Sen. Bernie Sanders Blocks Bipartisan Pediatric Cancer Research Bill, Drawing Criticism
The Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, a bipartisan bill designed to boost pediatric cancer drug research by incentivizing the FDA and drug companies to pursue pediatric studies and rare pediatric disease treatments, was blocked by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the Senate floor. Sanders' action prevented the attachment of funding for community health centers nationwide to the bill.
The legislation enjoyed near-unanimous Senate support except for Sanders, marking the second consecutive year this measure has been stalled. Supporters of the bill urged Sanders not to block the measure. Rep. Mullin condemned Sanders' move, stating it harms children.
Senate HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy acknowledged the importance of increased health center funding but criticized Sanders’ tactic as selfish and argued for a broader approach to healthcare. Blocking the bill is expected to send the effort back to square one as Congress heads into the new year, with the House not yet committed to community health center funding.
Contextually, last year’s attempt to attach community health center funding to this package failed amid related controversies including Elon Musk tweets. Instead, a slimmer three-month extension without the pediatric cancer language was passed in late 2024.
