MSNBC Reporter’s ‘Gotcha’ Story Against GOP Brutally Backfires After Swift Fact-Check

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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