An MSNBC reporter’s attempt to pin the blame on Republicans for failing to advance pediatric cancer research funding quickly unraveled after glaring omissions were exposed. Sam Stein of MSNBC claimed on social media that GOP leadership had axed key funding for pediatric cancer research in the recent government spending battle.

“But some of the hardest cuts to swallow involved medical research,” Stein wrote in The Bulwark on Thursday. “In particular, advocates say, the revised funding bill delivered a devastating blow to the fight against pediatric cancer. The slimmed-down version was stripped of language that would have allowed children with relapsed cancer to undergo treatments with a combination of cancer drugs and therapies. (Currently the Food and Drug Administration is only authorized to direct pediatric cancer trials of single drugs.)”

He continued, “The bill also didn’t include an extension of a program that gave financial lifelines, in the form of vouchers, to small pharmaceutical companies working on rare pediatric diseases. It was also missing earlier provisions that would have allowed for kids on Medicaid or CHIP—that is, poor children—to access medically complex care across state lines.”

However, the narrative quickly fell apart when critics pointed out a key fact: House Republicans had already passed a standalone bill for pediatric cancer funding months ago—a bill Senate Democrats have refused to bring to a vote. Commentator Robby Starbuck called Stein out on X for what he labeled a misleading portrayal of events.

“Why are you leaving out that the Republican House already passed a standalone bill for pediatric cancer research that Dems in the Senate have refused to pass all year?” Starbuck wrote in a viral post. He went further, accusing Democrats of “using kids with cancer in an attempt to force through a bill filled with pork.”

Sam, why are leaving out that the Republican house already passed a standalone bill for pediatric cancer research that Dems in the Senate have refused to pass all year? Why are Dems using kids with cancer in an attempt to force through a bill filled with pork? Evil stuff. https://t.co/0twIEjyOzF

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 20, 2024

The bill Robby Starbuck is referring to is the “Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act” or a similar standalone pediatric cancer funding bill passed earlier in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. GOP leaders passed a clean, standalone bill earlier in the year that focused solely on pediatric cancer funding.

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, did not advance or bring the standalone bill to a vote; instead, it tied the funding to a larger omnibus or broader spending bill. Starbuck and others argue that Democrats are using pediatric cancer funding as leverage to push through a bloated spending package filled with unrelated priorities.

The dust-up stems from the collapse of a broader spending bill that included unrelated priorities criticized as excessive “pork-barrel” spending. GOP leaders argued that such critical funding for pediatric cancer research should not be lumped into a bloated omnibus bill but instead handled through clean, focused legislation.

The federal government is now on the brink of a shutdown as Congress races against time to devise a temporary funding strategy by Friday.

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The House is voting on a slimmed-down government funding bill that President-elect Donald Trump has hailed as a “very good Deal for the American People.” Despite the former president’s praise, the bill is facing stiff opposition from some Republicans and nearly unanimous resistance from House Democrats, leaving the prospects of avoiding a government shutdown in serious doubt.

The renegotiated stopgap measure, now just 116 pages—dramatically cut down from 1,547 pages the day prior—does not include congressional pay raises, a provision Trump supporters are calling a win. However, opposition is mounting as frustrations over spending and party divisions boil over.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) unleashed a fiery rebuke of his Republican colleagues on the House floor, accusing them of failing to deliver on promises of fiscal restraint. “You’ve added to the debt since you were given the majority again on November 5th. It’s embarrassing. It’s shameful,” Roy said, his voice rising in anger. “Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects. But to take this bill yesterday and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages, but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine.”

Roy’s pointed criticism underscores deep frustration among conservatives. “I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” Roy said.

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On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA) voiced fears about what the next two years of divided government might look like, particularly with the influence of Trump and his platform.

“Can you imagine what the next two years are gonna be like?” Neal asked. “If every time the Congress works its will and then there’s a tweet from an individual who has no official portfolio, who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary and they succumb?” Neal’s remarks follow reports from NBC that Democrats were left out of the renegotiation process entirely.

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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), one of Trump’s strongest allies in the House, pushed back on the idea that Republicans are to blame for the looming shutdown.

“The deal on the table is as-is. You either vote for it, or you vote for the shutdown. But it will be not on the Republican Party, but on Democrats as it stands,” Luna said.

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The American people rejected the last CR. We have gotten together and secured a WIN for the people.

This deal will keep the government open. If Democrats choose to shut it down, it will be on YOU, NOT the Republicans.

You can yell at me all you want, but you can’t silence me. pic.twitter.com/FZmQXRtEQ4

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) December 19, 2024

With Republicans pointing fingers at Democrats and conservatives like Roy excoriating their own leadership, the fate of the funding bill remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, Trump, in his characteristic style, celebrated the latest developments as a victory for taxpayers. “This is a very good Deal for the American People,” he declared earlier in the day.  The bill’s failure would likely trigger a partial shutdown, adding further chaos to an already contentious political environment. With both parties digging in and conservatives rejecting Trump’s support for the measure, the next few hours could determine whether a shutdown becomes reality.

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U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is calling for clean, solely focused bills to provide disaster relief for Hurricane victims, provide aid to farmers and more amidst the ongoing budget battle on Capitol Hill.

Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump called on Republican lawmakers to reject a massive, 1,547 page government funding resolution. The bill included a provision that would have allowed a national emergency declaration over climate change, expand the government’s ability to impose pandemic-related lockdown measures and allocated billions of dollars to foreign countries. The bill also failed to include any meaningful border security funding.

As a result, Trump opposed the bill and urged Republicans to do the same. The initial legislation was followed up by a much shorter, 116-page bill that cut out pork, though a number of conservative lawmakers took issue with amended version as well, which would have funded the government through 2027.

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The shorter bill was ultimately defeated on Thursday evening after 38 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.

“It’s embarrassing. It’s shameful,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said in a tense speech on the House floor. “Yes, I think this bill is better than it was yesterday on certain respects. But to take this bill yesterday and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages, but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine.”

38 House Republicans voted no new GOP interim spending bill and 9 did not vote pic.twitter.com/wHPdjKkEQj

— Grace Chong, MBI (@gc22gc) December 20, 2024

As negotiations continue, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is calling on lawmakers to separate major, pressing issues from the wider bill and vote on them separately. “This isn’t complicated. Separate the bills and vote on them separately,” Massie wrote in an X post.

“One vote on the clean CR, one vote on the debt limit, one vote on disaster relief, one vote on farm bailouts,” he continued. “Radical right? Individual bills for each issue.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) explained that he was forced to vote no since he was not given enough time to read the bill. “It’s over a trillion dollars and we never even got to read the bill. A hundred billion in disaster assistance that we’re giving to this administration to spend in the next 30 days. We don’t trust them with 50 cents, much less a hundred billion unchecked,” he said.

“5.7 billion in there for submarines. You’ve got to ask yourself, what does that have to do with this? Why is it in there? Just a lot of things. I guess it just goes back to actual spending. And then it is a continuation of Pelosi-Schumer spending levels. God damn it, we can do better. This is not the way to run a government.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has stated that he is in communication with Republican holdouts and will be reintroducing another amended bill in the near future. “Congress should now move a clean CR through March 14th that raises the debt ceiling by $1.7T and keeps PAYGO intact at $1.7T, which will offset any increase in spending. This bill should be moved in tandem with disaster relief and a clean one-year extension of the Farm Bill,” U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) wrote in an X post.