'Bargaining chip': Trump allies dismiss Liz Warren's claim GOP blocked childhood cancer research

Conservatives and allies of President-elect Donald Trump rejected the narrative told by Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research from the spending bill, pointing to a stand-alone bill that had been defeated by a Democrat. – the senate controlled for months.

Congress passed the spending bill early Saturday morning as the government looks to a prolonged shutdown. The bill's passage came after tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies slammed the more than 1,500-page law earlier last week as “outrageous” and “full of big money, special interest donations and pork barrel politics,” calling for lawmakers to roll back. at the negotiating table.

The Senate advanced a third version of the interim funding bill Saturday morning, following negotiations that forced the legislation to exclude measures such as raising the salaries of lawmakers.

As negotiations accelerated, Warren and other Democrats tried to criticize Republicans for allegedly blocking childhood cancer research funding from the bill.

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“We're actually now getting our first taste — this is live and in living color — of what it means to have this DOGE,” Warren said on CNN as the government prepared to shut down Friday evening.

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DOGE, the Department of Government Operations, is the next presidential advisory committee to be chaired by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to reduce excessive government spending and reduce the size of government under the second Trump administration.

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks at an American PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“Right 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 is all about, let's get rid of funding for childhood cancer research. Let's get rid of funding for early detection research for cervical cancer and breast cancer so that we made way for a tax cut for billionaires, that's Elon Musk's idea of ​​efficiency,” he said.

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While i The war room of the Democratic Party published a press release saying: “Trump and his MAGA supporters in Congress decided to threaten a government shutdown for his own political gain – and now they've gone as far as cutting childhood cancer research.”

“Lyin' Liz Warren aka Pocahontas,” Musk replied in response to Warren's comment, referring to Trump's usual mocking of Warren.

FILE – The Capitol in Washington, covered in clouds in the early morning hours, March 19, 2024. Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shut down. It is up to each state agency to decide how to handle the shutdown, but there will be disruptions to many services. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Some conservatives and Trump allies have criticized the narrative that the GOP has blocked funding for childhood cancer research, pointing to a separate bill that passed the Republican-led House back in March, and had languished in the Democrat-led Senate for months.

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“Elizabeth Warren repeats the lie that @elonmusk and Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research. A stand-alone childhood cancer research funding bill passed the Republican-controlled House in March and was held up in the Democrat-controlled Senate,” the X Libs account liked. of TikTok posted in response to Warren's CNN interview.

“Democrats blocked funding for childhood cancer research.”

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 27: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to a staffer 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 included testimony from the leaders of three major national credit reporting agencies. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (Drew Anger/Getty Images)

The House passed a separate bill on March 5, by a vote of 384-4, that appropriated millions of dollars annually for pediatric research through 2028. The bill was brought to the Senate on March 6, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. they had not yet taken action on the legislation, which drew criticism from conservatives a few months later when Democrats used research funding as a “bargaining chip.”

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“Democrats are using children with cancer as political shields in a cover-up game to blame Republicans after using them as political shields to help protect all the Democrats who want to be 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 should work, instead of forcing hundreds of proposals. useless on the same bill as funding for childhood cancer research 1,500 that no one really reads so you can attack anyone who doesn't support useless things by saying you hate kids 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 legislation by voice vote, following the condemnation of the lawsuit against the GOP for allegedly blocking research funding.

The legislation extends $12.6 million annually 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 response.