donald Trump are dismantling a narrative put forth by Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren that Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research in the spending bill, pointing to a stand-alone bill that had languished in the Democrat-controlled Senate for months.
Congress passed a pared-down spending bill early Saturday morning as the government careened towards a prolonged shutdown. The bill’s passage followed tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies slamming a more than 1,500-page piece of legislation earlier last week as “outrageous” and “full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork barrel politics,” demanding lawmakers return to the negotiation table.
The Senate advanced a third version of a short-term funding bill on Saturday morning, following negotiations that whittled down the legislation to not include measures such as providing lawmakers a pay raise.
As negotiations were hashed out, Warren and other Democrats attempted to slam Republicans for allegedly blocking funding for childhood cancer research in the bill.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, D-Massachusetts, is renewing calls for a national COVID-19 memorial day. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We actually are now getting our first taste – this is it live and in living color – about what it means to have this DOGE,” Warren said on CNN as the government prepared to shut down on Friday evening.
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DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, is an upcoming presidential advisory committee that will be led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to cut excessive government spending and slash the size of the 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’s going to mean. And that’s where Elon Musk’s fingerprints are all over this. Because, for example, what this bill says is all, let’s get rid of funding for research on pediatric cancer. Let’s get rid of funding for research on early detection of cervical cancer and breast cancer. Let’s get rid of funding for research on children with Down Syndrome and on sickle cell anemia. Let’s get rid of those things so that we could make way for tax cuts for billionaires, that is Elon Musk’s notion of efficiency,” she continued.
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While the Democrat Party’s war room published a press release declaring: “Trump and his MAGA minions in Congress have decided to threaten a government shutdown for his political gain — and now they’ve stooped as low as cutting child cancer research.”
“Lyin’ Liz Warren aka Pocahontas,” Musk shot back in response to Warren’s comments, referring to Trump’s common taunt against Warren.
FILE – The Capitol in Washington, is framed by early morning clouds, March 19, 2024. Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shutter. It’s up to each federal agency to determine how it handles a shutdown, but there would be disruptions in many services. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Other conservatives and Trump allies slammed the narrative that the GOP blocked funding for childhood cancer research, pointing to a standalone bill that passed in the Republican-led House back in March, and had for months languished in the Democrat-led Senate.
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“Elizabeth Warren repeats the lie that @elonmusk and Republicans blocked funding for child cancer research. A stand alone bill for child cancer research funding passed the Republican controlled House in March and got held up in the Democrat controlled Senate,” popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok posted in response to Warren’s CNN interview.
“Democrats blocked funding for child cancer research.”
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 27: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to a staff member before the start of a Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of credit reporting agencies, on Capitol Hill April 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing featured testimony from leaders of the three largest national credit reporting agencies. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The House passed a stand-alone bill on March 5, at a vote of 384-4, that allocated millions of dollars per year for pediatric research through 2028. The bill was delivered to the Senate on March 6, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had not taken action on the legislation, sparking condemnation from conservatives months later that Democrats used the research funding as a “bargaining chip.”
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“Democrats are using children with cancer as political shields in the shutdown game to blame Republicans after using them as political shields to help defend all the slop Democrats wanted included in the bill. If this funding is so important, it can be passed on its own as a stand-alone bill. You know, like how the government is supposed to work, instead of cramming hundreds of useless proposals into the same bill as pediatric cancer research funding in a 1,500-page mess that no one actually reads so that you can attack anyone who doesn’t support the useless stuff by claiming they hate children with cancer,” an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner outlined.
A review of the legislation shows that on Friday evening, the Senate passed the legislation by a voice vote, following condemnation targeting the GOP for allegedly blocking funding for the research.
The legislation extends $12.6 million a year in cancer research funding through 2031.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Warren’s office for additional comment Sunday morning, but did not immediately receive a reply.
