Sanders blasted after blocking bipartisan kids' cancer research bill: 'Grinch,' 'selfish'

A bipartisan bill to bolster research for kids’ cancer drugs was quietly killed on the Senate floor last week, the second year in a row the legislation was torpedoed.

The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act was primed to pass through a fast-track process with near unanimous support in the Senate on Wednesday, save for one lawmaker who sought to amend the bill: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

"What's happened right here in front of us? The Grinch is stealing kids' lives, and they're stealing hope from the families, hope from the families that might have an opportunity just to try for a political agenda," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who brought the bill to the floor.

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"And I hope to God that every single family that's going through this will hold the senator from Vermont accountable, and the state of Vermont will hold him accountable, too, because he's playing with kids' lives," he continued. "He's literally killing kids in front of us because of his political movement, and it is ridiculous."

Sanders' move to block the bill was not a surprise. Several lawmakers who spoke in favor of the legislation urged him not to go through with the decision as pediatric cancer research advocates looked on from the viewing gallery. But doing so once again sets the bill back to square one as Congress enters a new year.

The Vermont independent explained that he had no problem with the legislation, which would have incentivized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and drug companies to encourage more relevant pediatric studies and invest in rare pediatric disease treatments, but he wanted to tack on an amendment to fund community health centers throughout the country.

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"This is not a radical amendment," Sanders said. "I'm not coming here saying, ‘Let's do something we've not talked about.’ I'm not talking about passing Medicare for all here. I am talking about doing what the Republicans and Democrats agreed to a year ago but was torpedoed by some tweets from Elon Musk."

Lawmakers already had a version of the bill teed up for passage last year, attached to the colossal, year-end temporary funding extension produced by the House.

But that package was ultimately blown apart by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who at the time was coming to Washington, D.C., to serve as President Donald Trump’s government waste attack dog at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

What eventually passed in late 2024 was a slimmed-down, three-month extension to government funding without the pediatric cancer research bill, and several other policy and funding riders eyed by both sides of the aisle.

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Lawmakers who spoke in support of Mullin’s bill argued that they supported Sanders' desire to fund community health centers, but the underlying legislation was too important to let die on the vine again.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he shared the concern for increased funding for health centers and committed to doing so when Congress returned, but that the "irony here is that the objection is going to come out of a genuine concern that people achieve healthcare."

"But there's no one way to treat the ills, literally, the ills of the United States of America, and to think that we can do it all at once, it's just not true," Cassidy said. "But also to say that you're not going to give a chance for children to have a cure for cancer if you don't get what you want, it's just not true. It is selfish. It is tragic."

And Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., shared Sanders’ concern, but noted that the GOP-controlled House had not committed to tackling the issue of community health center funding.

"As disappointed as I am that the House isn't ready to support increased funding for community health centers, I also believe that it is important to take action on this package now to help address pediatric cancer and lower prescription drug costs," she said. "So I am disappointed that this bill will not move forward today."